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http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/football/story/542537.html

Competition helps Brown, Williams

By DAVID J. NEAL
Miami Herald

Few teams using the two-running back system in vogue around the league have two high first-round picks at running back, as the Dolphins do. Unfortunately for the Dolphins, few teams have fewer questions about the durability of their two running backs.

Ricky Williams is 31, with only 13 games played over the past four seasons. Rust could be an issue.

But as Williams burst down the field practice play after play Wednesday, Ronnie Brown managed the still-healing right knee ligament that aborted a possible breakout 2007 season after seven games.

''Myself and the training staff, we don't want to overdo it,'' Brown said. ``Right now, we're in OTAs [organized team activities]. It's May. We've got a long way to go, and we've got a few months to prepare. Hopefully, we can go into it -- not so much ease into it -- but try not to put too much on it early.''

Brown said his goal was, ``by Sept. 1, or whenever that first game is, be ready full out, all go. Realistically, I plan to attend training camp and be able to participate in that.''

After the Dolphins' running game flopped as Brown and Jesse Chatman split carries the first two games, Brown took off when the Dolphins committed to giving him the ball. Brown had 537 yards rushing and 313 receiving over the next five games before tearing his knee ligament against New England.

Still, he sang a happy tune when asked about he and Williams in a two-back system.

''I think it will be real helpful,'' Brown said. ``Last year, everybody saw how a lot of teams are going to the two-back system. For myself and Ricky, a positive competition is always good. We just want to make each other better. I think that's going to be a good start for us.''

DRAWING A LINE

It's early, but here is how the first unit of the offensive line looked Wednesday. Left tackle, rookie Jake Long; left guard, Ikechuku Ndukwe, a third-year lineman signed as a free agent last year; center Samson Satele; right guard, Justin Smiley, who spent his first five NFL seasons in San Francisco; and right tackle Vernon Carey, last year's left tackle.

''[Ndukwe] got a chance to go in there with the first huddle,'' head coach Tony Sparano said. ``One of the things that I've been accustomed to is moving bodies in and out. You'll see more and more of that as we go on here in some of these OTAs and some of these minicamps. We'll move people around until we find the right people.''

Steve McKinney, Monday's free agent signee who likely will start at left guard, was in jersey and shorts, but didn't participate in drills.

PARCELLS' GUY

Few active NFL players know Bill Parcells, the Dolphins' vice president in charge of football operations, as well as nose guard Jason Ferguson, now on his third team with Parcells.

Ferguson was a seventh-round pick by the Jets in 1997, the first draft Parcells ran for New York. In 2005, Ferguson signed with Dallas, where Parcells was the coach. Now, the Dolphins have traded for him. And although he qualifies as the locker-room expert on Parcells' ways, he has to fight any perception that ''Parcells guy'' is synonymous with ``locker-room spy.''

'First thing you've got to fight is, `Are you Bill's Do-Boy? Are you a snitch?' '' Ferguson said. 'I'm like, `It's not like that.' I'm one of his guys because he can count on me. That's the bottom line. I think all the guys know that.''

Damn our running game has such potential this year!  I just can't wait to see what happens!  I am praying that we can hit a few play-action deep routes instead of the overthrows that have been way too common over the last few years.

 

I hope they stay healthy