What Makes Brown Special? | Page 3 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

What Makes Brown Special?

We'll just have to wait and see. I think the backup argument carries weight, but Tuberville had a point when he said that Cadillac was used on the first downs when teams knew they were going to run, while Ronnie was best utilized on the 2nd and 3rd downs when the threat of run or pass were equal and Ronnie made them outright deadly.

Saban does not believe in having one back take 90% of the carries in a game, I don't think. He just doesn't think it is smart, and seeing our history I'm not sure I disagree. Lamar Smith became a workhorse, then we fed him 40 carries in that Colts game to win the game, and he was DEAD the next week. When we did stuff like that to Ricky, he was not only dead the next game, but he retired rather than face having that happen again!

What makes Ronnie a non-sexy pick is that everyone wants to think that the dude you pick at #2 or top five is going to end up with some kind of ratio of plays that he is involved in...a high one too. I'm not sure that has EVER been very good for a football team. Pats were always at their best when they had a decent running threat to go along with Brady. Dolphins never won the super bowl with Dan Marino at the helm. The Colts never developed the dependable running game that could open the pass, they just had a opportunistic running game that was set up by the pass instead. In the end, the same thing happened to the Eagles.

It's not popular, Saban drafting a guy at #2 and then saying he'd team him up with a Ricky Williams or whoever else (maybe Kay-Jay Harris? Very possible...), but in Brown Saban sees a guy that can reach that Max Q without having to feed him too much of a proportion of our game plan.

The only problem is the salary cap. The rookie slotting forces us to give upwards of $14 million plus of guaranteed money to Brown. That almost forces Brown to have a bigger impact on the offense, to justify how much we're paying him. Saban could be wrong, this may be a move that worked only in college but won't work in the NFL the way we want it to. If Saban has Ronnie share the load figuring that is the best way to keep him productive, when Ronnie's contract is up he may decide to go somewhere he can be a feature back.

I'm willing to wait and see what happens on the field.
 
I see nothing wrong with Brown getting 20-24 carries and Gordon 6-8 per games. Give Gordon the ball on 1st down and the let Brown pound it out or catch a ball out of the backfield.. I would not be surprised if we see some Gordon and Brown in the backfield on the same play.
 
tucker said:
but it just makes u wonder when u pick Brown at #2 when he wasnt even the featured back...there is a reason why Caddy williams started in front of him...you are the starting RB for a reason...just seems weird, but i hope he does great, dont get me wrong...it just makes u wonder
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No one would have know who Willis McGahee was if gore would not have gotton hurt. Just because the guy did not start does not mean he cant play. When he dot the ball he was a beast simple as that. One would have to assume that is he got the ball more then he would have been more of a beast right?
 
The problem with giving Ronnie 20 to 24 carries a game is that projects to between 320 and 384 carries in a season. Add that with the most likely 70 catches we're probably going to expect of him and we're wearing the kid out.

I don't see anything wrong with having Brown average between 16 and 20 carries a game, while averaging 5 catches a game. That would mean that at the high end, if Brown were having a great season and so was our offense and Brown stayed healthy the whole time, Brown would get at MOST 400 touches in a season. That's a LOT. As much as I love LaDainian, they are wearing him out over there in San Diego and I think they realize it. He averaged 420 touches his first three seasons and spent this season more injured than he's ever been.

I don't know if we should strive to have Brown be a 2000+ yard factor back as they call it. We could wear him out too quickly that way. I would be fine with having him average 15 carries and 5 catches a game over his career. You want maximum yards per play out of him, maximum touchdowns per play. You can always get another hoss to take the snaps that beat a runner up (the wad ball snaps). It would be hard to find another guy who could be explosive on certain other plays like Ronnie could though.
 
Why is he special?

Oh that's easy...because he's a Miami Dolphin...that's why!!!

Go Fins!!!
 
GreenMonster said:
I see nothing wrong with Brown getting 20-24 carries and Gordon 6-8 per games. Give Gordon the ball on 1st down and the let Brown pound it out or catch a ball out of the backfield.. I would not be surprised if we see some Gordon and Brown in the backfield on the same play.
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I like the idea of them sharing the backfield in certain cituations, too. Say, on 2nd or 3rd down with 4 or 5 yards to go. I haven't seen Gordon enough to know... can he pick up the blitz well enough for the coaches to feel comfortable sending Brown out for a pass?
 
R. Brown doesn't have a lot of mileage, and he can be used all over the field. He can line up at FB, he can go out in the slot as a WR, he can get you the tough yards, and he can break one for 40.

I remember a transcript from one of the press conferences or interviews where Saban indicated that not only does he not believe in "wad ball", but he also doesn't believe in burning a RB out too quickly by feeding it to him 30 times a game. Lamar Gordon and/or T. Minor/Kay Jay Harris (whoever wins that battle) will get their share of carries during the season.

They'll keep Brown as fresh as possible, and he'll be dangerous when he has the ball.

Dude's a freaking monster tailback that comes from the South every so often. Worst case is that we have ourselves a faster Eddie George on steroids. Best case is that we have a bigger, stronger Eric Dickerson. He's not overly shifty, but he's got enough moves to create his own space, and he doesn't waste a whole lot of time trying to be flashy.

Could be a beast for us. I'm excited.
 
ckparrothead said:
The problem with giving Ronnie 20 to 24 carries a game is that projects to between 320 and 384 carries in a season. Add that with the most likely 70 catches we're probably going to expect of him and we're wearing the kid out.
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Good point ckparrot maybe 20 carries is to many and we have to think 16 or so. I think we can us him ala Westbrook and put him at many different positions to give the D a new look.. I really hope this guy can line up sometimes in the slot and be effective.
 
For anyone who hasn't watched the footage on him over at yahoo sports, you should do so.

There's definately some elusiveness there.
 
Something that hasn't been mentioned is the fact that Ronnie Brown lined up as Caddy's fullback on a lot of plays. So even when he wasn't carrying the ball (or in as the tailback), he was still on the field making contact.
 
DoLpHiNz34 said:
The one thing that worries me a tiny bit, since the whole draft Ronnie Brown thing started, is the lack of workload in college. He has an average of only 16 carries per game in college.
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When Cadillac went down his junior or sophomore year, Brown became the featured back and did very well with all the carries per game. He moved into the primary position a third of the way through the season and still managed to get over 1000 yards rushing, and thats not including what he did coming off screens.

The talk about the workload should be stopped. In fact, its going to work to his advantage since he has such fresh legs. Another example, McGahee only became a primary back his last year in college, and was mostly in for only 3 quarters. McGahee only averaged 23-26 carries a game. Look at him now.
 
Sal Lisitano said:
Why is he special?

Oh that's easy...because he's a Miami Dolphin...that's why!!!

Go Fins!!!
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Now that is an answer I am buying!!!

Go Phins
Texphinphan
 
tucker said:
but u have to always say that ronnie brown WAS NOT THE STARTER...and that miami did in all actuality pick a backup rb from college...i hope he turns out well but he was the backup and the excuses that he split time are lame...but i hope he turns into a good rb for us
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Yes, he was a backup, just like a certain RB in KC, and he has done very well for himself.
 
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