John Brown is on his third team in as many years, but if you talk to his current teammates, you'll think he's going nowhere anytime soon.
The Bills receiver caught plenty of praise from influential voices on his squad in the immediate moments after Buffalo's 37-20 win over AFC East foe Miami, and for good reason. Brown caught nine passes for 137 yards and two scores in the victory, his highest output in a season since 2016 (10 catches for 144 yards in Week 4 vs. Rams).
"John Brown is a baller," veteran running back Frank Gore said, via NewYorkUpstate.com. "He's been doing great all year. I'm happy that he's getting an opportunity to show people the type of receiver he can be in this league. ... Like I told him, (people have) been sleeping on him a whole lot."
His efforts were part of a 424-yard outing for Buffalo's offense, which came a week after the unit mustered just 16 points in a loss to Cleveland. Instead of falling short of paydirt this week, the Bills took many trips to the end zone (four) in a major bounce-back win that improved their record to 7-3.
It sounds surprising for those who didn't follow the Arizona Cardinals from 2014-2017, or those who didn't pay attention to last season's pre-Lamar JacksonBaltimore Ravens. John Brown, an Arizona and Baltimore castoff, exploding for big plays? But he's done it more than a few times in his career, and at 29 years old, he may have found his best situation as a pro.
Brown has broken 1,000 receiving yards once in his career (2015), and has broken 700 yards just twice including this season. He's over 800 through 10 games and currently on pace to finish with 1,307. That type of production would put him among the top 10 in the league.
Josh Allen has to be happy to have Brown on his team.
"He goes and attacks. He is an all-time teammate, a guy that nobody can say anything bad about. Just a guy that goes in and works and wants to get better," Allen said, again via NewYorkUpstate.com. "(He) doesn't care about stats, doesn't care about scoring touchdowns. He cares about winning, and when you have a recipe like that you're destined for success."
At 7-3, the Bills are in prime position to contend for a wild-card spot. They'll need Brown to continue on this pace, though, because after the Bills clash with the 3-7 Broncos, they'll run into a gauntlet of Dallas (6-4), Baltimore (8-2), Pittsburgh (5-5) and New England (9-1) before closing the regular season against the New York Jets (3-7). They can ill afford to have another outing like their Week 10 loss to the Browns.
If people keep "sleeping" on Brown, the Bills could find themselves headed toward the postseason. We'll see if he continues at this rate, or if the teams ahead wake up in time.
