The Fantasy Football Geek Blog

Ronnie Brown’s absolutely monstrous fantasy performance yesterday made very few people happy. If you own him, you probably didn’t start him, and now you’ve got a fist- or head-shaped hole in the wall by your computer to deal with. If you’re matched up against someone who did start him, you’re obviously feeling a tad shellshocked today. And if you did start him, you’re not happy, you’re friggin’ giddy.

Brown owners, be honest with yourselves: Come hell or high water, you’re starting him from now on. Leaving a 40-50 fantasy point player on the bench once is painful; doing it twice is unimaginable. You’re going to ignore the timeshare with a just-as-effective Ricky Williams, the shaky defense that will be playing from behind more often than not, and the fact that what was truly revealed yesterday wasn’t Brown’s talent but the vulnerability of New England’s defense (and the smarts of coach Tony Sparano, who will probably have to shelve the Wildcat for a while now). None of that matters – he’s a fixture in your lineup now, and I don’t really blame you.

But I might just pity you by the end of the season. Especially if you’ll be leaving a better option than Brown on your bench because of this one game.

Will Brown have a nice season? Probably. But the timeshare with Ricky Williams, which is likely to continue, puts the kibash on any realistic dreams of a season on par with the truly elite fantasy running backs. Williams could just as easily be the one to find the end zone multiple times in the next game – he’s always been an effective goal-line guy and has a better build for it than Brown. In any case, since four of Brown’s touchdowns came on trick plays that the Patriots were unable to adjust to but will obviously be prepared for by future opponents, it’s hard to look at this performance as anything more than a freak statistical anomaly.

Since I’m not going to convince Brown owners of any of this, I’ll conclude with a message for everyone else: Be very wary of trade offers from your friendly neighborhood Brown owner until after the Fins play the Chargers in week 5. Don’t go and do something silly like trading a Marshawn Lynch, Michael Turner, or Marion Barber away for him. Repeat after me: “He plays for the Dolphins. He plays for the Dolphins. He plays for…”