Derrick Brown SEC player of the week

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al.com

Derrick Brown takes home another SEC weekly honor

Updated 11:25 AM;Today 11:23 AM

2-3 minutes

With defensive end Marlon Davidson out, defensive tackle Derrick Brown anchored the Auburn defensive line, earning himself his third SEC defensive lineman of the week award.

Brown has tied Davidson for three of the awards, and Auburn now claims six of the SEC defensive lineman honors after Week 10. Brown earned honors after Auburn’s win over Texas A&M and Auburn’s loss to Florida.

In the 20-14 win against Ole Miss, Brown tied the team high for seven tackles, including one tackle for loss.It ties his season-high of seven tackles in a game.

Brown’s tackle for loss was an open field tackle in a location you don’t typically find a defensive lineman. Buck Big Kat Bryant had helmet issues, so Brown was substituting in from the sidelines when Ole Miss snapped the ball. It was tossed to Jerrion Ealy, Ole Miss’ best running back, who turned to run. Instead of facing open field, he instead faced Brown, who hit him head-on for a loss of four yards.

His teammates were highly amused by the play, and linebacker Owen Pappoe described Brown as a “monster.”

The week before, Brown also made seven tackles against LSU, which adds up to 14 tackles in the last two games. That is the highest two-game output of the defensive tackle’s career.

Led by Brown, the Auburn defense held Ole Miss to its second lowest number of offensive yards in a game. The 266 offensive yards the Rebels earned included 99 passing yards and 167 rushing yards. The ground production against Auburn was 110 rushing yards below its season average in SEC play.

Despite the impressive stats, Brown was not impressed with the defense’s performance. He said they could have done better and would focus on improving during the bye week.

“We need to get off the field, man,” Brown said, shaking his head. “We were out there all day. We’ve got to be able to get off the field more. We’ve got to be able to get more three-and-outs. I mean we say we want -- we want to be the best team in the country on third down, defensively. So, I mean, we’ve got to be able to do those things and get off the field. We had too many penalties and stuff like that.”