NFL Football - Ron Dayne wants that Texas Real Estate

by James on September 22nd, 2006

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

Ron Dayne may start for the Houston Texans. You have to go back two years to find Ron’s last start. That was with the New York Giants and they had Tiki Barber to play half back. Tiki was faster and built like a halfback, but he is not so great at getting short yardage. He is a halfback, so he is not supposed to be good at it. The Giant’s coaches took one look at the 5′ 10″ 280 Ron Dayne and in unison said “Short Yardage”! Problem is, Ron is a halfback and could never fulfill that fullback promise. He is a halfback stuck in a fullback’s body.

Thunder and Lightning

In his first pro season, Dayne teamed up with Tiki to take the Giants to Super Bowl XXXV. They were known as Thunder and Lightning. The speed of Tiki with the raw power of Ron Dayne had the coaches drooling.

What happened next was kind of strange… Jim Fassel was the coach back then and he just kind of soured on Dayne, complaining that he could not keep his weight down and ran too much like a halfback (which he was, only Fassel was too blind to see it).

Ron Daynes Shoes NFL Football Ron Dayne factoid Ron’s shoes are in the College Football Hall of Fame for rushing 6,397 yards to smoke past Ricky Williams Division I all time rushing record.

Mad Tom

The New York Giants changed coaches and briefly Ron got a new lease on life. It was brought to him by the mad disciplinarian Tom Coughlin. Ron removed 40 pounds, but alas, it was not enough for Coach Coughlin. The Giants eventually just gave up on the halfback that would not be a fullback.

NFL Football Ron Dayne factoid Ron is the 1999 Heisman Trophy winner while playing for the Wisconsin Badgers. He was also the MVP of the 1999 and 2000 Rose Bowls. He carried the nickname of the Great Dane.

The Denver Broncos entered the picture, but just when things were looking good for Dayne until he got injured with turf toe (very painful) this spring and Mike Bell emerged to compete with Tatum Bell for the starting job. Denver decided to let the big fella go and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Rest of the Story

Well, not quite, you see Houston has the old Denver Offensive Coordinator in Gary Kubiak . Coach Kubiak knows the value of Ron Dayne and still sees him as an every game starter at halfback. It was under Kubiak’s tutelage that run enjoyed his most yards per carry of his pro career. So now in his 7th season and with his weight down to 245, the powerful Ron Dayne is going to get his chance to prove he can still run.

NFL Football Fan Question Ron is getting a second chance. Are you giving him one too?

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