Brown heeds rehab warnings from fellow backs

[DolFan619]

http://www.miamiherald.com/588/story/590340.html

Brown heeds rehab warnings from fellow backs

By BARRY JACKSON
Miami Herald

Among the most encouraging Dolphins stories has been the accelerated recovery of Ronnie Brown, who is optimistic he will be 100 percent by the start of the season. But other standout running backs who also tore their anterior cruciate knee ligament have been reaching out to Brown with cautionary advice.

''Don't rush,'' said Edgerrin James, who speaks often to Brown. ``You can't go out there expecting to be exactly the way you were in the beginning. Don't let the fact it's starting to feel good let you disregard [rehabilitation].''

Three-time NFL rushing leader Terrell Davis, an NFL Network analyst, also urges Brown to proceed slowly and said Ricky Williams should begin the season as the Dolphins' starter.

Brown said he believes he quickly will return to his pre-injury form, when he was leading the league in total yards from scrimmage and averaging 5.1 yards per carry though Week 7.

So how do NFL backs respond in their first year off a torn ACL? James averaged 4.4 yards per carry the year before (2000), 3.6 the year after (2002) but 4.1 and 4.6 in '03 and '04. Terry Allen (4.5 year before, 4.0 year after) and Jamal Anderson (4.5, 3.6) also fell off initially but still topped 1,000 yards in their first year back. (Anderson tore his other ACL a year later.)

But Jamal Lewis, who tore his ACL in 2001 training camp, had virtually no fall-off (4.4 in 2000, 4.3 in '02, 5.3 in '03). Ex-UM star Willis McGahee, who sat out his rookie NFL season (2003) after tearing his ACL and two other knee ligaments in the Fiesta Bowl, averaged 4.0 in 2004, the second-best of his career.

''I feel good, feel no hesitation,'' said Brown, who expects to be cleared for contact when camp opens July 26. ``The main thing Edgerrin and Willis said is they felt good the first year back, but they felt better the following year. But I look forward to being back to speed the first year. I've had a lot of time since surgery in November.''

Still, Davis -- who sustained a torn ACL in September 1999 at age 27 and then injured his other knee two years later from ''overcompensating'' -- said, ``I don't see Ronnie coming out of the gate like last year. I came back too soon to start the next season, and that was my undoing. The mental thing -- trying to see if you can take the pounding and run through an arm tackle -- is going to be a challenge. It wears on you. I never got back being able to run instinctively. I had to think for a fraction of a second before cutting, and that's the worst thing for a running back.''

But don't be alarmed -- Davis, unlike Brown, also had a torn medial collateral ligament.

Anderson, who tore his ACL in September 1999, opened the next season on time but said: ``I didn't feel like I was back until a month into the season. Explosion out of breaks was the last thing to come back. But you can come back even better than you were. Just look at Edgerrin and Jamal Lewis.''

[Denver_Bronco]

Ronnie Brown won't be on the field in a regualr season game until probably week 5 or 6 at the earliest. Please stop with the pipe dreams of this R & R express nonsense. If you are lucky Ricky will last until Ronnie gets back before he's injured as well. I bet you won't see them both in the same backfield collectively for 3 games total all season.

You'll be begging for Jesse Chatman back by week 4.....

[Fau Teixeira]

very simply Denver... no

[fyo]

Ronnie Brown won't be on the field in a regualr season game until probably week 5 or 6 at the earliest.

Please quote a source for this astonishing news, that Ronnie Brown's rehab is WAY behind schedule compared to pretty much every other RB with a similar injury in the past 10 years.

He's not going to perform 100%, but he should (many months ago) be HEALED 100%. The question now is primarily muscle mass and proprioception. He'll lack a bit of speed, endurance and explosiveness - plus, and this is the worst, he'll have to consciously think about his cuts, which will slow him down and make him look like he's hesitating a bit.

[DZA]

Ronnie Brown won't be on the field in a regualr season game until probably week 5 or 6 at the earliest. Please stop with the pipe dreams of this R & R express nonsense. If you are lucky Ricky will last until Ronnie gets back before he's injured as well. I bet you won't see them both in the same backfield collectively for 3 games total all season.

You'll be begging for Jesse Chatman back by week 4.....

Preety sure every Fin Fan here is glad to see Chatman Go !

[Denver_Bronco]

Please quote a source for this astonishing news, that Ronnie Brown's rehab is WAY behind schedule compared to pretty much every other RB with a similar injury in the past 10 years.

My source is common sense. Wait until the preseason dude. There will be tons of soreness in that knee once he really gets into actual game speed activities.

[fyo]

My source is common sense.

Let me express my doubt for your common sense, then.

My source, on the other hand, is what we KNOW of how and when other players with similar injuries returned.