Haha, just kidding.

There really hasn’t been, if you’re a Dolphins fan. I, for one, disliked him after what he did to us; leaving to see the world after we gave up so much to acquire him and he was contributing to a strong ground game. Once he left, we were in disarray for a couple of years. Even when he came back, things didn’t seem right. I hated the situation, Miami asking for money back, Ricky playing just to pay us back. It didn’t seem like a proper co-operative agreement, a normal team-player relationship. So it just seemed forced and improper.

I think it’s fair to say that any player who steps up and produces, putting up huge numbers in your top offensive threat’s absence (especially considering his advanced age for the position) will make history not matter. Ricky gave us reason to be upset, but he’s more than made up for it by contributing to one of the most physical ground games in the league.

When Saban was coaching the Dolphins a few years ago, he called Ricky the best player he ever coached.
He has done the things someone needs to do to put the past behind them, and be forgiven.
He has had his own internal issues, and I think we all can relate to that.

Can’t wait to answer them. This will be the most intense they’ve played in 2009, I think, and your team more than matches up well with ours. This will be very tough, and I can’t wait to see how it plays out. Here goes:

1) Pat White, despite the way Miami fans loathe his usage now, WILL be a part of this game. It’s frustrating to see him disrupt Chad’s rhythm, but CJ and VY will be more than a handful for our defense. We’re going to need to keep up with our own various weapons, and I see Dan Henning implementing White’s run-option into our game plan to give your defense fits. Whether that will happen or not remains to be seen. We also need to limit Ricky’s usage, so I see us putting in Lex Hilliard and Pat White to keep your defense honest. If you are able to stop the run early, we’ll keep his use limited. I just think we need to give you different looks to worry about, and I’m sure Henning feels the same way.

2) Miami’s secondary has come a long way. Sean Smith is developing, slowly but surely, and looks to have the size and athleticism (as well as the talent) to be a good, ball-hawking corner in this league. He used to be a WR, so he knows how to play the ball without giving up too much contact. Vontae Davis on the other hand, could be a Pro Bowler within a few seasons. He is playing excellent ball, blanketing Mike Sims-Walker for one catch last week (granted MSW has a hammy injury which may have slowed him). He draped all over Randy Moss the week before, and has three picks as a rookie (no J. Byrd, but not bad nonetheless). He has learned from his mistakes, and Tony’s benching him for a series (reason unknown), and the fire and intensity he brings to our secondary is exciting for the future.

Yeremiah Bell is underrated, and faster than most people think. He’s a sure tackler and plays the run very well. Nate Jones is turning into one of the top nickel corners in the league as well. Gibril Wilson, however, just plain stinks. We paid him a handsome salary only to see him blow at coverage and let far too many fast receivers get by him. Wait, Torry Holt isn’t fast.. Nate Washington may be able to haul in some deep passes from Vince if VY has an accurate deep arm. Sean Smith is not thrown to often, with excellent coverage most plays. Whoever gets Vontae will be thrown to, and will catch some, but surely not all of the passes thrown his way. We do surrender big plays, but we also have a secondary that can’t be thrown on some percentage of the time.

3) Jake Grove hasn’t played in weeks; I’d be shocked if our starting center was in for this one either. Granted, no practices have occurred so I can’t be sure. Taylor and Porter might be questionable (old age), but they’ll both play. I don’t know if Donald Thomas (starting RG) is injured, but he was replaced by a backup guard last week. Other than that, our injuries have resulted in IR trips so we’re trying not to hit the bug now.

4) I love Chad Henne. Love him. No homo.

He has the arm to make any pass on the field (though his downfield accuracy absolutely needs work). He is inconsistent, but his consistency is definitely developing with each game. Some plays, he throws the ball on a line, perfectly where it needs to be for only his guy to go get it.

He suffers from dropsies and mediocre-receiving-corps-itis, to be honest. Davone Bess, with more seasoning and route depth, could become the Wes Welker we had before we let him go for peanuts. Ted Ginn can run, but he can’t catch once he gets deep. He’s been more focused of late, however, and in his limited time, he’s been able to make some clutch catches. Camarillo and Hartline are money, and the latter is improving greatly with each game. He will be a solid receiver in this league. Other than that, our receivers are average or worse. He needs a go-to guy and we don’t have one.

That being said, the potential on this guy is incredible. He lets his mistakes go right after they happen, he leads the team to where they need to be after making a mistake. We affectionately call him “the robot”. He rarely makes poor decisions; I swear that half of his picks are the result of being tipped at the line or the fault of his receiver. 17 straight completions (tied for franchise record) says something as well. This guy is well on his way to becoming the future of this franchise, and a player to be reckoned with for years to come.

5) Simple. If a new CBA isn’t reached, he will, because he’ll be restricted. If one is in place, we’ll be pulling teeth with his agent to resign him for less than I’m sure he believes he’s worth. With his being “injury-prone” and us not exactly desperately needing him, we won’t pay him top-five RB money. However, we have the leverage, so even if a new CBA is reached, I do believe he’ll be a Miami Dolphin in 2010.

And to be honest, I’m not positive how to answer it.

Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams, as a tandem, are unlike any running back duo I’ve seen in a long time on any team. Brown has the vision of a Chris Johnson, but doesn’t have nearly as much speed. He’s a power back, though very patient. His strengths are highlighted by the Wildcat formation, allowing his line to develop holes for him to power his way through. Once he gets past the second level, most corners can’t stop him. Some safeties can, if they can catch him, but even they have trouble tackling him. I would liken him to Corey Dillon.

Ricky, on the other hand, is hard to pin. He’s faster than Ronnie, even at 32, yet he’s nearly as strong (if not stronger). I might liken him to Curtis Martin. Neither of these players, of course, have produced to the level of a Dillon or a Martin, but I think that has to do with leaves of absence and injuries, as well as incompetent teams (up until the past two seasons). I truly believe both of these backs are very underrated, and they both have their strengths.

But, this season, I’d have to say the answer is Ricky. Ronnie as the Wildcat “triggerman”, the man who MADE that offense. Without him, there’s no reason to run it. He was the patient, versatile, do-everything (run, pass, catch) back that every team wishes they could have. However, as we’ve seen with Ricky, that’s almost a luxury. Our running game hasn’t lost more than a couple of steps since Ronnie went down, and that’s only because Ricky is being over-used now.

As a contributor to a strong power running game, and a physical offense, I would have to admit that Williams is a “better” back than Ronnie.

I thought I was doing a decent job.

He doesn’t have the time or work in to be put into the game at key points. Teams are ready for the option now anyway. Henne has shown that he can get into a rythm and make things happen. With Ronnie out, no need or ability for trickery.

I do, actually. As Henne develops, the Wildcat does nothing but disrupt his rhythm. Even with Ronnie Brown, our running game was physical and strong enough to move the chains without Ronnie’s patient hole-finding via direct snaps. Taking Chad off the field was more of a hindrance. To be honest (and Miami fans may give me a lot of crap about this), I’m almost glad Ronnie CAN’T be on the field to run the WC. The more snaps Henne plays without being removed from his game, and the more he runs conventional formations, the better off he is. I think his franchise record-tying (Chad Pennington, 2008) 17 straight completions set at Jacksonville in Week 14 backs me up on that.

Anthony Fasano caught all of ours last season with Pennington under center. He caught everything thrown his way (mostly) and was very, very clutch. See: Kansas City circa December 2008. We actually used him a lot in the passing game as well. I think what happened this season is that our offensive line, though stronger than it was last season (more gelling, more talent with Grove at C), has had to block more on pass plays because they seem to want Henne to take downfield looks. Moreso than CP10, anyway. Thus, Fasano has had to stay back and block more often and we haven’t heard much from him this season. He’s began to re-emerge of late though, and it seems as though our two back-up OLine-men our slightly better at pass-blocking. Or something like that. he can definitely become an above-average tight end, if he isn’t already, with his route-running, pass-catching, and blocking abilities. Definitely a BP guy, too.

Honestly, not amazingly well. We won’t be the St. Louis Rams, that’s for sure. I see Chris Johnson running on us in the first half while we shut down the passing attack for the most part. I think we can begin to stack the box more in the second half to slow him down, but he will pass 100 yards rushing against us. As long as Vince Young (if he plays) doesn’t run too much on us, though, we have the DLine-men and OLBs to set the edge for our corners and safeties (the latter being strong in run defense) to contain him. For the most part, anyway. He’ll surely give Paul Pasqueloni nightmares all week, and will be our toughest test on Sunday by far. He can beat us on his legs alone, so if we can win the battle in every other phase of the game, he won’t be the killing blow and we’ll win a close one.

lol

And we appreciate it all the same. You’re more than welcome.