Corey "Philly" Brown's 'Endzone Drop'

[t96]

So there has been some debate since this play occurred about whether or not the ball was tipped by the defender and whether Brown should have caught it or not. I will show you a series of screenshots from 2 different angles:

 

You can see here in the first picture that the ball is a perfect spiral by Cam right on target.

Still a perfect spiral, going right for where Browns hands are going.

This is before the ball has touched Brown's hands or arms at all and you can clearly see the ball is no longer in a spiral.

Still without having touched Brown, the ball is vertical after being tipped just slightly by the defender and it slips right through Brown's arms instead of going in a spiral right into his hands.

Here's the second angle and as you can see the ball is a perfect spiral going for Brown's hands.

Still on target.

At this point the ball still has not touched Brown at all and is completely vertical, in between his forearms instead of where his hands are and where he was expecting the ball to be.

It's here when the ball first touches Brown and hits his shoulder after being tipped instead of going straight into his hands.

 

As you can clearly see, the ball was tipped by the defensive back so that instead of the ball being a perfect spiral right into Brown's hands it was deflected and went through his forearms vertically. There is not a receiver in the league who would've caught this ball after being tipped like that and anybody who has ever played receiver would know that. Just gotta give credit where credit is due. It was a fantastic play by #30 for the Dolphins. Cam threw a great ball and Brown ran a great route, but #30 got the best of them. If not for the tip, Brown catches that ball for a 50+ yard TD. 

 

As for the rest of Brown's play during this game, I can't show you how great his routes were because GameRewind doesn't have the All-22 angles up for the game, only the broadcast, but it is way better than what people here want you to think.

On 2nd down on the first drive, Brown ran a nice route and was wide open on the sideline. Cam overthrew him just too much and while Brown made a nice reaching grab, the ball was thrown too far out of bounds and Brown's momentum carried him out.

 

On 3rd down of the second drive, Brown got wide open for what would've been a 20 yard gain. The ball was thrown slightly low and in front of him and was a bit wobbly but he should've caught it and instead dropped it while trying to dive and catch it with his body. This was a clear mistake by Brown on a ball he should catch, but it was a poorly thrown ball from Cam. This was his only mistake the entire game, and hardly one that makes him a cut candidate or in jeopardy of getting passed by Boykin who he's been miles ahead of the entire offseason. As you can see here he found the soft spot in the zone coverage and had no one near him but had to adjust his body to a poorly thrown ball and ended up dropping it. It was catchable but not a perfect spiral straight to his hands so this is in no way a mistake people should be chastising him over.

His only other target was the 'endzone drop' which was really just a great play by the defender. 

 

If I had the All-22 camera angles I'd show the other routes he ran where he was wide open and not targeted. And don't forget the 9 yard pickup he had on the reverse on that 3rd drive which helped to set up CAP's 33 yard run a play after and get the offense moving. 

 

I maintain: Corey "Philly" Brown will be starting across from Funchess this year and depending on how Funchess looks on NFL Sunday, Brown could end up being our best WR on the field.

[OnlyPantherFaninMaine]

Really disappointed I missed the first half of this game. I know it was ugly, but would have liked to see all of this go down. Thanks for the pictures and write up! 

[GoobyPls]

That ball was not tipped, they showed the replay in slow mo down here in Miami and nobody touched it,

[Rags]

Still hit his hands.

 

Still think he'll step up when it counts.

[Proudiddy]

 

Whether it was or not, he had no excuse for his two other drops that killed two different drives. 

Although, I will argue that he still should've caught this one. 

[Daddy_Uncle]

OH. MY. GOD. WHO. CARES.

[WOW!!]

Hit his hands/body in a perfect catch radius for most starting caliber WR's. .. It wasn't tip nor was it a bad pass.. You can back philly all you want.. That's cool.. But let's not twist the obvious. . He had 3 horrible drops.. And his body catches are holding him back from being a better WR.   He should have had those balls.. .

[ooglechi]

Hit his hands/body in a perfect catch radius for most starting caliber WR's. .. It wasn't tip nor was it a bad pass.. You can back philly all you want.. That's cool.. But let's not twist the obvious. . He had 3 horrible drops.. And his body catches are holding him back from being a better WR.   He should have had those balls.. .

I only saw two, what was the third one?

[Proudiddy]

I only saw two, what was the third one?

He dropped two before the drop featured in this thread. 

[Byrdman4real]

What's the old WR rule that I have already stated? 

If the ball touch your hands you better catch it

[Sam Mills Fan]

Philly Brown sucks. He's going to have to earn the right to be known as Corey. Sorry, hasn't done so yet. Philly it is.

[Roebling]

When you have to be so thorough to defend your player who obviously played badly, maybe you're overcompensating. 

[CPantherKing]

I sure hope Funchess gets it together fast, because Brown will not last as a #1 WR. He can barely hold down the 2 spot with KB getting double and tripled all the time.

[RelaxImaPro]

Man you guys sure are quick to turn on Philly over one bad game lmao.  Guess because he didn't light it up in TC like he did OTAs he's overhyped and sucks now.  He had 2 drops, don't know why 3 drops keeps getting said.

But yeah, he should've caught that TD pass.

Sorry, but other than his bad body catching habits (which is fixable) he has enough good film, in meaningful playing time, out there and outright skill that he's a virtual lock to make the roster no matter what.  Can't believe some of the poo I've read here since the Dolphins game.