Given how long we’ve been talking about Jim Brown and Trent Richardson, it’s a bit hard to fathom that the two men were actually in the same place at the same time for the first time during Sunday’s Browns-Bills game.
As expected, the two men met and talked in person for the first time. The meeting was highly anticipated because of Brown’s dismissal of Richardson as an “ordinary” running back leading up to the draft, words that Brown later said were just an attempt to motivate Richardson to be the best running back he could be. After the meeting, which Richardson described as a “shaking moment”, the Browns rookie said that he was viewing Brown’s words the same way.
“A lot of people took the message the wrong way, but it was always a motivational thing,” Richardson said, via Tom Reed of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Jim Brown, he’s an inspiring person. He’s a person that loves people and loves being around people. He’s the type of guy that’s an icon, always been an icon, always been a fighter, always been a winner. So one of the powerful things he said to me is ‘Keep trying no matter what. Don’t get to the point where you’re settling for anything. Don’t give up. Keep going no matter what. Keep striving.’”
Richardson wasn’t all that successful against the Bills in a 24-14 loss. He ran for just 27 yards on 12 carries, although he did show a good second and third effort to get the ball into the end zone at one point. That fits with the keep striving message he attributes to Brown so it seems that things have had a happy ending on this front.
Now we just need to find out what Kevin Mack thinks about Richardson.
