Dolphins’ Ronnie Brown fails to reach $500,000 bonus
by: Omar Kelly January 2nd, 2011 | 6:45 PM
Sometimes a loss costs a player more than his pride. Sometimes big money is on the line in the NFL.
Sunday’s 38-7 loss to the New England Patriots might have been Ronnie Brown’s last game in a Miami Dolphins uniform, but it’s highly unlikely it’s his last inside Gillette Stadium.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick has long been a fan of Brown, who will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and it’s possible Brown could be added to the long list of former Dolphins whose careers take off in New England under Belichick.
The Dolphins certainly didn’t stack the deck in their favor on Sunday when the coaches abandoned the rushing attack, and as a result kept Brown from achieving a $500,000 bonus he was due for reaching 750 rushing yards on the season.
Brown came into Sunday’s season finale needing 30 yards but he only gained 14 yards on six attempts.
The Dolphins ran the ball 16 times against New England all game, and NOT ONE RUN came in the second half despite the fact the Dolphins were trailing 31-0 with 11:30 left in the third quarter.
So, is Brown disappointed the loss, and the play calling cost him half a million?
“It’s tough, but the toughest part is when you lose the football game,” said Brown, who finished the 2010 season with 734 rushing yards and five touchdowns. “Obviously you have goals and things you want to set for yourself to add a little excitement, or motivation going into the season.
“My goal was never to just get 750 yards. My goal was to get 1,000 yards. A lot of things play into that, including splitting carries,” Brown said, referring to sharing the backfield with Ricky Williams, who got 41 fewer carries than Brown (200) this season.
“You have to manage the game and we got ourselves in a few bad situations during this game, and early in this season where we weren’t able to run the ball,” said Brown, who also caught 33 passes for 242 yards this season. ”It’s tough.”
When asked if he felt his team played with a high energy level during Sunday’s loss to the Patriots, Brown admitted he really didn’t know how to answer that question.
“It’s disappointing because you put so much into doing what you do. When you go out you want to compete and win any time they’re taking score. For us to go out and have the performance we had is definitely not what we were looking for,” he said. “It’s disappointing knowing we had some opportunities when the game was close in the beginning and we didn’t take advantage of them. When you play against solid teams like this they will expose you if you allow them to.”
When I asked him if he’s played his last game with the Dolphins, who haven’t extended a contract off this season, Brown admitted he wasn’t certain.
“I don’t know. In this business there are things you can’t control and you just have to go with the flow a lot of times,” Brown said. “I just have to sit back and wait and see what happens. I’ll make a decision that’s best for me and my family.”
After six seasons Brown admitted he’s been hardened by the business side of the NFL.
“You see guys rotating through the locker room, get close to guys and then the next year they are out of here,” Brown said. “It makes you realize you have to make the best of opportunities on this level, as well as put yourself in position to have a job. There’s always guys fighting for your job, and business decisions have to be made. You realize that pretty fast in this league.”
So, where do you think Brown will end up in 2011?
http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_football_dolphins/2011/01/dolphins-ronnie-brown-fails-to-reach-500000-bonus.html_____________________________
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Kind of sucks to be Brown. Coming into todays game he must have been thinking that he could have ran for 30 yards to collect his 5000,000.
I wouldnt mind if the pats signed Brown, we could use another RB..
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