The improbable story of the identical Brown twins of London, Ont. – the impossible dream that has somehow come true – takes yet another twist this NFL Sunday.
For the first time in their lives, these two ultra-competitive football-playing sons of a single mother in Western Ontario will oppose each other when the Philadelphia Eagles travel to Cincinnati for a matchup against the Bengals. Some people might view this game as Joe Burrow vs. Jalen Hurts, two Super Bowl quarterbacks.
But not here and now. Not in Canada. The Brown twins, Chase the running back and Sydney the defensive back, played together at the University of Illinois. They were drafted together by the Eagles and the Bengals. And here they are, a year and a half after their names were called, playing football for the first time against each other.
“I don’t look at it as him versus me,” said Sydney Brown in a telephone interview. “I’m not making it a bigger thing than it is. It’s the Eagles versus the Bengals. Can’t think of it that way. It’s the Eagles versus the Bengals. I wish him (Chase) nothing but the best. Just not this week. This is a dream we’ve had since we were little kids.”
The twins are just brothers and football players. They are connected, the way so many twins seem to be connected. “We talk every single day,” said Sydney. “It’s something we’ve always done. It’s been the relationship we’ve had since we were little. We share this connection, not just football, and nothing is going to change that, no girl or anything else. We’re that close, we’re always going to be that close.”
This was supposed to be a week of radio silence for the Browns. They broke their own rules and continued talking to each other.
“We usually talk every single night,” said Chase Brown. “It’s what we do. This week we told each other we’re not going to talk. We’ll talk after the game.”
“I’ll probably call him when we land in Cincinnati,” said Sydney. “We usually talk every single night. But on the field, we won’t talk. He’s No. 30. That’s all I have to think about. Stopping No. 30.”
The Browns twins aren’t just identical facially. They have virtually identical body types. Both are listed as 5-foot-10, 211 pounds. Both are rather small by NFL standards. Sydney games for the Eagles late in his rookie season. Chase has taken over as the leading ball carrier for the Bengals in just his second NFL season. In seven games, he’s combined for 582 yards of offence, running the ball, catching the ball and returning kickoffs. His 5.0 yards per carry ranks among the best in all of football.
Sydney had a pick-six touchdown in his first season, his only interception to date, and is coming back from injury after missing the first five weeks of the season.
Not many Canadians play in the NFL and fewer make it long-term. Even fewer skill position players hang in for years in the NFL – and running back and safety are considered to be skill positions.
But the odds of twins, from the same town, the same high schools both in London and in Florida, the same college (after Chase transferred to Illinois), the same agent, the same off-season training routines, the same gene pool, making it big or in this case almost really big, are astronomically against them.
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“This is a testament to the work we’ve out in,” said Sydney, well aware of his career challenge. “I get excited for what he’s been able to do. I’m not surprised by it.
“As for myself, I’m just back two weeks from injury, trying to build trust and respect for what I do. You really have to love it and embrace it. The highs and the lows (of playing in Philadelphia). You have to respect it for what it is. You have one coach all week long and you have 50,000 coaches on Sunday when you play in Philly. And I love that part of it.”
Mom Raechel Brown, who was 18 years old when she gave birth to the twins in 2000 will travel to the game Sunday, a rather short six-hour drive to watch NFL football. The boys aren’t certain which jersey she is going to wear or what her clothes will look like — but Chase said he heard NFL Canada was going to make her a jersey split down the middle, Bengals on one side and Eagles on the other.
The boys look forward to seeing each other, playing against each other, seeing their mom, and then after the game returning to their football lives.
“I hope we can inspire the younger generation,” said Sydney. “I think this shows, anything is possible, know matter what your situation is. You need determination to be successful. Me and brother have been blessed by the opportunities we’ve had, and we’ve made the best of them. We’ve competed very hard and we’ve love what we’ve done.
“Our coach at Illinois, Brett Bielema, told us we had to be the best versions of ourselves. We learned from him. This is just the beginning. We don’t look at ourselves at being successful. We’re hungry for what’s next. Seeing him have success pushes me. When I have success, that pushes him.”
The new feeling, this Sunday afternoon, is pushing for success for each other and against each other. A movie of the week came to life.
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