Brandon Browner’s friendship with Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas will be put on hold during Super Bowl XLIX.
The New England Patriots cornerback had some controversial comments about his injured former Seattle Seahawks teammates while speaking to ESPN’s Josina Anderson. Sherman is nursing an elbow injury, and Thomas has a shoulder ailment.
“At the end of the day, this is about the Super Bowl,” Browner said. “I’m gonna tell my teammates, ‘Go hit that elbow, go hit that shoulder. Hit it, yeah. Try to break it if you can. You can be my best friend after the game, but, at the end of the day, I know you want the Super Bowl just as bad as I do.”
Browner was part of the original “Legion of Boom” Seahawks secondary, though he was suspended during their Super Bowl XLVIII win last year, and he has to watch the game from home.
Reaction from Browner’s former teammates was mixed.
“I would expect nothing less,” wide receiver Doug Baldwin said. “This is the Super Bowl. What do you expect? I understand the fans want it to be classy, said publicly, and everything to be said politically correct, but that is the truth of the matter. We want this game just as much as they do, and they want this game just as much as we do. I expect nothing less from Brandon Browner. We go after them in an aggressive fashion just as much as they are going to go after us.”
Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright told ESPN.com: “If you know a player’s injured, you don’t try to re-hurt him. You just try to play ball and play hard. But as far as going out there and targeting certain areas, that’s unacceptable and shouldn’t be in football.”
Thumbnail photo via Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports Images
