NO NONSENSE : For Miami’s Mark Brown, the Adjectives Fit the Player

If nothing else, Miami Dolphins linebacker Mark Brown may have begun this season among the league leaders in positive adjectives:

--He was reliable.

--He was versatile.

--He was cooperative.

--He was talented.

But he was also disgusted.

That’s actually a tame way to describe his feelings on opening day, but let’s just leave it at that.

Brown was irritated because it looked as if adjectives were going to be the only things he could lead the league in, because he had lost his starting job.

A ninth-round draft choice in 1983, Brown had spent his entire Dolphin career bouncing from inside linebacker to outside, then back in. He had been the swing man, filling in whenever an injured player went down or a gaping hole opened up.

In his 5 pro seasons, he had started 48 games, but he was tired of being turned inside out. He thought he had earned some stability.

So he went to Coach Don Shula last summer and told him, “Moving back and forth is hurting my chances of winning a job. It’s hard to compete that way.”

Shula looked at Brown reassuringly and told him that the best four linebackers would be in there opening day.

Came opening day against the Chicago Bears and, sure enough, there were four linebackers in there.

Brown wasn’t one of them.

As it turns out, that may have been a mistake. The Bears went over, around and through the Dolphin defense en route to a 34-7 victory. Chicago gained 262 yards rushing, 165 passing.

After that dismal performance, Brown gained his starting job back, having replaced Jackie Shipp at an inside spot.

The results have been spectacular.

Brown can’t take all the credit, but there has been plenty of credit to go around. In its last 4 games, the Miami defense has allowed only 41 points, an average of 10.25 a game. In 3 of the 4 games, the defense has not allowed a touchdown. The Dolphins are 1 of only 2 NFL teams that have not allowed a touchdown through the air this season. And the club has not allowed a touchdown of any sort in its last 10 quarters.

“We want to put the word out around the league,” Brown said. “Defense is back in Miami.”

For Brown, last week’s 24-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings was the highlight. He had 2 interceptions, equaling his previous career total, and 8 tackles, giving him 28 in his last 4 games.

“We’ve been playing with reckless abandon to control the line of scrimmage,” Brown said.

“Everybody knew we were not as bad as we played in the Chicago game. We were all a little embarrassed. We were not going to go through a whole season like that. The problem was that everyone was worried about making mistakes, worried about coaches jumping on them. Everyone was tentative. We can’t be out there worrying.”

The pressure has always been on the defense on a team where the emphasis has usually been on the offense.

“It’s always (Dan) Marino, (Mark) Duper and (Mark) Clayton, that’s all anybody ever wanted to hear about,” Brown said. “It seemed like whatever we did on defense, we wouldn’t get any notoriety.”

That’s changing. In fact, the Dolphins’ defensive turnaround is so dramatic, a movie already has been made about it.

But don’t bother to check your local listings to see when it will be coming to a theater near you. This film is available for private screenings only. It’s a compilation of the club’s most jarring tackles, titled “Puttin’ on the Hits.” It’s updated each week and shown to the defense the night before a game to inspire the players.

Brown will need little additional inspiration for Sunday’s game against the Raiders at the Coliseum. This is home turf. This was the place where his dreams of a pro career began.

Growing up in the L.A. area, Brown followed the exploits of Roman Gabriel and the Rams at the Coliseum.

Brown attended Inglewood High School and Southwest Los Angeles College before going on to Purdue, where he was All-Big Ten in his senior year.

His family still lives here, so he got pretty excited last summer when he heard rumors that the Raiders might be interested in trading for him, rumors that never became reality.

“I would love to play at home, to play in front of family and friends,” he said. “I’ve had a fine career here in Miami and I’m not looking to leave, but I’m into whatever happens.”

Such conversation is rare for Brown. He doesn’t talk much about himself. A lot of his teammates don’t even know him very well.

The only one who can get to him is fellow linebacker David Frye, and he has to resort to such drastic moves as putting talcum powder in Brown’s helmet or stealing his pants to get much emotion out of his teammate.

Otherwise, Brown just goes about his business, earning all those pleasant adjectives.

And, finally, a position he can call his own.