Brown's new drill? Mental blocks

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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-flspronnie04sbaug04,0,5680165.story

Brown's new drill? Mental blocks

By Kevin Clark
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

August 4, 2008

DAVIE - It has been nearly 10 months, and still Ronnie Brown has these moments.

The Dolphins running back will move on his surgically repaired right knee — once again powerful, but still fragile — and the pain from last October runs into his mind. Battling back from a torn ACL, even a slight cut brings sharp memories.

"It just comes in, on certain cuts it comes in," Brown said.

Through months of intense rehabilitation, he has regained nearly all the physical gifts he had prior to the season-ending injury. What is left is the emotional challenge that can only be conquered by running without remembering.

"I can tell myself a million times, 'Run to the left, run to the right, don't think about my leg,' but until you actually go out there, repetition is just the best way to handle it," Brown said.

In his first weeks at full strength, he found himself replaying the movements that bother him during camp, waiting for it to feel right in his mind. He calls what he does "gathering," when he works to make sure that on the next cut, he can move without hesitation.

"I'll go over and just keep going through the same play, just to get it out of my mind, where I'm running and reacting and not thinking about it," he said.

Former NFL running back Ki-Jana Carter, the No. 1 overall pick in 1995, knows about comebacks after ACL tears. With the injury coming in the first preseason game his rookie year, Carter said he was aided mentally by a knee injury he had in high school, which helped him prepare for the grind of coming back.

"You have to exercise your mind [when you are injured] because the mind is a powerful force," Carter said. "It's up to you mentally to prepare yourself and say, 'Look, the doctor went in and did the surgery and mended up whatever was injured, so I've got to go out there and don't think about it.'"

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said the mental aspect cannot be fully addressed in training camp.

"I think you got to get into a game and you got to feel it," Sparano said. "All of these things when you're coming off an ACL, you're not going to get those answers until you get into a game. We got to get into a game and I'm sure Ronnie's anxious, but we're bringing him pretty close out here in practice and I know he's starting to feel a little bit better about himself."

Brown's injury in the third quarter of an Oct. 21 loss to the Patriots halted an almost certain Pro Bowl season. He was leading the NFL in all-purpose yards with 991 when hurt.

"Being in situations where there is some contact, just going through drills where I'm running the ball and all that, where I do have that contact, I think that is going to help me to get over the mental part of it, not being hit since what, week 7," Brown said. "I put all the physical work in, going through rehab and all of that, but when I can go out there and not think about it, that's when it will all come together."