Before I get into my actual picks, I just wanted to commiserate with any of you Ronnie Brown owners out there, who like me, did not play the very guy I hyped at the start of the season. I actually considered placing him on my “bench” list.

While I certainly hadn’t soured on him, I simply looked at what I perceived to be a bad matchup: The still fledgling Dolphins offense against a Patriots defense that still looked strong. Well, at least one of those things is certainly not true.

There was at least one warning sign that this was in the offing: After a relatively slow start last year that is eerily similar to this year’s (65 rushing yards, 76 receiving yards in 2007 and 48 and 47 this year), Brown broke out in Week 3 with three touchdowns and 211 all-purpose yards.

But there were other reasons — besides what the perception of the Patriots defense may have been — to be down on Brown going into this week. His per-touch average has been less-than-stellar (4.3 yards) and it didn’t look like he was earning the starting spot over Ricky Williams anytime soon were the two most glaring. And even if the Dolphins managed to keep the game close, I figured it would be through the passing game.

None of that seemed to matter on Sunday. The Dolphins broke out a version of the single-wing offense that netted them four touchdowns in six plays with Brown being the formation’s main component. Brown scored another one in a more conventional way, running it from 15 yards out.

What does it all mean going forward?

For starters, I’d like to think this is the start of another one similar to the one Brown went on during weeks 3 through 7 in which he scored five touchdowns and averaged about 200 all-purpose yards per game. Even if he doesn’t quite equal that production, I think it’s pretty safe to say that he’ll be getting more carries from here on out. Hopefully, you took my advice about acquiring him, even if you left him on the bench like I did.

Onto my predictions…

For the purposes of this I’m going to use the scoring in my league. It’s pretty standard with the exception probably being that you get .5 points for every reception.

Start
QB – Aaron Rodgers (16): He didn’t perform as well as I thought he would but it wasn’t a bad effort.
RB – Reggie Bush (29.5): Awesome play if you listened to me.
Chris Johnson (8): He had a solid game yardage wise, but Lendale White stole all the goal-line carries.
WR – Greg Jennings (15): Not spectacular, but a very solid performance.
Wes Welker (9): He certainly didn’t light up the stats sheet, but he does appear to be the early winner in the “which Patriots receiver is worth owning?” contest.
TE – Tony Sheffler (3): An abosolute dud.
Flex – Julius Jones (20.5): I don’t know how much he’ll be playing from here on out, but he certainly proved my hunch correct.

Bench
QB – Ben Roethlisberger (-2): HE … WAS … AWFUL.
RB – Willis McGahee (13.5): Certainly outperformed my expectations.
Darren McFadden (5.5): This seems about what I would have expected.
WR – Lee Evans (6): A couple big plays, but mostly harmless.
Randy Moss (4): If you spent a high pick on Moss, trade him now before you’re tempted to drop him outright.
TE – Tony Gonzalez (5): With a third-string QB, his value is only going to drop more.

I didn’t pick a flex, kicker or defense, so a team-wide comparison is moot, but I think it’s clear I made more spot-on predictions that not.