It’s Time for Brown to Produce : After Three Years of Great Potential, Rams Seek Results

If you want to know what it means to be cursed with potential, go ask Mr. All-Everything, Olympic gold medalist, the fastest man in football, Ron Brown.

Starting his fourth season of potential with the Rams, Brown again races into a training camp as the man who could bust this league wide open with his grace and Indy 500 speed at wide receiver.

Perhaps no one describes Ron Brown’s potential more accurately than Ron Brown.

“I know I have the God-given talent to be one of the best in the business,” he said Tuesday. “It’s up to me whether I’ll be it.”

That’s been the book on Brown for some time now. He has been to the mountain as a member of the 1984 Olympic gold-medal winning 400-meter relay team, but so has he reached Death Valley depths.

Last season Brown was cracked, bruised and hardly ever amused. His 25 receptions ranked fourth on the team, behind Eric Dickerson, Barry Redden and Henry Ellard, who missed the first seven games of the season.

A late-season, one-dropped-pass-a-game pace all but cost Brown his starting job before the Dallas game Dec. 7. As it was, the Rams modified their offense, going with three wide receivers.

Brown, perhaps offended, responded with his greatest first half ever, catching three passes for 100 yards against the Cowboys before being knocked out of the game with a separated shoulder.

That’s kind of how it has been with Brown all along. It seems that every good deed has been followed by a stretcher and a medical report.

So which Brown will we see this season?

In three years, he has had knee surgery, an assortment of cracked fingers, thumbs and wrists and even pancreatitis, which slowed him to almost snail speed for part of the 1985 season.

But that’s the old Brown. This one is uninjured, healthier, wiser, and apparently more dedicated. Or so they say.

“He’s put a tremendous effort together,” Coach John Robinson said of Brown’s off-season training. “In the past, for whatever reasons, there were things in the way--illness, distractions, off-the-field stuff. I don’t know if it was as clear to Ron as it is now how hard he has to work. With some things, his progress has been slowed. I think he’s been stunned by that.”

Perhaps so stunned that Brown has approached this season with new vigor. He started by winning back his “NFL’s fastest man” title in June when he defeated none other than Herschel Walker, Vance Johnson and Phillip Epps, in order.

Other reasons not to frown about Brown have to do with the state of his body, which is good for a change.

Last year, Brown played the entire season with a cracked left wrist, which at least partially explains some of his drops.

And although the wrist is not fully healed, it is better and stronger. No longer will Brown wear the protective plastic cast he wore during practice but removed for games last year.

“The cast threw me off,” Brown said. “I practiced with it but I didn’t play with it. Your hands get adjusted to the ball a different way with a cast.”

Also having to take some of the blame for Brown’s stunted growth is the creator of the infamous Rams’ pass offense, strictly Neanderthal in the evolutionary chain of football.

Remember, Brown played only one season at wide receiver in college at Arizona State. He was forced to learn on the job, which maybe isn’t easy when the boss really isn’t paying close attention.

But dreams and goals have changed now that the Rams have entered the wonderful world of Ernie Zampese, the team’s new offensive coordinator.

“I’m still in the learning stages as a receiver,” Brown said. “Since Zampese’s been here, it’s the first time I’ve had a chance to learn the position. Before, I’d been learning from other athletes because we weren’t a passing team. I couldn’t learn from the coaches here because we were a running team. Now I know I understand the game more and I’ll be better.”

Brown worked out during the off-season with Zampese and quarterback Jim Everett. Brown said his timing and routes improved dramatically.

Norval Turner, who coaches the receivers, said that the key with Brown is getting him to think as a receiver every waking moment.

“He needs to come out and do it, be consistent on a daily basis,” Turner said. “In that Dallas game, he caught those three balls and you said ‘Wow, when it happens, it’s going to happen.’ But if he wants it to happen, you have to do it on a consistent basis in practice.”

Of course, not to be overlooked in Brown’s Dallas performance was the presence of Ellard, who drew double coverage in the Dallas secondary, leaving Brown to beat just one defender.

And if you have seen Brown run, as Herschel Walker has, you know that’s no contest.

“Henry makes me play better,” Brown said. “I want the ball as much as I can get it. I just want to perform. I don’t want to carry any extra load if Henry doesn’t sign. I just want to do my job. The rest will take care of itself.”

Of course, the Rams can only wait and see if Brown can turn practice performances into game highlight films.

And maybe this will be the last story ever written about Ron Brown’s potential.

For ultimately, as one college coach once said, potential is what you lose with.

Ram Notes

Tackle Duval Love bruised his right ankle in Tuesday’s practice and was taken from the field on a golf cart. Love was taken to St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton for X-rays, but the injury is not believed to be serious. What is serious is the Rams’ temporary shortage of offensive tackles. Love, of course, is filling in at left tackle for holdout Irv Pankey, leaving only Jackie Slater and Robert Cox. “You only need two,” Ram Coach John Robinson said. Speaking of Pankey, his agent has told him if he wants to go to London, he’ll have to pay his own way, meaning Pankey won’t be signed in time to catch the Rams’ charter flight to England on Sunday. . . . If you’re thinking about Mike Schad at tackle, forget it. He’s been moved to guard. . . . Cornerback LeRoy Irvin’s holdout stands at two days and $2,000 in fines. . . . Robinson and Ram general counsel Jay Zygmunt talked at length during Tuesday’s practice. They weren’t discussing the weather. Zygmunt, of course, is handling negotiations with holdout Donald Evans and has a large hand in the futures of no shows Henry Ellard, Mike Lansford and Pankey. Robinson, of course, wouldn’t mind if those players were in camp. . . . If Evans doesn’t show soon, Robinson is thinking of moving outside linebacker Mike Wilcher to what was to be Evans’ pass-rushing spot at right end. Wilcher led the team in sacks in 1985 with 12 1/2. . . . The Rams’ 10th-round draft choice, David Smith, finally agreed to terms Tuesday. The bet now is whether or not he’ll still be on the team come London.