One-Man Platoon

The two-stoplight town of Blackville, S.C., is bracketed by a pair of billboards dedicated to hometown celebrity Troy Brown of the New England Patriots. There’s one on Highway 78 and another on Highway 3.

“No matter which way you’re coming,” his high school coach says, “you can’t miss him.”

That applies to his football as well. Brown plays receiver and defensive back for the Patriots, and mixes in punt returns to boot.

Brown says learning offense and defense “is not for everybody.”

“You can talk about moving a linebacker from left linebacker to right and the guy looks like he’s never played football before because he switched sides of the ball,” he said. “Let alone switching offense to defense. It’s a tough transition.”

For proof, just check out the playbook Brown lugs around. It’s twice as thick as any teammate’s. And it’s not as if he’s a rookie; he was New England’s eighth-round pick from Marshall in the 1993 draft, meaning he was on the Patriot scene even before owner Robert Kraft.

Brown, 33, who played a lot of defensive back in high school and a little of it at college, was strictly a receiver and return man in his first 11 NFL seasons. He had a hankering to try his hand at defense, though, and teased secondary coach Eric Mangini about it. At training camp last summer, Mangini asked if he wanted to give it a try.

“It wasn’t something I took real serious,” Brown said. “I didn’t think it would ever happen. I didn’t think Bill [Belichick] would go for it. Bill was like, ‘Well, hey ... ‘ He came into the locker room five minutes before practice and said I’ve got some reps today on defense. I was like, ‘Well, I don’t even know the calls,’ so I didn’t know what to do. He put me out there, put me in one-on-one drills, and it was the worst thing you’d want to see. But I kept working and I got better at it.”

No kidding. Thrust into fairly regular duty this season because of injuries to starting cornerbacks Ty Law and Tyrone Poole, Brown finished second on the team with three interceptions. He also caught 17 passes, pushing his career total to 475, third on New England’s all-time list.

Safety Rodney Harrison thought he had seen it all in the NFL ... until he saw Brown line up in the secondary.

“I thought it was kind of a joke, but then I saw him knock down a couple of balls in training camp and I knew it was something serious,” Harrison said. “I knew he could play.... Three interceptions, he made some big tackles for us, knocked down a couple of important balls, and just showed his versatility and unselfishness as a player.”

Maybe that’s why Brown’s teammates named him an offensive captain. Even so, his most meaningful contributions this season have been on defense, where his No. 80, a receiver’s number, stands out on his chest like a bull’s eye. Still, when quarterbacks have tested him, he typically has made them pay.

“He’s playing nickel better than 80% of the nickel guys in the league,” said Harrison, referring to the defensive formation in which a team uses five defensive backs. “You’ve got guys out there making a couple million bucks a year just playing on third downs, and [Brown’s] doing it playing offense, defense and special teams.

“We didn’t play with the safeties over the top against Indy. He had [Indianapolis’] Marvin Harrison a lot of times one-on-one, and if you watch the film he did a wonderful job. He held [Pittsburgh’s] Plaxico Burress to a few catches. I think [Brown] has Pro Bowl potential, but it’s really up to him, how hard he works and how much he commits himself.”

Said Philadelphia Coach Andy Reid of Brown, “It’s very difficult what he’s doing. He makes it look easy, but it’s not.”

Opposing quarterbacks have targeted him, and the Eagles might do the same Sunday in the Super Bowl. Cincinnati’s Jon Kitna tried to burn him but wound up chasing Brown on an interception return. It was Brown’s third pick of the season, and it was an interception in the end zone that halted a Bengal drive in the fourth quarter.

Brown got his first interception against Buffalo -- and his former teammate, quarterback Drew Bledsoe. That errant pass hit Brown smack dab in the head, nearly lodging in his facemask.

“I kind of knew I’d be getting more opportunities after that,” he said. “I was going to be a marked man on defense.”

Yes, Brown stands out like a big flashy sign. But not in the Patriot defense anymore. Only when you’re driving into his hometown.