The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basketball/heat/sfl-flspdolpnote02sbapr02,0,5069720.story

Ronnie Brown to share Dolphins' backfield with Ricky Williams

By Omar Kelly
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

April 2, 2008

PALM BEACH - It looks like the Ricky and Ronnie Express will be making a return trip to South Florida.

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano appears to be a believer in the two-back system the NFL has been moving toward the past couple of seasons, which means Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams will be asked to share carries this season.

"In our league, you're seeing less and less of that one back, that [one] guy doing it all the time," Sparano said. "I mean you can look around the league and really see that's something that doesn't last very long because of injury, and because of how good the other people are."

Sparano pointed out he needs to learn how Brown, who rushed for 605 yards and averaged 5.1 yards before tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in late October, and Williams, who suffered a season-ending chest injury in the one game he played after returning from his prolonged NFL suspension, complement each other.

In 2005, their one season together in the Dolphins' backfield, Brown rushed for a team-high 907 yards on 207 carries, while Williams gained 743 yards on 168 carries. Williams also led the team with six rushing touchdowns, two more than the rookie Brown.

Sparano is hopeful that Brown is healthy enough to participate in practice when training camp opens in late July. But Sparano won't rush the recovery of Brown's surgically repaired right knee, especially with former Florida State standout Lorenzo Booker, who averaged 4.5 yards on 28 carries and caught 28 passes for 237 yards in his five games, still in the picture.

"Lorenzo is an interesting player, obviously. He's a guy that when you watch, he jumps off the film a little bit," Sparano said. "He's interesting in that he's a guy that you've got to get touches for. You've got to find a way to get Lorenzo the ball a little bit that way. I think there's a role."

I would say that given the uncertainty the Fins have at QB, a starting running back tandem of Rickie and Ronnie could be awesome.  Of course that has a couple of "ifs" in it.  IF Rickie can keep his head on straight and IF he can return to his form of a few years ago.  And IF Ronnie can come back from a bad knee injury to perform at the level that he was starting to show he could perform at.    But hey, given the fact that it is only Apri 2 and a long ways til the season starts, at least the thought gives me something to be excited about for the moment.

Yeah if they both stay healthy our strength will be the running game! I just want to see how Booker will contribute into this...

Sweet.  I get to dust off my jersey.

I love you, Ricky. :-*

Hopefully, the new regime will give Ricky the structure he needs to thrive.

What will be more interesting to see is what happens AFTER this season.

We aren't going to be playoff contenders in 2008.  That's the painful truth.  We're gearing up for a run in 2009.

Will we resign Ricky?  I hope so.  I think he is a crucial piece of the playoff puzzle.

ha, 2009?  more like '11

Re-sign Ricky?   Doesn't he still have 2 years on his contract?  ???

I find it hard to believe that anyone thinks that you can be gearing up for a title run that's 4 years in the future in today's NFL.  The worst teams in the league are a few players from being in the conference championship game (see: '06 NO, '04 ATL, '03 CAR, '01 NE, '99 STL).

Run Rickey Run!!  If Ronnie makes a full recovery this may be the best RB Tandom in the NFL with a halfway decent Oline.  They both have great hands too. With a decent Tight end and just 1 deep threat to stretch the field we could really control that clock.

WHOOAaaa there Kemo Sabe,You're putting the Cart in front of the horse....He's not played a full season since 2003..He played in 12 games in 2005...And one minor slip up of anykind from never seeing an NFL field,unless he buys a ticket....

He'll be 31 when the season starts this season.....Let's take one year at a time....

most teams don't go 1 play away from going completely defeated as well as having the kind of turnover & turmoil we have had the past few years.

Ronnie(http://www.nfluk.com/imagefolder/medium/Feature%20Article/ronnie%20brown.jpg)

Ricky(http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/images/2001_02/main_images/nfl/2002/001/williams_ricky_111702.jpg)

L. Booker(http://msn.foxsports.com/id/7525626_36_1.jpg)



Gonna be one Helluva backfield  ;D ;D ;D

OOOOOOOO YEAH!!!!!   This is EXACTLY what we need to take the pressure off John Beck/Josh McCown/whoever the starting QB is.  Having two proven RB's in the game also allows stronger play by the offense in the 4th quarter.  Had to gravedig this little piece I wrote shortly before Ricky's drug appeal in 2006 before he got suspended for a year, but it pretty much sums up what I think:

Seriously fellers, if Ricky returns to his form of a few years ago, he's essentially unstoppable.  All this jabber about how foreign he is to the field, blah blah blah.  Given a reasonable Offensive line, Rick's gonna blow some major doors.

I find people misunderstanding some of Ricky's comments.  One thing Ricky understands is that "pressurized expectations" deprive us of energies otherwise necessary to play our best.  I've experienced it ... and it's an amazing philosophy to embrace.   Full speed ahead without looking over your shoulder.   Rock on Ricky!

Well, the NFL is kind of liken to Winner-take-all Reppie primaries. Take a few percentage points of the top and, the result could be dramatically different. So it is with Ricky Williams: put on the Fins and by God, they are good for 6 wins in a situation like last year. Wait a minute he was a Fins last year. But I mean when it counts, not the post-bye developmental period.

He didn't even play a full game last season.  What's your point?

  I am definetly EXCITED to see what a HEALTHY Ricky Williams/Ronnie Brown RB combo can do in 2008.  Lorenzo Booker will be a good 3rd down and speed back.  The running game is definetly not a concern.  It is the rest of the offense that needs to step it up and play better football.  ;)   

I think the running game is definitely going to be a HUGE concern, at least for the first half of the season while Ronnie gets going. As I said when he got injured (mind you, I was just parroting some great experts in sports medicine), Brown is probably going to be called 100% by the start of the season, but his performance will be disappointing. That's the standard recovery process for Brown's injury these days. Normally, running backs do return to their previous level of performance, but it just takes longer than the "he's 100%" claim will suggest.

As for Ricky... well, he took a handful of snaps and got injured. I don't think we can say anything one way or the other about him.

Booker is an interesting player and I went out on a limb predicting great things from him this past season, but, unfortunately, Cameron didn't feel he was ready. When he was finally given a chance towards the end, I thought he did quite well. The new management have spoken very highly of him, so it'll be interesting to see how Sparano can get him involved. He clearly has some spectacular abilities, but tapping them isn't going to be trivial. It's not like just handing off to a power back...

So, all in all, I'd say I'm very concerned about our running game next season. There's a lot of a potential, but too many IFs for my liking:

IF Ronnie gets back to 100% by September.
IF Ricky can actually still perform (and not get injured).
IF Booker turns out to be great AND Sparano can get him involved.

If all of those IFs fall out the wrong way, we'll have a running game lead by a gimp Ronnie and some guy named Patrick Cobbs. That would get ugly pretty darn quick.

Point is, if Ricky Williams was there in the backfield where he's suppose to be, then Fins game results could have turned up 6 wins, in a hypothetical last season. You know, I know, everybody knows half the Fins losses were decided by a few pts. You know, I know, everybody knows Goodell shafted Fins big time by holding the guy out. When he did reappear in tandem with RB during the Linehan/Saban regime -- they had 9 wins that season -- the D had to prepare for an awesome rushing attack based on a Csonka and Morris backfield, only more flexible. 

Some credit Linehan for the Fins 9 win season. He had some brilliant and some bonehead calls as I recall '05 here, so its a wash. I say, the Fins were able to put together wins mainly on the strength of a hard rushing game and their defensive attack.

The '08 version of the R&R express will be doubtless more predictable, but concievably a hard-core rushing attack that effectively penetrates an opposing defensive front.

Coulda woulda shoulda.

I have confidence in Ronnie Brown, we will see if Ricky can step up to the plate or not. Ricky has not played much football in the last three or four years.