Maroney's shoulder injury was broken bone
BROCKTON - Laurence Maroney was trying to bang out hits last night in fellow running back Kevin Faulk's charity softball game at Campanelli Stadium. But it's the hits Maroney has received for a perceived lack of production and toughness that rankle him.
Prior to the game, Maroney revealed that the shoulder injury that limited him to three games last season was a broken bone. He injured the shoulder against the Jets during the second game of the season, sat out a week, then came back against San Francisco Oct. 5, but looked tentative, refusing to lower his right shoulder for a first down. After the game, Maroney said he had "issues."
The Patriots placed him on injured reserve Oct. 20.
"I had a broken bone and I was trying to play with it," said Maroney. "It's kind of hard to sit here and play and not tell people what is going on. Everybody is going to think one way because they don't really know what's going on. I dare anybody in this crowd to play football with a broken bone in your shoulder and you tell me how long you're going to last out there.
"Doing it the second game and still trying to play, I feel like it still shows my toughness and my dedication to the team and how much I really want to contribute. The shoulder is great. Not good, great."
Maroney acknowledged that it bothered him that some questioned his toughness.
"It did, but everybody has a job to do," he said. "Reporters have a job to report stories, whether it's good or bad. I can't get mad at them because they're just doing their job. It was my job not to say nothing at the time."
Maroney said he was looking forward to the 2009 season, and proving his critics wrong.
"I've been gone too long," he said. "The legs are feeling fresher than ever. Going back out there I know that I'm going to have a lot of critics. It's just going out there and proving everybody wrong. I think there are a lot of people that are counting me out and doubting me, but it's just going out there and having fun again."
"He's got a lot of options of things he could do," said Sanders. "Some people want him to play another year or two, some people want him to be on TV. He's great in front of the camera, so whatever he decides to do he's going to do great at it. I just wish him the best."
"It looks like he can throw it back there pretty good," said Gostkowski. "He's been doing it for eight or nine years, so I don't think he'll have any problem."
Christopher L. Gasper can be reached at cgasper@globe.com. 
