{mosimage} Yes, it's true, every new football season I worship false idols. I can be sitting at church listening to a Sunday school lesson when my thoughts suddenly drift to fantasy football and who I will be starting in my backfield that week. It is the kind of obsessive compulsive behavior that earned me three fantasy league titles last year, so why should this year be any different.

Two weeks ago, I inherited Ronnie Brown in one of my fantasy leagues. He came in on the back end of a trade, as his former owner cried out, "good riddance." Well perhaps he did not see what I saw, and that is, that Brown is a fantasy god in the making. Perhaps he isn't a god in the likeness of Tomlinson or Larry Johnson, but more along the lines of a poor man's Stephen Jackson.

The reasons are simple; one, he has break away speed and can run; two, he can catch passes out of the backfield; three, the Dolphin's suck, forcing them to go to him time and time again. Over the last two weeks, Brown has made it to the elite circle of fantasy football. In Miami's week three loss to the Jets, Brown gained 112 yards on the ground on 23 carries and scored twice. He also caught 6 passes for 99 yards and scored another touchdown. Against the Raiders the following week, Brown collected 207 yards from scrimmage and scored another touchdown.

Those are Tomlinson like numbers for the former 1^st round draft pick (2^nd overall) out of Auburn Even in the first two weeks of the season, when he was not running all that well, Brown posted games of more than 70 total yards from scrimmage. This was mainly do to his ability to catch passes out of the backfield. But before you rush head long into trading for this fantasy franchise back, you should remember that there are also some inherit risks. Earlier this year, Miami was far from happy with the way Brown ran the ball. His preseason inconsistency had the Dolphin's coaching staff wondering if Brown should be splitting carries with running back Jesse Chapman. Chapman had last been seen on an NFL roster in 2004, when he average 6.0 yards carry for the San Diego Charger in limited play. Not exactly the ringing endorsement you want to hear from a coaching staff. Still, fantasy championships are not won without a certain degree of risk taking. While Ronnie Brown will be hard press to keep pounding out 200 yard games, it is reasonable to expect him to give you 125-150 total yards per outing. This alone is reason enough to have him on your team. His break away speed will add some long touchdowns along the way. And who knows, by year's end, Brown may be able to push pass Tomlinson, Johnson, Jackson or Alexander and reach a higher plane on the fantasy scale. For now, I will go on worshipping this false idol, and rid him into the league playoffs.

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