What Ronnie Brown Can Do for You: Miami Dolphins Need To Unleash the RB

If you happened to catch the Jets-Dolphins game on Sunday night, a couple of things probably caught your eye.

First it was the burn-your-retina orange alternate jersey’s the Dolphins were donning, which I’ve actually grown quite found of.

Secondly, you witnessed two young quarterbacks put on an impressive aerial display, with Mark Sanchez and Chad Henne combining for 619 yards and five touchdowns.

Also worth noting, was the lack of a running game between the two teams, especially the Dolphins highly touted two headed tandem of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams.

The two combined for a measly 18 carries, while Henne put up 44 pass attempts.

This is a disturbing stat for Dolphins fans.

Yes, Miami was trailing nearly the entire game and didn’t have the luxury of running the clock, but there needs to be more of a balance in this South Beach offense, and it starts with No. 23.

Ronnie Brown needs to be unleashed.

Brown has shown flashes of brilliance in his injury plagued career, but has only cracked 1,000 yards once.  Miami needs to do a better job of running him early and often and not just in wildcat formations either.

While his stats this year look extremely average (199 rushing yards, and one touchdown through three games) the stat to take notice of is his yards per carry.

Ronnie is running for 5.4 yards every time he touches the ball.  This is a higher average than that of top fantasy picks Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew, and Ray Rice.

There’s an argument to be had for limiting Ronnie’s carries. He is coming back from another injury and the old Ricky Williams is running like the Ricky Williams of old.

Williams put up impressive stats in a late season starting role for Miami last year but has struggled so far this season, averaging 3.4 yards per carry, or a whole two yards less than Brown.

Ronnie has also shown no lingering effects of his season ending foot surgery, yet still often disappears from the field for possessions at a time.

It’s worth noting that the Jets came into the game with a great run blitz package and were determined to take away Miami’s ground game.  They successfully did this on the very first possession, where Miami went pass, pass, pass, punt.

Right out of the gates, the Jets had already won.

This reminded me of another Jets-Dolphins contest of yesteryear.

The last time Ronnie got over 20 carries in a game came last October, when Miami beat the Jets on a back and forth Monday night game that saw Brown score two touchdowns, including the game winner.

Seemed to work alright before, didn’t it?

In fact, the only three games in which Brown registered 20 rushing attempts last season he accumulated 325 yards and six touchdowns.

325 yards and six touchdowns in three games!

Miami went 2-1 in these games, with the lone loss coming to the Indianapolis Colts in a game where Ted Ginn Jr. had a game winning touchdown hit him in both hands, only to fall to the end zone grass.

Ugh, Ted Ginn memories, but back to Ronnie.

Brown’s workload and the Dolphins record have gone hand in hand since he was drafted by the team in 2005. 

In the 15 games where Ronnie has gotten 20 carries or more, Miami is 10-5.  This includes the two games in 2007 where Miami was getting spanked week after week.  Brown, despite the losses, still registered over 100 yards and a touchdown in both defeats.

The message is simple.

When you run Ronnie, you win.  It’s time to take the training wheels off the 2010 season and let him do what he does best.

Whether he is bursting through holes, juking by defenders or plowing them over, Brown is a bad man that can single handily take over a game when you give him the chance.

What can Brown do for you?  Hopefully we’ll find out this Monday against New England.

20 carries would be a nice start.