DAVIE, Fla. — Ronnie Brown had heard the whispers. How could he not?
Coming off major knee surgery last October, unable to win the starting job in training camp and then totaling 48 yards rushing in two games had raised questions as to whether Brown's best days might be behind him at 26.
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Consider the questions answered. Brown's performance as the centerpiece of the "Wildcat" offensive scheme in the Dolphins' 38-13 rout of New England made it clear that he is just as good as the back who was leading the NFL in all-purpose yards when he went down last season in Week 7.
"He looks even better than I remember," guard Justin Smiley said. And Smiley does remember — while he was at Alabama, he and the Crimson Tide lost three of four meetings with Brown and Auburn.
"One year we went down to Auburn and surprised them," Smiley recalled. "But we could never stop him."
Brown, the No. 2 pick in the 2005 draft, was a major contributor in his first two seasons, tying a team record with six 100-yard games over that span and topping the 1,000-yard mark his second year.
Last season, he was leading the league in total yards from scrimmage (991) and yards per carry (5.1) when he tore his right anterior cruciate ligament Oct. 21 and was lost for the season.
By spring, he was back near 100 percent and training full time with fellow running back Ricky Williams.
"The thing about Ronnie is you come to work and whether he had five touchdowns or just tore his ACL, he's the same guy," Williams said. "He has a smile on his face.
"No way I could tell he'd been injured. He just pushes himself so much, and he always has a positive attitude. It's good to see guys like that have this kind of success."
Neither Williams nor Brown had much success in the first two games (both losses) this season. Brown averaged just 2.8 yards on 17 carries.
Coach Tony Sparano saw beyond the statistics. Particularly against Arizona, he saw glimpses of what could happen if he could get the ball in Brown's hands more often.
"He had a couple of runs in that Arizona game," Sparano said. "It didn't look like much (25 yards in 11 attempts), but I made the comment that we were a block or two away from making some big plays.
"Ronnie got to the line of scrimmage pretty fast, made a couple of guys miss. I've seen a little burst out of him the last two weeks and thought this would be an opportunity to get him as many touches as we can get him."
That was one of the reasons "Wildcat" made sense. By snapping the ball directly to Brown, he could hit holes even quicker. As it turned out, on two of his first three touchdowns he was through the defense and into the end zone almost before the Patriots figured out he still had the ball.
"It was the element of surprise; we were trying to throw them off a little bit," Brown said. "I don't think anybody had seen it. When we came out in that formation you could see guys struggling to line up.
"And at the same time we executed it pretty well, so from that point we were kind of playing hide-and-seek, making them guess, and they were guessing wrong."
When the Patriots finally figured out how to stop Brown running out of the formation, he beat them with the pass, dropping a soft left-handed throw into the hands of tight end Anthony Fasano for a 19-yard TD that made it 28-6 and all but emptied Gillette Stadium.
Brown said he is hopeful that his performance — four touchdowns on 113 yards rushing, plus the scoring pass — finally silences his doubters.
"Coming into the season I felt pretty good physically," he said. "Each week I continue to feel better."
Brian Biggane writes for The Palm Beach Post. E-mail: bbiggane AT pbpost.com
