Fantasy Football Collective

Where did Ronnie Brown's appearance in the direct-snap, quasi-Wildcat formation come from? Did Miami, like the rest of us, just get bored of noodle-armed QB Chad Pennington and his dump-off happy performances in losses to the Jet and Cardinals? Coach Tony Sparano's comments after the game indicated that Brown's role in the direct snap was "all part of the game plan", and granted, it was only run a total of seven or eight times, but Miami can't deny its effectiveness after its execution, almost to perfection, accounted for all five of Miami's touchdowns and left the Patriots defense utterly confounded. What's more, it is the perfect complement to Brown's gifts as an evasive downhill runner, as well as to Ricky Williams' speed from side-to-side, if and when Brown does make that handoff.

Miami's playcalling was especially refreshing for me, as someone who preferred college football to its professional counterpart until this year. Didn't it look like Brown was executing a zone-read option, a soon-to-be college staple, when he kept the ball instead of handing off to Ricky Williams as Williams cut across the backfield, then busted it up the middle for his fourth rushing, fifth total touchdown?

I'm still learning the beauty and complexity of the zone read option as a Michigan fan (when we run it right), and it would be a ball to root for its success at the professional level, too. (After all, with a few exceptions [Dallas, Philadelphia, Denver, New Orleans], the playcalling in the NFL is so stiff, the commercials so frequent, it's like we're intended to have six Gamecasts open in addition to the game we're watching just to stay interested.) Hopefully, Miami's rout of New England will teach NFL offensive coordinators the benefit of creating havoc on offense that doesn't come in the form of a play-action rollout.

But does Miami have a second quarterback in Ronnie Brown? Not really. Brown admitted in interview that he doesn't have much of a throwing arm, despite the 23-yard pass to Anthony Fasano in the third quarter, and the confession is probably not smoke and mirrors. If Brown appears in the backfield in a direct-snap formation, it still won't keep defenses honest for the long bomb, especially in situations where the Dolphins are behind and need to throw the ball to manage time; safeties are probably safe cheating up a few yards.

But in dead heats, or when the Dolphins are ahead, Miami's rushing offense appears potent, even scary, and Brown a few broken tackles away from entering the top five fantasy back mix for the second straight year (after a busted knee cut his campaign short in 2007) if his numbers keep improving week-to-week.

This game couldn't have come at a better time for the Dolphins, or for Brown. Miami faces stiff rushing defenses in the Chargers (who held the Jets to 41 yards rushing on Monday night) and the Ravens and their resurgent linebacking corps (not so much the Houston Texans, 27th in rushing D currently, whom the Dolphins play in two weeks). Miami will have to rely on the confusion and chaos the direct snap formation provides to spread the field out and rely on the talents of its two feature backs to keep the rushing offense (and maybe Pennington) in the red zone, scoring.

Is this a "quarterback controversy" on par with what's going on in Tennessee, Tampa Bay, and Houston, one that will spell doom for the (limited) fantasy value of Pennington? Not at all. As I argued in a previous column on the Denver running back situation, no team that scores 38 points per game against a traditionally stout run defense is going to have any of its skill position players hurting fantasy-wise. Sure, Ronnie stole the show, and the touchdowns, for game one of this new, ingeniously devised, possibly explosive offense. But don't expect his numbers to be the only ones that benefit down the road if Miami can keep running the ball this effectively against hopelessly confused defenses.

Hey, maybe the Dolphins will even start Chad Henne in a game. That'll confuse the defense.