PDA

View Full Version : Former Bronco RB enjoying a renaissance .....



omac
11-28-2007, 01:15 PM
Glad to see he's doing real well; a true team player. The way that Texans team's offense is starting to look, with Kubiak at the reigns, they might as well call them the Houston Broncos. :D

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/fb/texansfront/5334450.html


Dayne train picks up speed for Texans
By DALE ROBERTSON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

In the failure that was the Cleveland game, there was a conspicuous success. Ron Dayne is doing it again.

Dayne's two seasons with the Texans have come to mirror each of his individual carries — a slow start followed by, once he gets a little traction, a thundering finish. The burly, bear-like tailback with his low center of gravity and 243 pounds is a momentum runner, the proverbial irresistible force. The physics of it all make perfect sense.

And, while the 5-6 Texans might again be parked on a side track, their two-game winning streak ended and their briefly revived playoff hopes likely off the rails, at least the Dayne Train has finally chugged out of the station.

"We have a lot of confidence in him," coach Gary Kubiak said.

Not without good reason these days. Although the 29-year-old former Heisman Trophy winner from Wisconsin is dogged by a cacophony of detractors on talk radio and across the blogosphere, "No Gain Dayne" is suddenly producing, per carry, at a level comparable to the best backs in the NFL.

His 58 rushes over the past three games have generated an average push of just under 5 yards.

Around the league on the season, only rookie sensation Adrian Peterson's 6.2 is appreciably better.

"I felt really good and kind of got into a rhythm," Dayne said after gaining 78 yards on only 16 touches in the 27-17 loss to the Browns. "The line did a good job, and we were getting off the ball in the beginning. But we kept stopping ourselves."

Dayne was referring to turnovers, the bane of the Texans' season. But afterward, Kubiak admitted he contributed to the Texans' ultimate shortfall by abandoning the running game before the circumstances had demanded same.

"I haven't changed my view we probably should have run the ball more," Kubiak said at his Monday news conference. "Ron was effective. We should have stuck with him and given him more of an opportunity.

"He's playing good football for us. He's been a constant. Our guys can count on him."

Dayne might be a man of few words, but his teammates aren't tongue-tied when it comes to taking up for him.

Guard Chester Pitts said: "I've been on the Dayne Train the whole season, and I'll continue to ride with him."

Tight end Mark Bruener, in his 13th NFL season, calls Dayne "a great running back and a complete professional."

Previously, in four seasons with the New York Giants and two with the Denver Broncos, Dayne never approached the high standard he set in college, when he set a Division I regular-season rushing record of 6,397 yards and, counting bowls, became the first player to surpass 7,000.

By the time the Texans acquired him last season, many believed he was done, and his first few games here seemed to suggest that was the case.

But against Oakland in the 13th week of the season, he erupted for 95 yards on 18 carries, and he would average 107 over the final four games he contributed in, culminating in a 153-yard, two-touchdown brutalizing of the soon-to-be Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts.

That patch was the most productive of his eight-year career.

Nonetheless, even the Texans weren't sold on its significance.

They brought in high-profile free agent Ahman Green to be the No. 1 tailback in 2007 and, had Green worked out as planned, Dayne would be only a bit player.

Instead, Green hurt his knee in the opener and hasn't been right since, sitting out three of the last four games and failing to finish any all season.

Pinch-hitting for the ex-Packer, Dayne was largely ineffective his first six appearances. Then, just as it had last fall, his head of steam began building against the Raiders Nov. 4, on the ninth weekend of the season. So he's a month ahead of his 2006 resurgence.

The Texans aren't willing to concede Green is a lost cause. But if he is, it's not a full-tilt disaster, thanks to Dayne. Replacing Green in the second quarter in Oakland, Dayne punched for 122 yards, and 5.8 per carry. His 289 yards — 96.3 per game — against Oakland, New Orleans and Cleveland are the second most for a three-game span in his career, trailing only the 334 he accumulated vs. Tennessee (87), New England (94) and the Colts a year ago.

"I don't know," Kubiak said in jest when asked why Dayne heats up late. "Maybe he likes the cool weather."

What really changed? For starters, he recovered from badly bruised ribs that sidelined him for two games and bothered him in four others. The Texans have jelled around him, too.

Also, Dayne's career pattern suggests the law of averages is on his side. It's that momentum thing. In eight of the 10 games in which he has been handed the ball 20 or more times, he has failed to gain 85 yards just twice.

"When he gets those big shoulders squared up and pointed down the field," Pitts said, "the locomotive gets rolling."

DenBronx
11-28-2007, 01:32 PM
i like dayne, just not as a bronco. he may have a decent game here and there but we really need a solid workhorse every game. dayne was never consistant in denver.

henry, hall and young all have more upside.

i just wish they would stay healthy and off drugs. :laugh:

omac
11-28-2007, 01:40 PM
i like dayne, just not as a bronco. he may have a decent game here and there but we really need a solid workhorse every game. dayne was never consistant in denver.

henry, hall and young all have more upside.

i just wish they would stay healthy and off drugs. :laugh:

Yeah, you and me both. How hard was it to wait one more month? Then he'd be cleared and he can get minor penalties if he messed up again.

Right now, though, I'm more concerned about all the injuries. Hopefully, Henry, Young, Hall, and Walker come back 100% next season.

Lonestar
11-28-2007, 02:19 PM
Yeah, you and me both. How hard was it to wait one more month? Then he'd be cleared and he can get minor penalties if he messed up again.

Right now, though, I'm more concerned about all the injuries. Hopefully, Henry, Young, Hall, and Walker come back 100% next season.

Make that healthy and sober..


If everyone is back OK nest year this teams could be scary good.. Maybe not Quite NE good but top tier. All they really need a is a top DT either in the drat or preferably Hanesworth as a FA..

DenBronx
11-28-2007, 02:28 PM
Yeah, you and me both. How hard was it to wait one more month? Then he'd be cleared and he can get minor penalties if he messed up again.

Right now, though, I'm more concerned about all the injuries. Hopefully, Henry, Young, Hall, and Walker come back 100% next season.


i think henry's only played in 3 1/2 games for us this year. even aside from the suspension he might get today he has really bungled his time here. i can't help but think that we may have won a couple of more games then we did if he had been playing.

TXBRONC
11-28-2007, 06:23 PM
Dayne isn't having that good of a year, his numbers seem pedestrian in my opinion.

omac
11-28-2007, 07:26 PM
i think henry's only played in 3 1/2 games for us this year. even aside from the suspension he might get today he has really bungled his time here. i can't help but think that we may have won a couple of more games then we did if he had been playing.

Yeah, the way he was running early was very impressive. If we were on use-up-clock mode, like against Chicago, I think he would've been more effective than Hall was. Then again, Hall was playing injured.