"Once, the R&R Express steamed so stylishly through helpless NFL defenses, chewing up real estate, piling up wins and imitators.

Over the four full seasons of Ricky and Ronnie (2005, 2008-10), this double-barrelled weapon produced nearly 8,000 total yards and 55 touchdowns, rushing and receiving.

Now, sadly, it seems the tired old train, no longer as shiny as it used to be, has wheezed into the station for the final time.

Most had suspected as much all season as the Dolphins' rushing attack slumped into sub-mediocrity, but the events of the past few days have brought some much-needed clarity for a pair of aging free agents.

It's not just Ronnie Brown who is on the outs after the Dolphins refused to hand him the ball a single time in the final 48 minutes Sunday at New England.

Brown, as usual, smiled and said all the right things, but the sixth-year running back couldn't have been pleased at falling 16 yards short of a $500,000 incentive clause.

Monday, it was Ricky Williams' turn to shed light on his situation.

"It seems like now is time to move on," Williams said on his weekly radio show on WQAM-560.

A day after Williams passed Larry Csonka for most rushing attempts in franchise history, the enigmatic one made it clear he wasn't very happy in his sixth (and most likely final) full Dolphins season.

Playing for Tony Sparano, he said, was "not a great fit for me." There was too much talk about "little things," Williams said, the sort of nuts-and-bolts details that a football savant like Sparano might enjoy, but that might get in the way for a mediation-class-leading, medicine-studying, truth-seeking Renaissance man."