Is it possible that both Ronnie and DThomas, who are similar backs, dance because they don't see a hole? Think that could be because the hole isn't there? Maybe something will change when we have someone other than Lydon Murtha at left tackle?
I thought he was OK nothing spectacular but he really hasn't had alot of carries.Gotta see what if anything LJ has left but I wouldn't write off the rookie yet.
That's why you don't trade away half of the rest of your draft picks to take a mediocre prospect at RB. Jeff Ireland is a dope. How's that Mallet kid looking? Flame away.
The tale of two backs Rookie Thomas was a second round pick #62 that we had to move up to get He has 16 rushes for 57 yards ,1 td,1 reception for 25 yards Rookie Ridley was a third round pick #73 whom the Pats didn't have to move up for He has 30 rushes for 148 yards,2 tds rushing,10 receptions for 74 yards,1 td receiving Did we draft the wrong running back??? time will tell
C'mon man. You don't know who we did not did not pursue. Ronnie and Ricky aren't here anymore b/c they sucked last year, let's see that the new guys can do before we start bashing the front office.
DT's would have been called a fumble if their was no penalty on Carolina, I replayed that carry a few times to see if his knee was down when he lost the ball and it wasn't down. I just hope he really has left his fumbling days behind, because if he hasn't it could try his confidence and stunt his growth as a result.
Ya know, I think we are forgetting that those carries inside the 5 before we finally scored on 4th down were wtih the offensive line in that damn dirt and the defensive line with good footing on grass. There was no real push from the o-line because of that and therefore precious little room to run. I think I could cut the rook some slack based on that. Further, don't you think they are using LJ a bit more this week because he is 3-4 weeks behind everyone else and they need to get him up to speed? Obviously DT has a ways to go, but I'm not ready to run around like some here screaming about the sky falling.
Considering the Bengals just thumped the Panthers last night, and their offense led by a rookie, looked every bit as good as Miami did a week ago, it takes a little bit of luster off that performance. I really think the Tampa Bay game will be a good barometer of just how good the Dolphins really are, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
D. Thomas' problem is not his vision and his dancing too much. It's his lack of power. We were discussing this in another thread. For example: If you watch our UD dudes' video which they made of him from his college days, you'll see that he runs too upright. He doesn't drop his pad level to make contact and keep his legs churning to drive the pile. What we saw of him in the first game and part of the second, looked like the same exact thing. I was worried about that heading into the first game and, to say the least, my concerns were certainly not alleviated. He always looked good on tape with his slashing abilities and his versatility, especially in the passing game. He seemed to have natural receiving abilities and we also saw a bit of that like on that nice swing pass or whatever in the first game. That was sweet. Sometime during the second game, it appeared and it's pretty much been confirmed, that he was coached up or instructed to run different. To run with a lower pad level and drive his legs, etc, to get more power and it showed. He ran better, albeit against some 2nd stringers on the worst team in football. I would bet that this is what motivated the trade for Johnson. He's been more explosive and has been able to run with more power. Hopefully he still can. With that said, Thomas is heading into only his third preseason game in the NFL. It could take awhile for him to acclimate and blossom, but the trading up to get him is honestly seeming like a very questionable move. Hey, maybe one day he'll eventually blossom and become a star and that would be awesome, but still the trade-up is seeming very questionable and that's why they've been scrambling looking to sign another back. I think they realized their potential mistake. I don't remeber if there were any available at the time, but keeping the picks and maybe picking up a TE or a Guard may have been the better route to go. We shall see.
It's really really early. Let me just say this though, I absolutely HATE the number he chose. Anything that reminds me of Sammie Smith can not be good.
I'm pretty sure we drafted 4 players after Thomas. We didn't have 8 draft picks before the trade to move up, so.... Thomas was hardly a mediocre prospect either, and Mallett has looked up and down.
PFF has Ricky at 2.5 yds after contact per attempt and Ronnie at 2.2 last season. Both pretty far down the list. The year before Ronnie had 3.0 and Ricky had 2.7
If the Cards would take an aging stopgap like Vonnie Holliday for Tim Hightower, wouldn't they have taken Phil Merling? I'd have loved to see us make that trade. Granted, Vonnie is still playing well, but he'll be 36 in December and DTs/3-4 DEs seldom last this long to begin with.
That was very shortsighted by this regime. Apparently they blamed the lack of a running game on Ronnie and Ricky rather that on the playcalling and the O Line . The consequence of that is that now we have had to add two players to replace Ronnie ,one an unproven rookie who has been underwhelming so far and a washed up veteran.. I didnt like the move at the time and I like it less now .We could possibly be one Bush injury away from a very unstable running game situation. IMO Ronnie still has a lot in the tank and I think he will prove that this year.On the plus side the affable Ronnie will go to a team that will know what to do with him and who is a strong candidate for the SB. I wish him luck .
I think they must have blamed the OL too, because we got two new starters again this year and one more at a new position.
Based on his end of season comments from last year, I don't think Ricky wanted to be here anymore. Not if Ireland and Co. were still around.
First time I was able to check this thread out, and I want to shadow CKs thoughts on Ricky. I thought it was extremely clear last season that Ricky was done. Yes Ricky had ok YPC, but at first touch Ricky was down. He showed his speed was gone and power was non-existent. He couldn't break arm tackles. and I would rather move on from Ronnie. Seemed like a good guy, but just wasn't a great RB. Last time a top RB won a Superbowl was maybe Corey Dillion, and that maybe a stretch to say he was a top RB at that point of his career. Before that all I could think of was Marshall Faulk, and he didn't do very much running in that Superbowl at all. You don't need a top RB to win the Superbowl, you need a really good OL to keep your QB upright and to open holes for a good RB.
Yeah to me the difference between the two was that I didn't buy that Ronnie's issues were physical, age-related or some other issue that suggests he'll never play better again. Ricky's issues though, they were to me age-related, and I don't think he's ever going to be better than he was last year, and I don't think he played well last year.
Yea and if anyone has watched Ricky during the preseason with the Ravens, its painfully obvious. I would be surprised if Ricky isn't unseated from the #2 role at some point by a younger back in Baltimore. Although he did lay a hell of a block in Thursdays game.
Ricky didn't lay too many of those blocks last year for the Dolphins. His lack of enthusiasm was visible at times, IMO. Ronnie was definitely the better blocker. Ah well, situation is what it is. But I agree with you it wouldn't surprise me if like an Anthony Allen or Jalen Parmele starts to unseat Ricky.
I agree that Brown (vs. RW) is going to be the far better back this year. I think the people that were pushing for us to re-sign RW were fooled by how poorly Brown was used.
How was he poorly used? It's not as if they changed what he's been doing what from he's done his entire professional career. Or is this the receiver thing all over again? Brown could catch pretty well when he was stopped and looking at the quarterback. He didn't do a good job with any other aspect of the phase of the game. Patrick Cobbs was better in that job, and Lex Hilliard would have probably been better after that.
I thought Ronnie was the worse performer of the two, and I didn't respect either ones game last year..neither could run routes with any type of precision or explosiveness, also both ran the ball with a soft nature...I was a big fan of Ronnies talent, but imo he didn't do what he needed to do to be great..I projected and agreed with the subtractions from the team.
Brown is very good as a receiver on the swing pass, but he was used primarily as a blocker on pass plays. Cam Cameron knew that and used him as such. He was on pace for 89 receptions and 890 yards receiving that year before he got injured. Neither Cobbs or Hilliard could have produced that. Brown was also used poorly in the run game. He's a patient runner, not a quick hitter and we had an OL that was weak in the middle. Yet the run plays called were far too often dives. That wasn't the case in 2007. That year we ran plays that allowed Brown to move down the line and pick the hole.
Well, you get what I mean. We gave up multiple picks to move up to take a plug and play position with a huge question mark at QB.
It's simply not true. For the past three years, Brown has run routes about twice as often as he's blocked in passing situations. He's had ample opportunity. Symptom of a fundamentally broken offense more than anything. He caught a whole lot of check-down passes for failed down-specific yardage, and produced very little in the way of big plays. They'd never be on the field enough to do it, but Cobbs is absolutely a better per-opportunity producer in the passing game than Brown, and produces much more big plays. You're taking a negative trait and spinning it into a positive. Brown's "patience" was as much awful vision as anything. The guy hit the line, hesitated until a clear hole opened up, and then relied on short-area quickness and power to bail him out of frequent bad decisions. Except last year he didn't seem to have either of those things, and given how often he was injured, well that seems like a pretty good place to start.
