Brown: It all started with him

[News Bot]

Of all the statistics the late Dave Brown compiled during his 11-season career with the Seahawks, the most impressive might be the one that is most often overlooked. The Ring of Honor cornerback started every game he played: 159. Only five other position players on the Seahawks’ 35th Anniversary team*can make that claim: left tackle [...]

Of all the statistics the late Dave Brown compiled during his 11-season career with the Seahawks, the most impressive might be the one that is most often overlooked.

The Ring of Honor cornerback started every game he played: 159.

Only five other position players on the Seahawks’ 35th Anniversary team*can make that claim: left tackle Walter Jones (180), outside linebacker Chad Brown (107), middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu (84), right tackle Howard Ballard (74) and left guard Steve Hutchinson (68).

But Brown, who passed away in 2006, should have had even more games – and starts. Terry Beeson knows, because the former middle linebacker is the one who interrupted Brown’s consecutive-start streaks that began with 77 and then reached 82 again before he left the team following*the 1986 season. The 77-starts-in-a-row run was the franchise record at the time.

“Until I hurt him,” Beeson said. “They threw a screen pass out of the backfield. He was coming up from the corner spot and I was coming from the inside linebacker spot. I ended up colliding with him more than I did the running back.

“I broke his leg.”

That was in the 1981 season opener. Brown was back after missing six games, and streaking once again.

Brown’s durability and consistency allowed him to become the franchise leader in interceptions (50), interception return yards (643), career interceptions returned for touchdowns (five) and TD returns in a game (two).

It’s also why he was an overwhelming choice as one of the cornerbacks when the readers of Seahawks.com voted for the 35th Anniversary team.

Brown’s ability to produce on the field and become a role model and mentor off the field are featured in the eighth installment in a series of articles profiling the 29 players on the reader-selected team.

Source: Seahawks.com