I know it is an obvious statement, but it was really driven home to me during last night's Hall of Fame game. The OL appears to be making progress, but it seems it is rather slow progress. While I fully expect much better running lanes than we saw last night (obviously), I really don't expect there to be enough for us to have a successful power running game all season. Ricky is out the first four games, and his presence in the backfield just doesn't command the respect it once did. Ricky will have to rebuild his reputation over the course of the season. This is why getting Ronnie in right away is so critical.
This season, I think Ronnie's receiving skills will be his most important aspect of his game, and a critical component to the Dolphin's overall success. If the OL continues to show inability to stop the blitz, then the short checkdown to the RB will be used alot. While Ricky can catch, he isn't particularly brilliant after the catch, and he isn't nearly as sure handed as Ronnie. If we can start burning teams with the checkdown, it might help open some more run lanes and take some of the pressure off of that OL. Since we have Ricky now, putting him in the same backfield with Brown could generate some serious defensive confusion.
Getting Brown in ASAP might be more important than we thought.
This season, I think Ronnie's receiving skills will be his most important aspect of his game, and a critical component to the Dolphin's overall success. If the OL continues to show inability to stop the blitz, then the short checkdown to the RB will be used alot. While Ricky can catch, he isn't particularly brilliant after the catch, and he isn't nearly as sure handed as Ronnie. If we can start burning teams with the checkdown, it might help open some more run lanes and take some of the pressure off of that OL. Since we have Ricky now, putting him in the same backfield with Brown could generate some serious defensive confusion.
Getting Brown in ASAP might be more important than we thought.
