Winslow knows one speed

08.13.2008

For Browns tight end Kellen Winslow, one of the guys who wear the pants on this team -- literally and figuratively -- there are not really any practices, only game readiness.

Winslow, one of the most fiery players the Browns have ever had, displayed that intensity on two back-to-back plays in Wednesday's training camp practice.

The first occurred as the Pro Bowler was coming across the middle to catch a pass. Newly-signed safety Travis Key was coming the other way to defend it. Winslow caught the ball and immediately ran into Key, sending both players sprawling.

As if Winslow ever needs his battery charged, that play seemed to get him going.

"I was mad before that play happened," Winslow said afterward. "I wasn't in the groove."

But maybe he got into the groove on the next play. He caught a pass down the sideline as Key approached. Winslow saw Key coming, and Key ended up tumbling to avoid a collision.

"I was thinking about stripping the ball," Key said. "But then I realized that wasn't a good idea."

He wasn't going to get it without a heck of a fight.

The intensity is second nature to Winslow, who remains a bit hobbled with a hamstringproblem that kept him out of last Thursday night's 24-20 loss to the New York Jets in the preseason opener. He is not sure if he'll play when the Browns travel to New York to meet the defending Super Bowl champion Giants on Monday Night Football.

"When the ball is in the air, I'm trying to make plays," Winslow said. "I'm not thinking about pain."

And anyway, no pain, no gain.

"I try to simulate as much of the game as possible," Winslow said. "I always love to compete."

It's why he wears full pads and game pants to every practice, even the ones where the dress of the day of his teammates includes shell pads and shorts. He said he started it last year.

Browns radio play-by-play announcer Jim Donovan remembers the opening preseason game at Philadelphia in 2006. Winslow had missed all of 2005 with injuries sustained in an offseason motorcycle accident, and all but the first two games of his rookie season of '04 with a broken leg.

So after all that, he was ready to go -- really ready to go.

"I got to the stadium about three hours before kickoff -- three hours before kickoff -- and K2 is fully dressed, pads, uniform, cleats, everything," Donovan said. "I couldn't believe it."

Believe it.

So what happened Wednesday, then, is nothing new for Winslow. It just happened to be the latest chapter, an extension of something that began a long time ago.

It began when Winslow was a kid growing up the son of a Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end by the same name, but Browns backup quarterback Ken Dorsey first encountered it when they were teammates together at the University of Miami.

"From his first day in college, he was all-go, full-speed, full-effort every day," Dorsey said. "He's just so much fun to be around because he brings so much passion and enthusiasm to the team."

Any team, including those Miami Hurricanes, who won one national championship and played in another national title game during his career there.

"I'm a Hurricane, and that's the way we play," Winslow said.

With plenty of spunk, just like this young team leader is getting his teammates in Cleveland to play.

"He competes out there every day," Dorsey said. "He's just a competitor. That's what he loves, competing. He's always competing. He wants the ball on every play."

Continued Dorsey, "Sure, K2 has some quirks, but he's the most loyal teammate you could ever have. When he comes out like this in practice, it makes everybody better -- not just the offense, but the defense as well, the whole team."

Practice? Don't use that word around Kellen Winslow.