Hey, Ricky, you're so fine!
(Joe Rimkus, Jr./Miami Herald)

I feel good! And no, I can’t say, “I knew that I would.” When I read the news about Ronnie Brown being out for the season, I was scared. A week without Ronnie? Sure. The rest of the season without Ronnie? No way!! I even had a bag of peanut M&M’s handy which I only half-jokingly called my “emergency disaster packet.” I was ready for disappointment and prepared for pain.

When I turned on the game, I was looking at everything through doom-and-gloom tinted glasses. First, we lost the coin toss. Then Dan Carpenter’s plant leg slipped on the kick-off. Not Good. Carolina quickly trotted downfield, and not five minutes into the game the Panthers were poised to score. I was sure the football gods were against us. But relief came when Joey Porter, followed by a swarm of rushing Dolphins, penetrated the Carolina line and sacked Delhomme on third and goal. I could stop holding my breath. Things might not be all that bad.

And things weren’t all bad. They were pretty darn good, especially for the first three quarters. The defense made some mistakes with missed tackles and blown coverages, and when Delhomme was on target, it seemed like Carolina could do anything they wanted. But every time a drive started to gain momentum, our defense stepped up. Third down situations arose and Miami came up with huge sacks! All together, we had four sacks, all on third downs. We also intercepted Delhomme once, and nearly a second time.

Offensively, Chad Henne wasn’t shooting out the lights, but he was solid. The passing game looked better than it has all season. Brian Hartline had a 36 yard catch that kick-started the game in the 2nd quarter; Davone Bess made several big catches that were key to helping us sustain drives; and even Tedd Ginn could be relied upon when the ball came his way. (Boy, I guess he finally realized that he has a pair of hands that work as well as his quick feet! One more game like this and maybe they’ll let him run a deep route. If he catches that one, I’ll let him off the hook.) The running game was mostly back to basics. The wildcat was there, but limited. And it didn’t matter. RB Lex Hilliard, fourth on the depth chart, got his first action this week. On 3rd and 16, he plowed ahead for the first down, plus a little more. Wow! Way to rise to the occasion, buddy! And Ricky Williams? I love you, Ricky! Ricky was INCREDIBLE! I couldn’t have dreamed up a better way to beat Carolina than to have Ricky catch a pass for a TD, dive into the end zone pylon for a second, and then burn downfield, leaving guys in his wake, on a 46 yard power-run to score a third! It was like a vintage Ricky Williams highlight reel!

I said in my pre-game blog that nothing could be finer than to beat Carolina. And don’t it feel good! To paraphrase a Kevin Welch song that I love, I don’t know where we’re going, or how long this will stay. All I know worth knowing is I feel fine today!

Just in case you’re wondering, I never needed to open the M&M’s. *My waistline thanks you, Ricky!*