Some not sold on Miami Dolphins Ronnie Brown, but he's making his case
By ARMANDO SALGUERO
asalguero@MiamiHerald.com Ronnie Brown is still the subject of a debate.
Some folks still don't think he has lived up to his draft pedigree because he has yet to become the greatest running back in NFL history to wear the name ''Brown'' on his jersey. Others believe he has arrived because, well, he had some good games last year and another good one last week.
The debate is admittedly a struggle between extreme views of the same player.
And it might surprise you to learn Ronnie Brown is more likely to agree with the skeptics than the admirers.
''I'm pretty tough on myself,'' Brown said this week on the day he was named the AFC's Offensive Player of the Week. ``I know some people don't think I'm where I need to be yet and other people might talk about my potential and say I've reached it. But until I'm on the field for all 16 games in a season I won't really be satisfied.
``I still feel I have a long way to go. I want to be one of the better backs in the league and to do that you have to be one of the most consistent backs in the league. You're not consistent until you're in there and playing a full season. I'm not there yet.''
There was little doubt Brown had not yet arrived before the start of last season. He had good statistics in 2005 and 2006 but there was no defining moment or spectacular marker to punctuate his work.
Brown was inarguably good.
But not great.
THE BURDEN OF EXPECTATIONS
Even though he was productive behind a makeshift offensive line, there were whispers Miami coaches expected more out of Brown than what he was delivering.
Toward the end of the 2006 season as Brown was closing in on his 1,008-yard season, coach Nick Saban blamed Miami's disappointing 6-10 record, in part, on the absence of Ricky Williams. Saban suggested aloud that if Williams, suspended for the season, was carrying the ball instead of Brown, the Dolphins would have been a better team.
In the 2007 preseason, new coach Cam Cameron was openly displeased with Brown. The coach didn't think the player worked very hard getting ready for the season and as punishment forced Brown to return kickoffs.
Brown didn't complain. Even as other players asked if he thought he was being disrespected, Brown saw the special teams sentence as an opportunity.
''I'm a pretty positive person and I want to look at the positives and the positive side of things whenever I can,'' he said recalling the unorthodox duty. ``I looked at that situation as more an opportunity to make plays in other areas than some sort of negative thing. I looked at it as a challenge.
'Some people asked if I had a problem with what was happening but I would tell them, `Not really.' I didn't think of it as disrespect. I looked on the positive side of it.''
What Brown didn't know is that even as he was returning kickoffs, Cameron was planning to use him as a second-string running back rather than the starter.
After Jesse Chatman turned what seemed like a short run into a 74-yard touchdown in the preseason opener, Cameron pulled the curtain on his opinion of Brown when talking to a reporter:
''Ronnie would have gotten caught from behind on that play,'' Cameron said dripping with disgust.
Then Brown had four consecutive breakout games from the third week of the regular season forward and that was an epiphany for the Miami coaching staff as well as the rest of the NFL.
DEVASTATING KNEE INJURY
But that breakout month was somewhat lost when Brown injured his right knee during the season's seventh week. And it was forgotten by the time coach Tony Sparano named Williams the starting running back for the start of this season even while denying an ESPN report that said Brown could be headed out the door in Miami.
Never mind that Brown was only 10 months removed from total knee reconstruction. Never mind that most running backs take as long as two years to regain their explosiveness following that kind of surgery.
Never mind Ronnie Brown had other plans.
''Talking about potential,'' Brown said, ``I still have my best days ahead of me. Last week was a good game. That's all it was. The thing is on this level it's about consistency.
``You want to play well over a long period of time. I don't want to be the guy that this week I have success and next week people don't realize you're even on the field. That's not what I want.''
The facts suggest that's not what Brown is about to become. He will turn 27 later this season, which is generally considered an NFL running back's prime. He is healthy, answering questions about his knee injury with a question of his own: ``What injury?''
Brown also is well conditioned and finally running behind an emerging offensive line.
Barring another injury, there is no reason Brown cannot recapture the magic of last year's streak. And there is no reason to believe he can't finally end that debate by making people believe he truly is a gem.
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/breaking-news/story/701395.html
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