Been going over the season do date and trying to piece together when the wheels came off and stayed off for the 2007 Dolphins, a major part of that is the injuries. We have had some key injuries on a thin roster, but with so many, I cannot decide which one sank us and then which one afterward kept us below the water line. For me: Trent Green's concussion is a major part of this seasons story line, our offense has stagnated and even moved in reverse since he went out. Yeremiah Bell tearing his achilles in the Washington Opening Day game, that seemed to set the tone for the season, mainly a empty or underperforming defensive backfield. Joey Porter's preseason knee surgery, strange that his play has improved as the season moved along, he was "supposed" to be ready by the Redskins game and he just wasn't, analysis of Porter's play for most of the year has shown he hasn't played well, until the last 4 games, strange that his play picked up when Quentin Moses started playing for us.
I think the team would have eventually overcame the loss of Green, if Ronnie Brown had been able to stay healthy. He was having a monster year, and it was just sad to see his season end with such a fluke play. Defensively, it feels like there's been disappointment across the board. As a long time fan, it's been sad watching without 54 manning the middle. Zach was a leader on the field, and you just have to hope his career doesn't end like this.
The Bell injury was devastating to the defense. It has played out that way all season. Then we lose Hill back there too. We were scrambling all season to fill the void at the S spot. We brought in DD and Lamont Thompson. Eventually settled on Worrell and Allen. Then Worrell goes down and Schulters stepped in off the street. For what it is worth Worrell played well considering he was brought here to be a special teams guy. Little did anyone know that eventually he would be calling the secondary signals. J Allen has stepped in a done a nice job maybe he is a late bloomer. The Safety spot has been the hardest spot hit by injuries this season IMO.
I appreciate Worrell stepping up from ST and playing safety but he just missed too many tackles. How you can play inf the NFL and NOT tackle with your arms is beyond me.
Besides JT our three best players going into the season were zach,ronnie and the bullfrog, all out midway point, tough year
The reason why I didn't list Ronnie is Chatman averaged almost as many ypc as Ronnie did, and we should have been able to use a Te or a Back to make up for the loss of a receiver out of the back field. That isn't to say we could have replaced everything Ronnie did for us rather we could have made up some of the production we lost. Heck, even Samkon Gado is doing a fine job in replacement of Ronnie and Chatman..at least TD wise he is.
Yeah. But do you know how much I want to see Ronnie Brown teamed up with Lorenzo Booker now? That's why I miss him so much.
#1 Ronnie brown was the offence #2 Zach Thomas Was the Deffence #3 Y.Bell is a good Leader on the Deffence and #4 Channing Crowder
Trent Green #1 Zach Thomas #2 Yeremiah Bell #3 Ricky Williams Honorable Mention..With him starting I believe we may of been able to win our remaining games.
I would like to see LBook used like Eric Metcalf was, our do everything type of player. And it should be pointed out that not all injuries are "bad" so to speak, if Holliay had not been injured, Rod Wright would not have seen as much playing time.
Thing of it is, we don't have enough youngsters to evaluate.... Zach going out definetely hurt us, but we also learned that Channing is not Zach's replacement at MLB.
Not to continue off topic but when I think of how I want us to use LoBook I always think of Ronnie Harmon!
We miss Zach, Yeremiah etc quite a bit, but I personally believe that you must be crazy if you don't think we lost a ton, after Ronnie went down. With Ronnie in the game you never knew what to expect, he was GREAT catching the ball out of the backfield, I like Chatman, but he isn't even close as far as a pass catcher. He had the best 3rd or 4th and short conversion rate in the NFL when he got hurt, do you really just think when he got hurt, we just yelled "NEXT" and we just never missed a beat? As far as rushing, Chatman averages a FULL ONE YARD A CARRY LESS THAN RONNIE. Ronnie averaged 10 yards a reception to Jesse's 5 ??? Am I missing something? Like I said, I like Jesse as a backup- but he is no Ronnie Brown.
I think without a doubt it has been Ronnie. Trent Green was a loss as well, with him in I always felt like we had a chance to win, even when he was playing badly. Missing Zach Thomas has without a doubt hurt our run defense which has lost us a couple of close games and losing four safeties is absurd. For all the blame that Cam Cameron has been getting, he has had to deal with a hell of an injury list.
Keep in mind the Oline is not as good right now as it was earlier in the season, and Chatman has been playing with bum ankles, when he was 100% he was averaging close to the same 5yds per carry that Ronnie was before he was injured. And you do realize LBook averaged that same 10yds per catch lat week don't you? Meaning it is possible to overcome the loss of Ronnie, not completely, but similar production. Randal Hill going down was bad as well, he more then likely will need the full year + to come back from his torn ACL.. But his loss wasn't really pivotal, not like Zach's.
From a W-L perspective, I'd say Trent Green since QB is the most important position. Our offense was clicking with him in command. Personally, I've always been a big fan of Ricky Williams so I miss seeing him too.
Don't you see, THAT is what made Ronnie so special, when he was in the game, the defense was not tipped as to what we were doing, because Ronnie was strong at every level. Jesse is really weak in the passing game, so the defense has an idea what we want to do with him in the game. When Lorenzo Booker is in the game the defense has an idea we are probably not going to try to run it down their throats. Ronnie was( and hopefully will be) a beast between the tackles, had speed and was equally adept at running outside, finished off runs like a mad man, and led the league in short yardage effectiveness. I also believe he led RB's in catches, not to mention led the league in Yards from scimmage-did I miss anything? We could do ANYTHING with him in the game-he had no weaknesses.
Ronnie Brown hands down. He was the sole reason any of our games were somewhat exciting. When he went down, I stopped looking forward to the next week. None of the other players we lost had that effect, well for me anyway.
Ronnie Brown all the way. How some ppl can come out with players like Bell (who i like) and Green (damaged goods) when Brown was on the way to Hawaii with his performances is beyond me???
This thread is remarkable. There will always be a way for a Dolphins fan to hate on Ronnie Brown. It's unreal that he is being compared to Jesse Chatman in a sense. YPC is overstated at times, because Ronnie Brown brought so much more to the table. On Ronnie's worst day, he's twice the back that Jesse Chatman is on his best day. I'm not taking anything away from Chatman, but Ronnie Brown was leading the entire league in yards from scrimmage. I find it laughable that Zach Thomas & Yeremiah Bell (especially) are ahead of him on some lists.
how about the five starters that are on IR, and the two on offense on IR, we lost our entire core of players to injuries this year and the pats have no body really hurt
Brown is a great player but come on, Chatman and Gado have stepped up in his place, his shoes are big to fill but they have done a remarkable job. Bell went out and WHO stepped up? No one. Zach goes out and no one steps up in his place. But to say Brown and the running back position is the most affected? Not even close.
Ronnie Brown without a doubt! Then Trent Green. Even though I didn't want him here and still think trading for him when we could have gotten him for free or kept Culpepper, he still played pretty well for us at the beginning of the season.
What you say is correct but when our defense,for example, has not started 11 of the same players for 2 consecutive weeks in a row(all season) It's hard for to put a finger on that one.
Ronnie had two bad games to start the year. Then he was having an unbelievable year. He was the lone bright spot. He is by far the single talent the team misses the most. With Ronnie Brown maybe the team gets to 3-13. So it's really a moot point, more so a reflection on how pathetically put together the team is. Didn't everybody know Trent Green was damaged goods? The trade for him is still baffling.
