Ronnie Brown done for season

Noooooo! Do you hear that sound? It is the wailing and gnashing of teeth of Dolphin fans around the sports world. Miami has been competitive in all of its games this season and kept its slim playoff hopes alive last week by beating the Bucs. A primary reason for this was the steady play of Ronnie Brown, our starting tailback who was also the skipper of the Wildcat offense. After the Bucs game I wrote that Ronnie Brown had been hurt, but since no one knew the extent of the injury at the time, I said I could safely predict he would not play in tonight's quick turnaround game against Carolina. That was an easy prediction. Heck, even the healthy players don't want to play on three days rest.

What I didn't realize at the time was how serious the injury was. Now I do. Ronnie Brown has been put on Injured Reserve and is done for the year. This is a huge blow to the Dolphins prospects of making the playoffs. It means the ball carrying load will fall on Ricky Williams, who is no slouch, but we will see how effective he will be as the primary ball carrier for the rest of the season. Provided he doesn't get hurt too, heaven forbid.