Mims says he let the Monday night Mile High environment dictate his play, and, as usual, there was Brown talking him through it.
“He told me stuff I’ll always hold forever,” Mims says. “Since then, I’ve been getting better week-by-week.
“Not everybody gets the big brother treatment or the older role model in the room sitting there helping you through the process. Most guys see it as competition. They won’t talk to him or give him advice. With him, it’s never been that way. He’s helped me from the moment I showed up.”
Brown and Mims are third and fifth, respectively, in the league when it comes to the number of pass blocks. That reflects the challenges of being a tackle on a pass-first team.
Chad Johnson may have jumped on Orlando Brown Sr.’s back before a Bengals-Ravens game in a gag that went bad back in the day, but as a Bengal his son has never shied away from putting as much as he can on his back.
Dalton Risner, a vet on his third team who showed up just as training camp ended, wasn’t sure what to expect from his new O-line room. Or an entrenched figure like Brown, who has been to Pro Bowls, won a Super Bowl and blocked for three of the greatest quarterbacks of the age. Risner didn’t want to make any assumptions. But, look, a lot of guys who have been paid and have the accolades aren’t always the most welcoming.
“He shut that down right away. He was one of the first people to say hello and make me feel welcome,” Risner says. “He’s one of a kind. Super talented. Super outspoken and backs it up with leadership and character. He’s the glue in our room. If we didn’t have guys like him and Ted, we’d be in trouble.”
Brown and Karras have kept the continuity going even as a pair of new offensive line coaches took over this season. While head man Scott Peters and assistant Mike McCarthy instilled their philosophy and Xs and Os to fuel the line’s emergence, their two leaders kept things humming. As always, Karras has an open house after home games, and Brown opens his door to the offensive line on Thursday nights for a catered dinner.
Except this Thursday night.
“Hey Ted. Where are we tonight?” Brown asks.
“Al Lupo,” says Karras of the toney Mount Adams Italian eatery.
“Through Ted’s foundation and the Anthony Munoz Foundation, we’re having dinner with the alumni O-linemen. We’ve got guys from the ’80s, ’90s, even the ’70s,” Brown says.
These Thursday nights have been a godsend for a newcomer like Risner.
“I’ve never been on a team where a guy hosts an O-line dinner at his house every week and caters in Jeff Ruby’s and Soto’s and the best food in town,” Risner says.
Those Thursdays also helped Flacco get settled in midyear. It didn’t surprise him that it was Brown opening the door. When the Ravens took Brown in the third round in 2018, Flacco was his quarterback.
“I was impressed from the very beginning,” Flacco says. “The thing about Orlando is you can tell he loves football. He likes going to work, putting in the time. He cares about it, and when guys see you care about it, (leadership) is kind of a natural flow. He’s been around enough locker rooms to know people matter. He cares about people in general. You can see he’s grown into one of the guys you look to, especially on that line.”
Running back Samaje Perine, who has known him since they took their official visit to Oklahoma right out of high school, laughs through the story of their first meeting. The strength coach told the rail-thin, ungainly Brown to bench press 225 pounds. It didn’t go well.
“I don’t say anything about it. He brings it up,” Perine says. “He’s got the ability to laugh at himself and I think that’s a reason everybody likes him. He doesn’t take himself too seriously. … In this game you see guys that get arrogant. That’s not him.”