By Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Has anyone in this city lost so much goodwill so quickly and in such uncertain circumstances as Peyton Hillis?
Wednesday, the Browns' running back apologized for missing a Boys and Girls Club appearance on Halloween, assigning blame to miscommunication with his "management," which in Hillis' case is his brother, Kyle. Even with that overdue gesture, Hillis is not the same player who won Browns fans' hearts last year, either on or off the field. 
At least he did not say he had the miscommunication with LeCharles Bentley, the former Brown who set up the Boys and Girls Club appearance. Bentley has tried to give back to his hometown, even after his Browns career lasted one snap in training camp due to a freak injury. A career-ending staph infection followed.
Hillis is dealing with health issues and a public-relations problem. Certainly, the latter should have been addressed more quickly. LeBron James' merry band of maladroit handlers bungled their PR moment more memorably by far, but Hillis had never before had the same baggage as a player who had not given his all. For his part, Hillis says he will try to make up the missed appearance.
Hillis has played in four of the Browns' seven games so far this season, after emerging as a punishing running, catching and hurdling feature back on last year's team. More than a cult figure, Hillis embodied a give-no-quarter style of play that could have flickered across the nation's Philco and Admiral television sets in black and white in the 1950s, as the ground grew hard and harsh winds off the lake discouraged anything fancy.
He seemed to have pressed the fast-forward button on his career. A seventh-round draft choice by Denver in 2008, he was the fullback for Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in the backfield at Arkansas. Hillis came to the Browns in the Brady Quinn trade. Overnight, he became the fulfillment of former coach Eric Mangini's offensive primitivism. He was such a fan favorite nationwide that he is on the "Madden 2012" video game's cover this season.
Just as quickly, the blossoming talent has withered.
Hillis has been sidelined by medical problems that, while troublesome, are not as readily quantifiable as torn ligaments or broken bones. Strep throat and a hamstring pull have been the culprits. The hamstring injury is not that hard to figure, given his heavy musculature.
But Browns center Alex Mack played so soon after his appendix was removed this season that you wondered if a baseball catcher's chest protector wouldn't have been prudent. Many fans know that the Rams' Jack Youngblood played on a broken leg in the Super Bowl after the 1979 season. Bernie Kosar, the last Browns quarterback who was a consistent winner, has a hockey player's dentition today because he refused to wear a mouthpiece, fearing it would hamper the audibles he called at the line of scrimmage.
Even Terrell Owens, a world-class prima donna, participated -- and played well -- in the only Super Bowl he ever reached with the Eagles, only seven weeks after breaking his leg and snapping an ankle ligament.
In what amounts to a combat sport, Hillis has sat on his stool in the corner. It has not won him the admiration of former players, and it would be no surprise if it did not have something of the same effect in the locker room now.
It is really not fair for any players to question the physical courage and desire to play of another, though. The example of Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler comes to mind. Criticized by -- of all soft-nosed ex-players -- Deion Sanders after leaving last season's NFC Championship Game, Cutler was found to have suffered a torn medial collateral ligament in his knee. He could not possibly have played.
The biggest problem with Hillis is that the missed games, as well as the missed charity event, coincide with a contractual impasse. Missing a charity event for disadvantaged children is not advisable anyway, but it is far less so in such a situation. Hillis simply presses a lot of hot buttons for ordinary people, who are up against far worse than his unextended $600,000 contract.
That's even though Browns president Mike Holmgren said early in the season that he was "trying like crazy" to sign Hillis for the long term. It was the first thread in a web of controversy that is now supported by suspicion and innuendo.
This is a trap both the Browns' front office and Hillis could have avoided. If there is estrangement, neither has profited from it. If there is escape, both should avail themselves of it quickly.
http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index.ssf/2011/11/how_peyton_hillis_won_clevelan.html
No comments:
Post a Comment