Post by John on Jun 20, 2006 11:10:50 GMT -4
After multiple setbacks, Winslow says 'now it is my time'
June 19, 2006
By Jeff Schudel
Special to CBS SportsLine.com
After two years of pain and frustration, catching footballs is coming naturally to Kellen Winslow Jr. again. For a while it seemed it would never happen.
In August 2005, Winslow sat in front of his locker at the Browns training complex in the Cleveland suburb of Berea talking about his latest setback.
He wasn't talking about the motorcycle crash three months earlier that left him hospitalized for eight days with internal injuries and torn ligaments in his right knee. Or the broken right fibula and torn right ankle ligaments that forced him to miss the last 14 games of his rookie year in 2004.
Instead, Winslow was talking about a staph infection he theorized invaded his body when he rubbed ointment over the scar on his knee from surgery the previous June.
The infection left him pale and thin. He lost 30 pounds. The sculpted muscle definition wasted away. Winslow, determined to make a comeback after the accident, began working out the day after his knee surgery. The infection flattened him six weeks later, and he could do nothing until it cleared. He walked around with a catheter in his heart, pumping medicine through his body.
Ten months later, at the Browns' minicamp this past weekend, Winslow looked the same as he did his rookie training camp before the string of injuries. His thighs are thick again and his biceps bulge. They are the result -- and he says this is no exaggeration -- of eight hours a day in the weight room.
Winslow was not perfect in the minicamp. He dropped some passes he normally would have caught easily. But for the most part, he outran defenders and outjumped them for the football.
At one point he caught a pass from quarterback Charlie Frye at the 10-yard line and dashed across the goal line. Players are in shorts and T-shirts, and there is no contact in minicamp, but still it was a defining moment for Winslow in his first full-team practice in 21 months.
His teammates, who respect him so much for the way he fought back from the injuries and the staph infection, cheered from the sideline. One player yelled "Dunk it, Kellen!" Winslow jumped and slammed the ball over the crossbar.
"I'm about 90 percent," Winslow said after the practice. "I've been waiting for this day for a long time. It felt great to be out here with everybody.
"Emotionally, it was very difficult. There were a lot of long nights. It was hard to see my teammates playing in games while I'm at home with my leg up. God put me in this place for a reason. Maybe it wasn't my time yet, but now it is my time. I feel like it is. It gave me a lot of time to think about myself and spend time with my family."
Ben Roethlisberger's recent motorcycle crash brought back to Winslow a rush of memories of his own accident in a vacant parking lot while doing wheelies and other tricks. For the first time since his crash, Winslow stated flatly he will never get on a motorcycle again.
"No, I won't," he said.
As good as he looks, as humble as fighting back from injuries has made him, the inescapable fact is the Browns starting tight end has not played competitive football in almost two years. As coach Romeo Crennel says, there's a difference between getting buff in the weight room and playing like the tight end who dominated college football at the University of Miami.
"There's a lot of rust," Crennel said. "But the thing is he has been around here for those two years. Even when he wasn't on the field he was watching practice tapes and getting the call sheets and trying to understand what the routes were supposed to be. He was keeping up with the offense.
"It's not like he has forgotten football completely. His hands are great. Mentally, he was trying to stay in it. The rust comes in from running routes and knowing how to get away from a defender. If we keep working with him, a lot of those things will come back. We're going to have to put him into battle and see how he responds. That will be the ultimate test."
Asked what fans can expect from him this year if things stay on track with his rehab, Winslow answered: "Things will stay on track. I'm going to keep on pushing. Fans should expect a Super Bowl. That's all they can expect."
Winslow was talking about the Browns winning the Super Bowl -- not Winslow being a superstar and winning it by himself. But K-2 also wants to be the "go-to guy," Crennel said. Wide receiver Braylon Edwards, also rehabbing from knee surgery, wants to be the go-to guy, too. So does running back Reuben Droughns.
"Kellen is amazing," Frye said. "Every day he makes a catch and you just drop your jaw. The other day he was in full stride and just picked the ball off the ground. He never broke stride. Everybody just said 'Wow.'"
Winslow did not talk about catching 60 or 70 passes in 2006. Instead, he talked about what he, Edwards and Joe Jurevicius could mean to the Browns in the red zone. Last season the Browns scored only 232 points, the fewest in the league.
"We could do some special things out there," Winslow said. "We have big, tall, physical receivers. We could do a lot of things. We just have to make it happen."
Jeff Schudel covers the Browns for the News-Herald in Willoughby, Ohio.
June 19, 2006
By Jeff Schudel
Special to CBS SportsLine.com
After two years of pain and frustration, catching footballs is coming naturally to Kellen Winslow Jr. again. For a while it seemed it would never happen.
In August 2005, Winslow sat in front of his locker at the Browns training complex in the Cleveland suburb of Berea talking about his latest setback.
He wasn't talking about the motorcycle crash three months earlier that left him hospitalized for eight days with internal injuries and torn ligaments in his right knee. Or the broken right fibula and torn right ankle ligaments that forced him to miss the last 14 games of his rookie year in 2004.
Instead, Winslow was talking about a staph infection he theorized invaded his body when he rubbed ointment over the scar on his knee from surgery the previous June.
The infection left him pale and thin. He lost 30 pounds. The sculpted muscle definition wasted away. Winslow, determined to make a comeback after the accident, began working out the day after his knee surgery. The infection flattened him six weeks later, and he could do nothing until it cleared. He walked around with a catheter in his heart, pumping medicine through his body.
Ten months later, at the Browns' minicamp this past weekend, Winslow looked the same as he did his rookie training camp before the string of injuries. His thighs are thick again and his biceps bulge. They are the result -- and he says this is no exaggeration -- of eight hours a day in the weight room.
Winslow was not perfect in the minicamp. He dropped some passes he normally would have caught easily. But for the most part, he outran defenders and outjumped them for the football.
At one point he caught a pass from quarterback Charlie Frye at the 10-yard line and dashed across the goal line. Players are in shorts and T-shirts, and there is no contact in minicamp, but still it was a defining moment for Winslow in his first full-team practice in 21 months.
His teammates, who respect him so much for the way he fought back from the injuries and the staph infection, cheered from the sideline. One player yelled "Dunk it, Kellen!" Winslow jumped and slammed the ball over the crossbar.
"I'm about 90 percent," Winslow said after the practice. "I've been waiting for this day for a long time. It felt great to be out here with everybody.
"Emotionally, it was very difficult. There were a lot of long nights. It was hard to see my teammates playing in games while I'm at home with my leg up. God put me in this place for a reason. Maybe it wasn't my time yet, but now it is my time. I feel like it is. It gave me a lot of time to think about myself and spend time with my family."
Ben Roethlisberger's recent motorcycle crash brought back to Winslow a rush of memories of his own accident in a vacant parking lot while doing wheelies and other tricks. For the first time since his crash, Winslow stated flatly he will never get on a motorcycle again.
"No, I won't," he said.
As good as he looks, as humble as fighting back from injuries has made him, the inescapable fact is the Browns starting tight end has not played competitive football in almost two years. As coach Romeo Crennel says, there's a difference between getting buff in the weight room and playing like the tight end who dominated college football at the University of Miami.
"There's a lot of rust," Crennel said. "But the thing is he has been around here for those two years. Even when he wasn't on the field he was watching practice tapes and getting the call sheets and trying to understand what the routes were supposed to be. He was keeping up with the offense.
"It's not like he has forgotten football completely. His hands are great. Mentally, he was trying to stay in it. The rust comes in from running routes and knowing how to get away from a defender. If we keep working with him, a lot of those things will come back. We're going to have to put him into battle and see how he responds. That will be the ultimate test."
Asked what fans can expect from him this year if things stay on track with his rehab, Winslow answered: "Things will stay on track. I'm going to keep on pushing. Fans should expect a Super Bowl. That's all they can expect."
Winslow was talking about the Browns winning the Super Bowl -- not Winslow being a superstar and winning it by himself. But K-2 also wants to be the "go-to guy," Crennel said. Wide receiver Braylon Edwards, also rehabbing from knee surgery, wants to be the go-to guy, too. So does running back Reuben Droughns.
"Kellen is amazing," Frye said. "Every day he makes a catch and you just drop your jaw. The other day he was in full stride and just picked the ball off the ground. He never broke stride. Everybody just said 'Wow.'"
Winslow did not talk about catching 60 or 70 passes in 2006. Instead, he talked about what he, Edwards and Joe Jurevicius could mean to the Browns in the red zone. Last season the Browns scored only 232 points, the fewest in the league.
"We could do some special things out there," Winslow said. "We have big, tall, physical receivers. We could do a lot of things. We just have to make it happen."
Jeff Schudel covers the Browns for the News-Herald in Willoughby, Ohio.