Some things you might not know about Ronnie Brown

By Hugo Guzman  |   Tuesday, October 09, 2007  |  Comments( 2 )

Miami Dolphins
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Currently, the most polarizing conversations pertaining to the Miami Dolphins are as follows:

Is Travis Johnson really a bad guy, and did he knock Trent Green straight into retirement?

Did head coach Cam Cameron make a mistake when he chose to punt the football instead of attempting a 56-yard field goal with less than two minutes left to play in the Dolphins' 22-19 loss to Houston?

When should John Beck get the starting nod?

Will this team go 0-16?

Only the Beck conversation can be seen as a glimmer of hope within what appears to be a thick forest of pessimism. And, when you couple in the various questions surrounding youngsters like Ted Ginn Jr. and Lorenzo Booker, along with the myriad of issues on defense, 2007 is looking like the mother of all regular-season disasters.

However, there is one player who is providing South Florida fans with a legitimate reason for optimism. While everyone is aware of just how solid Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown has been in recent weeks, it is the subtle details that make his ascent all the more remarkable.

For example, most people know that Brown leads the league in total yards from scrimmage with 712, and that he is fifth in the league in rushing with 425 yards on the ground. They also know the former Auburn standout has run for 100 yards or more in three straight games -- a formidable streak that is just two contests shy of Ricky Williams' franchise record -- and that he came just 47 yards short of being the first player to accumulate 200 total yards in three straight games since Walter Payton did it in 1977. But there are few other stat lines worth mentioning that likely won't make it into the local news or the local fish wrapper.

For starters, Brown has touched the football 108 times thus far but has yet to cough up the football. In a league where turnovers are often the difference between a win and a loss, this is perhaps the most impressive aspect of Brown's '07 performance.

And there's more.

No running back with more than 60 carries can claim a higher yards per carry average than Brown's 5.1, and he's also second in the league in rushing touchdowns with four, trailing only Colts phenom Joseph Addai, who has five.

Additionally, Brown has the third-longest run from scrimmage thus far. Only Michael Turner's 74-yarder and Jamal Lewis' 66-yarder bested Brown's 60-yard effort against the Raiders. Not bad for a guy who supposedly can't break long runs.

Mind you, this is the same back who played the role of lead scapegoat as recently as Week 2, sharing carries with NFL journeyman Jesse Chatman and posting two straight 33-yard efforts to start the season.

All of a sudden, Brown is on pace for nearly 2,300 yards from scrimmage, 16 touchdowns, and a one-way ticket to Honolulu. Pretty good for a player who was labeled as "just another guy" by Miami radio personalities like Sid Rosenberg and Jorge Sedano.

In their defense, those guys will be the first to tell you that three games does not make a season. If Brown wants to solidify his status as a franchise back and overcome the rather large shadow cast by his predecessor, the third-year back will have to continue producing similar numbers for the rest of the season and beyond.

Still, it's nice to know that, sans Beck's entrance into the starting lineup, Miami fans have something tangible to look forward to on Sundays.

Find subtle reasons for hope in the Miami Dolphins at RealFootball365.com
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About Hugo Guzman

Trying to bring an objective approach to NFL analysis.
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