Poison

I miss Ronnie Brown

The Dolphins season nearly came to an end earlier today.

It won’t be long the way things looked during a 25-23 win against the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Two starters (G Justin Smiley and TE Anthony Fasano) missed Sunday’s game, but the Dolphins didn’t miss either too much, especially Fasano.

The Dolphins didn’t seem to miss LB Joey Porter much, either.

Quarterback Chad Henne showed some grit during his last-minute field-goal drive, making throws of 35 and 16 yards to Davone Bess.

Henne also threw a bad interception to set up the Bucs’ go-ahead score with 1:14 to go, putting a wilting defense back on the field.

But Ricky and Ronnie had established a nice balance. After all, this was Williams’ first 20-carry day since the final game of the 2005 season.Can he keep it up the pace without Brown in the mix and Pat Cobbs out for the season with a knee injury?

1. Running back Lex Hilliard is likely to get his chance this week. But with no carries this season, will Hilliard be ready?

The Carolina defense should remember Hilliard. During the preseason he had a game-high 52 yards rushing against the Panthers, including a 39-yard burst down the sidelines.

Miami will need a strong running game against Carolina, whose own running game entered this week’s games leading the NFC in rushing. Just as Brown and Ricky Williams were a great 1-2 punch, Hilliard and Williams make for a tandem that could pound away at a Carolina run defense, which was ranked 23rd entering the weekend.

2. Linebacker Charlie Anderson made a bigger impact than Joey Porter has all season. But Anderson’s inconsistency, not his talent, has held him back.

{Anderson stepped in for Porter and had one of his best games in two seasons as a Dolphin, with five solo tackles, including a sack, and two forced fumbles.

Anderson, a sixth-year pro, showed big-time flashes a few times a season ago, highlighted by his performance in Toronto against Buffalo (four solos, a sack, two FFs). He followed it with nice outing against San Francisco, including a key sack late in the game.

A season ago, he led the team in penalties for much of the season. On Sunday, he was called for facemask on the second play of the game.

3. Kicker Dan Carpenter answered the challenge of training camp nemesis Connor Barth.

Barth did his job, and the team released him.

In fact, Barth out-kicked Carpenter much of the time.