OrangeShadow
09-25-2005, 04:35 PM
'The Quiet Storm'
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- At last, it was Courtney Brown's time.
After spending one game inactive, after sitting out most of training camp with a dislocated left elbow, after spending much of the offseason in extended rehabilitation because of a foot injury incurred 12 months ago, the second half of Sunday's 20-17 win over San Diego belonged to the one-time No. 1 draft pick.
Brown posted a sack, recovered a fumble and generally helped cause chaos in the San Diego backfield. Yet he handled the success not with chest-thumping braggadocio, but with a hug and a low-key trot back to the huddle.
"I call him 'The Quiet Storm,'" Gerard Warren said. "When he's on the field, he's causing havoc and making things happen without speaking a word."
Brown proved Sunday that he can spawn disorder. But he won't let anyone know about it.
"You never see too much enthusiasm out of Courtney," Warren said. "He's what we call an old-school player. You get a sack, and if there's not triple-zeroes on the clock, we know we've got to keep working, so there's nothing (for him) to celebrate until the game's over."
Befitting that attitude, the sixth-year defensive end demurred at the chance to talk up his accomplishments -- even though they represented a body of work that provided a glimpse of how he became the top overall pick in 2000 before a series of injuries derailed his efforts to develop.
"I was glad I had the opportunity to contribute," Brown said. "It's been a while since I've been on the playing field."
It had been 364 days, to be exact, from when he tore a ligament in his left foot to when he stepped onto the field for the first time in the regular season Sunday. It would then be two quarters before he found his way into the stats column -- but he did so with a vengeance, first recovering a Drew Brees fumble 4:17 into the third quarter, then notching an 8-yard sack of Brees four defensive snaps later.
"It made a great difference just to have an extra guy on the field -- not as much Courtney, but just having an extra player on the field to contribute to the defense, help get the things that we're trying to do accomplished," Warren said. "To have Courtney back was great."
Coincidentally, the last quarterback Brown sacked in his years with the Cleveland Browns was Brees. But that came on Oct. 19, 2003. He would finish that year with 66 tackles, six sacks and four forced fumbles rupturing a right biceps tendon on Dec. 8.
"The guy's been through obstacle after obstacle and he keeps fighting back," defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban said. "He not only came back, but he had a tremdnous game. That's the icing on the cake."
All Brown had to do to flourish, espoused defensive coordinator Larry Coyer, was play.
"I think it's getting a guy in the game, and I think he's going to get nothing but better," Coyer said. "He broke in; he made a play. He's a big, powerful, good-looking guy, and he's just going to get better. I think he's really a talented man, so it's obviously a boost."
And Brown doesn't have to say much to know it. But it's worth noting there is a slight streak of extroversion to the guarded Brown. It's just not something you can ever expect to see on the football field.
"Courtney and I were roommates for two and a half seasons in Cleveland; we were staying in rooms together," Warren said. "We talked one-on-one personally away from football, but as far as football goes, Courtney's only going to speak when he has to.
No problem with that. Sometimes it's the quietest storms that wreak the most havoc.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- At last, it was Courtney Brown's time.
After spending one game inactive, after sitting out most of training camp with a dislocated left elbow, after spending much of the offseason in extended rehabilitation because of a foot injury incurred 12 months ago, the second half of Sunday's 20-17 win over San Diego belonged to the one-time No. 1 draft pick.
Brown posted a sack, recovered a fumble and generally helped cause chaos in the San Diego backfield. Yet he handled the success not with chest-thumping braggadocio, but with a hug and a low-key trot back to the huddle.
"I call him 'The Quiet Storm,'" Gerard Warren said. "When he's on the field, he's causing havoc and making things happen without speaking a word."
Brown proved Sunday that he can spawn disorder. But he won't let anyone know about it.
"You never see too much enthusiasm out of Courtney," Warren said. "He's what we call an old-school player. You get a sack, and if there's not triple-zeroes on the clock, we know we've got to keep working, so there's nothing (for him) to celebrate until the game's over."
Befitting that attitude, the sixth-year defensive end demurred at the chance to talk up his accomplishments -- even though they represented a body of work that provided a glimpse of how he became the top overall pick in 2000 before a series of injuries derailed his efforts to develop.
"I was glad I had the opportunity to contribute," Brown said. "It's been a while since I've been on the playing field."
It had been 364 days, to be exact, from when he tore a ligament in his left foot to when he stepped onto the field for the first time in the regular season Sunday. It would then be two quarters before he found his way into the stats column -- but he did so with a vengeance, first recovering a Drew Brees fumble 4:17 into the third quarter, then notching an 8-yard sack of Brees four defensive snaps later.
"It made a great difference just to have an extra guy on the field -- not as much Courtney, but just having an extra player on the field to contribute to the defense, help get the things that we're trying to do accomplished," Warren said. "To have Courtney back was great."
Coincidentally, the last quarterback Brown sacked in his years with the Cleveland Browns was Brees. But that came on Oct. 19, 2003. He would finish that year with 66 tackles, six sacks and four forced fumbles rupturing a right biceps tendon on Dec. 8.
"The guy's been through obstacle after obstacle and he keeps fighting back," defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban said. "He not only came back, but he had a tremdnous game. That's the icing on the cake."
All Brown had to do to flourish, espoused defensive coordinator Larry Coyer, was play.
"I think it's getting a guy in the game, and I think he's going to get nothing but better," Coyer said. "He broke in; he made a play. He's a big, powerful, good-looking guy, and he's just going to get better. I think he's really a talented man, so it's obviously a boost."
And Brown doesn't have to say much to know it. But it's worth noting there is a slight streak of extroversion to the guarded Brown. It's just not something you can ever expect to see on the football field.
"Courtney and I were roommates for two and a half seasons in Cleveland; we were staying in rooms together," Warren said. "We talked one-on-one personally away from football, but as far as football goes, Courtney's only going to speak when he has to.
No problem with that. Sometimes it's the quietest storms that wreak the most havoc.