Monday, October 1, 2007

The beast has been fed...

Unfortunately, the Dolphins still suck.

If you remember my initial post in this blog was all about Ronnie Brown and the bad rap he'd been getting from the fans and the media. Well, now he leads the entire NFL (and your local fantasy leagues) in total yards from scrimmage so I thought it'd be fun to revisit it again.

All along I've felt he was the right draft pick and liked what I saw from him with limited opportunity. He's been mired in coaching changes, philosophy changes, the Ricky Williams fiasco, an awful supporting cast, among other things, but he's finally getting a chance to showcase himself.

I know people will still scoff at the idea of Ronnie being a legitimate NFL running back, let alone the superstar I expect him to become. But just for fun, let's take a look at some numbers. You know what he's done the last two games, and since it's against sub-par defenses, people are already trying to dismiss it.

So, let's take a look at a larger sample. Brown has just 15 games in his short career where he's touched the ball 20 times or more. If you remember, that was my biggest knock on the Dolphins - not feeding Ronnie enough.

In those 15 games of 20+ touches, how many yards would you guess Ronnie Brown has totaled? 1100 (73/game)? 1500 (100/game)? 1750 (117/game)? Those last two seem pretty optimistic considering the state of the Dolphins over the past two seasons and the first four games of this season. Well, here are the numbers over those 15 games - not necessarily his best 15, just games where he had 20 or more touches:

358 touches, 1968 yards, 131.2/game, 5.5/touch.

That, of course, includes his 190 yard performance against the 7-0, Super Bowl bound, Bears defense last year when he and the Dolphins went into Chicago and gave them their first of three losses, 31-14.

One more time: 15 games, 1968 total yards. Comparisons?
Cadillac Williams has 16 games with 20+ touches. Here are his numbers:
407 touches, 1760 yards, 110/game, 4.3/touch

Ok, maybe you're looking for someone a little more prominent, not just related to Ronnie by draft class and position? How bout this guy...

LaDainian Tomlinson during his record setting season of a year ago:
16 games, 404 touches, 2323 yards, 145.2/game, 5.7/touch

Not that far off. Of course, Tomlinson's Chargers were 14-2 last year. Brown's Dolphins are 6-14 over his last 20 games. I can only imagine what Brown could do with the best fullback in the NFL (one of the best ever) and a half decent offensive line paving the way for him. Heck, I'd settle for a mildly threatening passing game to help out a bit, or a defense to keep the game close enough for him to keep getting the ball.

He's got the system, he's getting the touches, now please God surround him with some talent and we'll see something really special. I guarantee it.




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dolphins fans are classy: http://www.local6.com/spotlight/14247236/detail.html

Mazzone said...

...Says the Philly fan.

Pot, meet Kettle.

Anonymous said...

Nice find on the youtube clip, Mazzone. That first Brown TD run was f'ing awesome.

-theny