Be Patient With Brown

On Tuesday, Colts president Bill Polian held his weekly Q&A session with the team’s official web site, and this time, he received the question: “Has there been any thought to changing the running back rotation?” You can also hear Joseph Addai owners cringing and see Donald Brown owners preparing to jump for joy, but…

Answer: “Right now, there’s no plan to change the rotation. We feel pretty good about it. We think it has been successful for us. Donald is a rookie. Traditionally, rookies wear down toward the end of the season, so we’re trying to husband his carries as we did with Joseph when he was a rookie.”

Bad news, right? Yes and no.

Polian’s comparison of Brown’s rookie plan to Addai’s rookie season offers some hope. Back in 2006, Addai was the high-profile rookie who was pushing the less-exciting Dominic Rhodes for touches. Rhodes ended up starting all 16 games, but these were the month-by-month distribution numbers:

September
Rhodes: 44 rushes, 5 catches (49)
Addai: 26 rushes, 8 catches (34)

October
Rhodes: 51 rushes, 9 catches (60)
Addai: 61 rushes, 11 catches (72)

November
Rhodes: 42 rushes, 9 catches (51)
Addai: 68 rushes, 10 catches (78)

December
Rhodes: 50 rushes, 13 catches (63)
Addai: 71 rushes, 11 catches (82)

Postseason
Rhodes: 62 rushes, 7 catches (69)
Addai: 76 rushes, 10 catches (86)

Tony Dungy never really broke up the committee approach, but he clearly started to favor the rookie more and more as the season progressed.

Rhodes also scored three times over the opening four games in that season, but Addai went on to outscore Rhodes by a total of 8 to 5.

So, to all the Brown owners out there, try to stay patient.

Tags: NFL