MMQB (cont.)

Gary Baxter is participating in Browns practices less than two years after severing the patella tendons in both legs on one play.

Michael J. LeBrecht II/SI

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Wednesday-Thursday, July 23-24, Cleveland Browns camp

BEREA, Ohio -- "Did you watch me today?'' Gary Baxter said, excitedly, at the close of his second practice in pads since ... well, since a horrific 2006 injury. "What'd you think? How'd I look?''

I said: "You looked like an NFL cornerback.''

"That's what I'm talking about!'' Baxter said. "And it's only gonna get better.''

In October 2006 against Denver, Baxter came down hard, and wrong, on both legs while trying to defend good friend Javon Walker on a deep pass. Baxter tore both patella tendons. Torn is too mild a word. The torque was so great that each tendon was sheared off, and there was significant nerve damage.

After surgery and five weeks in the hospital, never out of bed, Baxter says a nurse came in one day with an orderly. "She's here to measure you for your wheelchair,'' the nurse said. As in, the chair you may be confined to for a long, long time. But he took his first steps a month later, around Christmas, and vowed to GM Phil Savage he'd play again. And after 19 months of rehab, there he was, standing in front of a mirror in the Browns' trainers' room, staring at himself, getting emotional. Then he went out on the practice field and competed against kids trying to steal his dream.

"It's like seeing Kevin Everett walk,'' Willie McGinest told me after seeing Baxter run around in pads for the first time.

The good news for Baxter, a big-money, free-agent signing for Cleveland in 2005, is the team is cornerback-poor, probably the team in the league with the biggest need there. The bad news is -- well, after where Baxter has been, there is no bad news. But he and the Browns don't know how the legs will react when he gets receivers diving at them to block him out of the way. [Postscript: Baxter had to sit two practices late last week because of fatigue.]

"I'll make it,'' he said. "We'll separate the men from the boys. And believe me, I will raise some eyebrows. I will make it.''

Friday, July 25, Washington Redskins camp

ASHBURN, Va. -- Some teams you watch and you say: This team is better than people think. The Redskins are one of those teams.

Now, I caution you -- I watched only one practice. But they're responding to Jim Zorn, whose offense is better for Jason Campbell than the encyclopedic one devised by Al Saunders. Campbell looked terrific, accurate and sure of himself. His weapons, assuming the rookie receivers can stay healthy, will be as good as any offensive skill-player set in the division.

Greg Blache, the new defensive coordinator, has a new toy to move around the line in Jason Taylor -- and Andre Carter is finally realizing his rush potential. The secondary does have some concerns. But I walk away from here thinking Washington can finish anywhere from first to fourth in this division, and I wouldn't be laughing about the "first'' part.

Saturday, July 26, New Orleans Saints camp

JACKSON, Miss. -- "When you look at your first two years and you see the 3.8 yards per carry, do you want to puke?'' I asked Reggie Bush, who was sitting on a golf cart on the running track surrounding the football field at Millsaps College.

Bush smiled. "Well, kind of. I want nine, 10 yards a carry. But I think the difference with me this year is I'm smarter. I realize four yards is a good run sometimes. I appreciate four yards; I'm not disappointed when I get stopped after four yards.''

I have heard this before. This is what the Saints were saying going into the 2007 season, and Bush wasn't any more explosive in his second year. The difference this year, the Saints hope, is Bush was a workout fanatic around the New Orleans complex in the offseason, with lots of the strong-burst lifting (squats, mostly) that give a back the kind of explosion through holes we haven't seen enough of in Bush. He's most certainly on trial, and he feels it.

"What I did in college was not a fluke,'' he said. "And the NFL will not be a fluke for me either.''

Monday, July 28, Green Bay Packers camp

GREEN BAY -- The Packers jog out to practice. They stretch. They belch and guffaw and prepare. They do drills. They throw and catch and run. And never is heard a discouraging word. No chants of "We want Brett!'' Or "Bring back Brett!'' And I start to think three things:

1. How well-behaved and wonderfully Green-Bayish they are.

2. What sheep they are.

3. How they wish they could just get on with their football lives and forget the nightmare of the Favre thing and just get on, distraction-free, with the most important thing in their lives -- a new Packer season.

I am amazed, but I shouldn't be. Even though many of these fans do not like GM Ted Thompson, this is not Philly or Foxboro, where the fans would hang Thompson in effigy. Or worse. [Postscript, Sunday night: Now that Brett Favre's actually going back to practice this week, I think there will be a flurry of fan comments and tension for a few days, but it won't last. That would not fit into the orderliness of the Packer world. It's football season, not picket season.]