Ronnie Brown says problems mental, not physical

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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-ronnie0726,0,1702651.story

Ronnie Brown says problems mental, not physical

By Kevin Clark
Sun-Sentinel.com

8:29 PM EDT, July 26, 2008

DAVIE - During the Dolphins first day of training camp there were no hints Ronnie Brown had ever suffered a season-ending knee injury.

He appears slimmed-down. He made all necessary cuts and bursts during the drills he was allowed to do. But Brown admitted on Saturday there was a slight problem. However, it wasn't physical.

"I think part of it is mental," said Brown, who is battling back from an ACL injury to his right knee. "I feel myself gathering when I make a certain cut or make a certain movement. I'm trying to get over the mental part of it, get everything flowing and react out of instinct instead of trying to think [about the injury]."

Brown led the NFL with 991 all-purpose yards at the time he blew out his knee in a loss to the Patriots back in October. Tailbacks usually take a full year to recover fully from that type of injury because of how reliant they are on their knees.

The Dolphins plan to bring Brown along slowly, and head coach Tony Sparano has hinted that he'll likely hold the former first round pick out of the first few exhibition games. Until he's cleared for full contact Ricky Williams, Patrick Cobbs, and rookies Jalen Parmele and Lex Hillard are handling the bulk of the work during team drills.

"He's got a long way to go," Sparano said of Brown. "This is a slow process with Ronnie, we're going to work him slow, but this was a nice sign out there for him today."

Brown said there's no limit to his physical ability. However, he does admit his surgically repaired knee doesn't feel the same as his left one, especially when it involves his balance. That's what he's presently working on.

Brown also said the rehab for his ACL injury actually got him into better shape. He looked noticeably thinner in his arms and upper body compared to previous seasons.

"I want to come in in-shape and obviously coming off the injury, it takes a bit more," said Brown, who hasn't stayed healthy for a complete season in his three-years as a pro. "I wanted to put more into it and I've learned a lot over the past few years about off-season conditioning. So all of that played a part of that, but for the most part, I was just working harder coming off of an ACL injury. "

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http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/football/miami-dolphins/story/619276.html

Dolphins' RB eases back into full practice

BY DAVID J. NEAL
Miami Herald

On his last carry of team drills during the full-pads morning practice, running back Ronnie Brown rose after being tackled downfield with a limp. After a few hops, he jogged to the sideline, where he remained for the rest of practice.

The brief worry from the training camp crowd was palpable.

''I just had a couple of cramps,'' Brown said. ``Nothing major.''

Brown was back for the afternoon practice in shells and shorts, but the morning practice was his first full-pads action since tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament Oct. 21.

''[Saturday] was the first day, but obviously I wanted to practice and participate in all the drills, especially this morning. We had a full-pads kind of thing with a little bit of contact and [so I can] kind of get comfortable,'' Brown said. ``Everything went really well from that standpoint.''

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano made it clear Brown would be eased back into action, as Brown is still not close to full strength. ''Early in the preseason, you have so many guys you want to play, but we certainly want to be able to work Ronnie in at some point there,'' Sparano said about how much playing time Brown would get in exhibition games.

SEEKING COHESION

The first-unit offensive line in the first practice went, left to right, tackle Jake Long; guard Justin Smiley; center Samson Satele; guard Trey Darilek; and tackle Vernon Carey.

Although it seems you can write Long, Satele and Carey in ink as starters for the season opener Sept. 7, Sparano insisted, ``Right now, it's a straight tryout. I think you've seen that in the spring, we'll kind of move some people around, try to shuffle the lineup a little bit that way to find the best five guys.''

Unlike Nick Saban, who disdained offensive line cohesion two minutes before talking about how important it was, and Cam Cameron, who generally avoided the question, Sparano made it clear he wants to find the five best players as soon as possible.

''I think you can go into the first preseason game, and you can have some moving parts in the first preseason game, after that, you've got to be ready to settle down,'' Sparano said. ``Well, if you can get them three preseason games or two preseason games, get them eight or nine quarters together where they're playing together, that's solid.''

In other offensive line movement, tackle Julius Wilson became the third player waived over two days, joining offensive tackle Dan Gore and wide receiver Justin Wynn on the unemployment line. Meanwhile, the Dolphins signed Rueben Riley, who spent last season on Carolina's practice squad.

HISTORY LESSON

Most of the Dolphins weren't born or were just beginning to toddle along during the Dolphins' great years of the 1970s, or the first 12 seasons of the Dan Marino era. So, during Friday night's team meeting, Sparano showed a video clip of the best of Dolphins history.

''I got chills,'' wide receiver ErnestWilford said.

''It was a video clip of the history of this place, what that symbol stands for and how we've got to get back to that,'' quarterback John Beck said.