The Miami Dolphins will be missing more than just Ronnie Brown's power running when they visit the Carolina Panthers Thursday.
Brown, who is expected to miss the prime-time contest because of an ankle injury, is also the lead man for the Wildcat formation that gave defensive coordinators headaches when the Dolphins began using it last season.
With the deceptive formation, the Dolphins are at least a threat to break off an occasional big play. Without it, they're a decent offensive line with a mediocre quarterback in Chad Henne and no proven receivers.
Miami has options if it decides to continue utilizing the Wildcat, a formation in which a player other than the quarterback takes the snap and has the option to hand it off, run it himself or thrown the ball downfield. Ricky Williams could take Brown's place under center, or the Fish could turn to rookie QB Pat White, known for his running abilities during his university career at West Virginia.
But the Wildcat's claws won't be as sharp without Brown.
"Williams would be capable of doing a lot of what Brown did in the Wildcat, if he also had Brown there as the running back," says Covers Expert David Malinsky. "They could have switched roles pretty well.
“But you really need both on the field. When there is not the threat of one handing the ball to the other, a big part of the package goes away."
Not that the Wildcat is as unstoppable as it once was, anyway.
The Dolphins stumped New England head coach Bill Belichick last September (back when Hoodie was still viewed as a genius), scoring touchdowns on four of six plays from the Wildcat formation in a 38-13 upset of the Pats.
Since then, many offenses have stolen that page from the Dolphins' playbook, and most defenses have figured out a way to slow the Wildcat down.
That's why Malinsky feels Brown's absence is worth only a point to the line for the Dolphins' game this week against Carolina (the Panthers are 3-point favorites, and the total sits at 43.5).
Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, isn't even convinced Brown is worth that.
"Brown is very valuable to Miami, but I don't think he's an NFL key player," says Korner. "Brown's injury is certainly noted and we were conscious of it when we made the line, but we're not overreacting. He may be worth half a point."
betED.com sportsbook manager Randy Scott feels moving the vigorish on the Panthers from minus-3 from -110 to -120 was an adequate adjustment.
"Even though Brown is their leading rusher this season, they still have Ricky Williams, who came off the bench last week and rushed for his first 100-yard game of the season," he says.
The Dolphins, however, have only three full days between games to put together a game plan without Brown. That concerns Malinsky.
"It really does exacerbate the issue, particularly with so many young faces in the offensive huddle," he says. "They would like come out and play vanilla and try to hang around in the game for a while, but the NFL does not always allow that."