Flowery Branch – Thomas Brown believes everything happens for a reason.
He doesn’t know why an injury disabled him all of last season, his first as a professional football player. He’s not asking either.
Brown, the former University of Georgia running back and Tucker High School standout, was a sixth-round pick of the Falcons in 2008. He worked all of training camp and the preseason to make the roster. Well, almost the whole preseason. In the Falcons’ final exhibition game, Brown injured his groin after a horse-collar tackle by Baltimore’s Gary Stills. He was placed on injured reserve. His season was over.
“After putting in so much work and pushing my mind and my body to come out here every day and compete to try to get better each and every day, to have that taken away in one snap was tough for me to deal with,” Brown said. “I believe everything happens for a reason. I’m a very spiritual person and I just try to stay positive.”
What was the reason? Why the groin injury? Why, now, a leg injury that has cost him part of this year’s training camp? Brown missed Friday’s preseason game against St. Louis, but returned to practice Sunday.
“That’s one thing I struggle with, trying to know too much of God’s plan for my life,” Brown said. “I’m not going to know everything. ... [God’s] in control and I’m just trying to take a back seat and let it happen.”
Although his current leg injury in not considered severe, it did cost him several days of training camp last week. Brown said he suffered the injury on what was to be his final play in the Falcons’ preseason opener at Detroit. Brown rushed for 19 yards on 11 carries, with a long run of nine yards.
“That’s part of the game I can’t control,” Brown said. “It’s still frustrating to deal with it.”
Also frustrating for Brown was watching the Falcons have so much success on the field. Here his teammates were compiling an 11-win season and earning a playoff berth. All Brown could do was watch. Watch and get ready for this season.
“Being from Atlanta, I always rooted for the Falcons and I wanted to see them succeed,” said Brown. “Having an opportunity to be a part of the organization and see them succeed was very exciting for me. After the injury it became and up-and-down battle to get motivated and feel good about coming out and working hard and get ready for next year. Seeing guys go out there and compete and succeed as a team and not be a part from a physical standpoint was real tough for me.”
Brown has put the past behind him. He started thinking about this season the day after he was put on injured reserve.
“He’s done everything during the offseason to get back,” Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said. “He’s the kind of player we want in the building.”
According to Falcons running back coach Gerald Brown, Brown has had “a great, great camp.”
Still, making the Falcons’ roster will be a numbers game. Brown’s spot will be determined by how many running backs the Falcons keep. Or how many wide receivers or tight ends they keep. The Falcons kept four running backs last season. Currently they have Michael Turner, Jerious Norwood, Ovie Mughelli and Jason Snelling on the depth chart. Veteran Verron Haynes, also from UGA, is another running back option.
“This is a production business,” Brown said. “What have you done for me lately type of thing. ... You never know what can happen. The head man in charge decides who stays on the team and who doesn’t so all I can do is control what I do personally.”
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