Ronnie played all 16 games this year, depending on your definition of played. He "ran" 200 times for734 yards, a 3.7 average. The NFL ranked him at#37. PFF ranked him at #27 but, that was due to high marks in blocking. Without that he is in the 40's. 32 teams, and he did not even rank as a starter, and this being a contract year. I expected much more. He was my biggest disappointment on the team, and don't care who was blocking for him.
So the fact that Ronnie is a big dude who has little acceleration yet is always dancing in the backfield instead of hitting holes hard has nothing to do with it?
Ronnie is what he is....He might get your 3 or 4 yards on a carry and most of the time your never thinking well Ronnie is going to lose yards here, then again I never sit there and think...Ronnie is about to break one either. I wouldn't be upset if we resigned him cheap or if he walked. I do like when he gets runs with an attitude and becomes a monster to bring down, just wish we saw that more often then 3 or 4 times a year.
Ronnie's flirtation with elite status ended this season. He has proven he is not going to make that leap. Im not batting an eye if both he and Ricky walk, unless we keep Ronnie on the cheap.
I thought he showed promise in the preseason, and then as the regular season progressed he (and Ricky) seemed to show little ability getting through the second level....... as well as less burst getting to it. Even when our line WAS blocking well, our hogs looked mediocre b/c R&R had trouble picking up yards. We definitely need some fresh legs in here. IMO Lex has enough fire & ability in him to give us a Mike Tolbert type season. We all know he's a physical, high effort, throw-back type player. With Lex I'm reassured that he'll run hard for us on every touch b/c that's just the kind of guy he is. Cam Wake emerging behind Taylor & Porter comes to mind (with Lex being on a lesser scale of course). IMO both Hilliard and Mark Ingram (or Mikel LeShoure) could provide us a much improved ground game behind a healthy line (with Garner back, Richie at Center, and Jerry a year seasoned)..... with maybe an explosive spark contributed by Sheets if he hasn't lost a step. I like the idea of Hilliard & LeShoure together b/c both are big backs who can also catch the ball..... and b/c of their versatililty out of the backfield, they would both compliment a more spread open offense if that's the way we go.
What an oversimplification of the problem. Our issues running the ball this year are directly related to the interior of the OL...again. Incognito wasn't getting the job done at G. Jerry was raw. There were some injuries. Berger disappointed. We've all seen R&R have better years so you have to see that the problem was OL related, not RB related. Is Brown an elite back...probably not. Is Ricky's age showing, yes. However, our porous OL was the issue this past year, not Brown or Williams ability or inability...
When all of our RB's have problems running the ball like they did last year, the problem obviously runs alot deeper than just Ronnie Brown. I think that's pretty obvious to everyone, or at least it should have been. More often than not the "dancing" Ronnie does is a because he's being patient, trying to find a hole that isn't there. When a hole isnt there, its usually because the OL hasnt done their job effectively. Ricky didn't have a great year this year either as a result of the same thing, the struggles of the OL. That being said, Ronnie isn't an explosive, big play back either. We all know that. However, he's more than efficient when he has room to run, and a hole to hit. I wouldn't mind bringing him back as long as we get another young, explosive, strong RB from the draft this year to pair up with him, and eventually take over for him. Say.... Mark Ingram?
I respectfully disagree on part of this. There line didn't block horribly all year on every play. There were numerous times the blocking was ok and Ronnie couldn't get through the second level. I agree that the line was great, but there were times where it was creating some opportunities.
He might have one or two good seasons left in him no need to bring him back and his struggle this season was mostly due to the interior line and Polite blocking
The OL does have some bearing but, Old Man Ricky averaged a half yard more with the same OL. If ya take away that one run, out of 200, for 51 yards, his average goes from 3.7 to 3.4. He was just a huge disappointment.
Afer the first 4-5 games, Incognito played well, Long, in spite of injury, was great, and Carey was above average. Other RB's had the same OL problems with much more success.
Good OP. I've been making excuses for Ronnie since we drafted him above Cadillac and Caddy had that amazing start to his rookie year. Ronnie had a fully-healthy year and did nothing. I'm done making excuses for the guy.
Ronnie didn't seem to trust his vision nearly as much this year. A good part of that may have been due to the failings of the offensive line, but in the end he still needed to be decisive and make it happen.
I think a lot of the problems with the running game go back to the OC. Everything we did in the run game seemed to be between the tackles even when we were lined up in the WC. The only time we seemed to try an stretch the field horizontally was when the RB couldn't find a hole.
Ronnie had his supporters since he has been here. A lot of those people kept saying he never was elite because of different reasons, while others said he is what he is. It appears he is just that...a good back, but not an elite one. Did the offense play calling hurt him. Sure. just like it could be hurting henne. But it seems like we have seen the best of him already. I'm personally ready to see what Hilliard can do for us. I thought he should have been given the chance this year.
If you see someone in front of you make a change ,meaning theres other options run left or right like many Good Rb do.
I guess free agents don't deserve a spot on the team if they're not elite players. There is no reason Ronnie can't be a productive piece of the offense. Nobody here thinks that possibly the worst offensive coaching we've ever seen in Miami might have had a little something to do with Ronnie's disappointing season? When he single handedly gave us a 7-0 lead against Baltimore what did he get for his efforts? A spot on the sideline. I'm sure that wasn't the only instance this season where something like that happened. Fist pumper was always too busy analyzing snap counts to ever figure out how to get the most out of his backs.
Brown would be at 4.5-5 ypc if it wasn't for his role in the doomed wildcat. He was tackled in the backfield at least a dozen times last year. The lack of production from the wildcat is proof of the OL struggles to pick up on the running game last year. Brown is not to blame, Ricky is lucky to have the ypc he had. They used Rick primarily on pitch plays and runs on the outside, while Ronnie as a go and get your own yards kinda back. Our OL couldn't block on the first level little yet set up blocks in the second. Heck Marshall was giving Ricky some of the better blocks all year long on the outside! Brown was and still has the ability to be one of the most dynamic backs in the NFL. Give him a decent contract, get our OL worked out and see what happens. He has shown plenty of big play capability in the past and has worked his *** of for our franchise......all my opinion of course
I guess you cant see that Brown has lost a step. 200 rushes with 1 run for 20 or more yards all season most top running backs have 14-13-12 runs of twenty yards or more. and you say Brown has shown big play capability Brown is done...time to move on
The problem is Ronnie browns skillset does not involve him running downhill in a strait line, at full speed, at proper angles. There seems to be an innate hesitation and stutter as soon as the ball touches his hands..I think I was very wrong about Ronnie..When you watch the skillset of Leshoure and Ingram, you see the advantages of strait line instinct.
Hey, when some of these guys get a woman over and they want to do the horizontal patience with her, then I'll swoop in and give her the horizontal mambo that she's been wanting instead. lol.
There is nothing wrong with Ronnie that the proper utilization of his talents and better coaching wont fix. The offense was so dysfunctional that anytime Ronnie or any other player got into a rythm they would go away from what works in favor of some exotic play that didnt work. Its almost as though we had a Jet spy calling the plays. Towards the middle of the season both the RBs were just going through the motions not believing in what they were doing .Ricky pretty much confirmed this . I would keep Ronnie and add a RB with speed who can break the long one on occasion.That would not be Ingram who IMO is no better than Ronnie and who in addition cant block or play STs. BTW Ronnie is a patient RB who takes time to look for his holes to develop which accounts for some of the dancing but which also has resulted in some big plays .It is his style . BTW there were some Ronnie highlights in 2010 .He started the season like gangbusters and then tapered off as the season progressed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYckF_YF4oE [video=youtube;hYckF_YF4oE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYckF_YF4oE[/video]
Ok so you wanna keep the Rb that averages less yards ? Yikes , has ronnie ever hit 1000 yards in his whole nfl carreer ? Why would you want a player like that on the team ,its time to move on .I would sign ricky as a 2nd again and find a starting Rb. Thats if ricky still wants to play here if not its pretty much our loss.
Ronnie is a talented back, I would like to see us draft another RB or pickup one via FA to go along with Ronnie because he just hasn't shown that he is able to carry a team's running game through an entire season. He's been wildly inconsistent, I think the coaching staff should take a TON of the blame as well as the offensive line but Ronnie has never shown anything but glimpses of being a star back he doesn't deserve a huge payday or a very long term deal IMHO.
