The Popular Scapegoat

I'm sure I'll be hearing plenty of people piling onto Mike Brown's performance, but it was really awful.  After starting off strong in Baltimore, Brown's play has been shockingly poor.  First, he misses the tackle on McFadden's TD run in the Oakland game.  Then, as if we needed reminding, Miles Austin clowned all over him.  And finally today, he gives up two devastating touchdowns in Jacksonville.

For the record, I like Mike Brown as a person.  He really does seem like a great guy and a hard worker.  But, seriously, how long can he remain our starting safety.  If he plays at even an average level, any of those 3 games I mentioned could have been completely different.  Hell, we could even be a 3 or 4 win team (think about how much better you would feel at 3-5).

The popular stance to take is: why in God's name did we release Bernard Pollard?  And, admittedly, I catch myself thinking this frequently.  But as fans, we really don't know all the circumstances surrounding the situation.  Is Pollard a better football player than Brown at this point in his career? Unquestionably.  Was Pollard a bad influence?  Did he practice hard?  Did he want to be a part of this Chief's team?  Would he be a good piece in the long-term plan?  We have no idea.  We're fans.  We can speculate, but we don't know.  That's part of the deal.  But what we can know is that something has to be done, and it has to be done this week.  

I know we currently have no depth at safety.  None.  But the most disturbing thing about Mike Brown's gaffes this week is that he didn't get burned because he was too slow.  He is slow.  But he got burned because he was reading plays wrong, and he got caught in the wrong place.  He made rookie mistakes, and they cost the team dearly.  So the real question I think Haley has to ask himself is, "if Mike Brown isn't making plays using his football savvy instead of his athleticism, then why is he playing at all?"

After watching DaJuan Morgan put on a show against St. Louis in the preseason, I thought for sure he would be getting significant playing time this season.  I mean, sure, it was St. Louis.  But, still, he looked incredible.  After racking up 6 tackles today and recovering a fumble, he has to have earned another chance to start next week.  And, honestly, I don't care who is starting next to him as long as it's not Mike Brown.  Maurice Leggett can get caught out of position just as well as Brown can.  Except when Leggett does, at least he has the speed to maybe make up some ground and mitigate some of the damage.  Could he play any worse?