Ricky's true reason for retirement is coming out....

[NCFINFAN38]

Zach is surrounded with talent on defense as well that makes his job so much easier. If our OL had the talent that our DL has....I guarantee you this team would have rolled to a Super Bowl last year and there'd be no one happier or more enthusiastic about this upcoming season than Ricky Williams.

Dude, could you be more clueless??? Ricky's decision had absolutely NOTHING to do with football. His own statement said he has used drugs since he came to the NFL and was tired of trying to hide them. He said he was not going to let someone make rules that he was gonna follow. This is not about who was on the OL, DL or special teams for that matter. It was a simple decision that came down between would I rather have a life and play football by the rules of society, or would I rather throw it all away and pursue my life as a drug addicted free spirit.
He said nothing about the OL until one of them Seth came out with his opinion about what Ricky was doing to the team. Then Ricky responded about a missed block last year, but that CERTAINLY isn't the reason he quit. If even if it was, which it isn't, how absurd would that be? That would be like Kobe Bryant retiring next year b/c Shaq left.

And yeah yeah I know one of the moderators are going to yell at me for calling him clueless, so I'm sorry, aight??

 

[Schleckbaum]

Forget about this year and upgrades, I think that its highly likely that there was a fair amount of resentment built up over the situation that they put him in last year. That line was shizaad. They put the whole thing on him and whether even Ricky realizes it or not, it had a part in his decision. If last year he had a year like he did 2002-2003 season, there's no way that this would have happened.

 

[dean_siu]

Don't defend that POT head. Don't ever say the doctor prescribed it for pain. Think about how stupid that sounds.

What the hell has Miami been doing all offseason.

Answer: Trying to upgrade their line.

Who did we spend our #1 draft pick on?

Answer: Vernon Carey.

This is Ricky's fault 100%

It is his life and he can do what he wants, but a real man wouldn't bail out on his team and fans right before the season. He needs to get back on his medication and stop smoking weed. I would rather have Ricky doing steroids then smoking weed. At least that would show he cares about his career.

Smoking pot as a pain killer is not stupid at all....thats one of the most common uses of it as a medicinal purpose. I'm not saying that he did have a prescription for it....but I don't blame him at all for resorting to it as he had to be in pain after each and every game.

Spending a #1 draft choice on the OL is not a bad step...but its not a quick fix solution to a weakness that is filled with deficiencies. Rookies struggle and Carey will struggle more than most....because he doesn't have any strong veterans to help him learn and pick him up when he struggles.

As for Ricky doing steriods...I believe he is way too smart to do this. He doesn't want to do anything that's going to affect his quality of life down the road....thats why he's not playing anymore and thats why he would never be stupid enough to pop pills (plus he doesn't need to....he's a madman in the weight room is probably built better than any other RB in the league).

Steriods will affect your health and ultimately get you suspended. Pot is harmless and easily masked....it never affected his play on the field, didn't affect his relationships with his teammates, and didn't cause him to miss any games. Its ridiculous to me that people keep making an issue out of this....because most the people knocking this probably smoke it themselves.

 

[Schleckbaum]

Dude, could you be more clueless??? Ricky's decision had absolutely NOTHING to do with football. His own statement said he has used drugs since he came to the NFL and was tired of trying to hide them.

All right, I never inhaled, but I think that Ricky saying that it was all about weed is an easy way for him to provide an explanation without blaming anyone. Even if he doesn't suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder [which he probably does] he's still by nature going to be non-confrontational. This would be different if he couldn't mask it, but the fact is that there is a heck of a lot of marijuana use in all sports as well as a large percentage of the population as a whole. i just can't buy that this was all over weed. It's not worth it.

 

[dean_siu]

He said nothing about the OL until one of them Seth came out with his opinion about what Ricky was doing to the team. Then Ricky responded about a missed block last year, but that CERTAINLY isn't the reason he quit. If even if it was, which it isn't, how absurd would that be? That would be like Kobe Bryant retiring next year b/c Shaq left.

My point exactly...Ricky said nothing about and tried to walk away without blaming anyone. He only responded one a talentless offensive lineman had to blab his big mouth.

As for the Kobe reference, thats a perfect example of a team building around its superstar. Kobe did not want to play with Shaq anymore and thats the only reason the Lakers didn't try to appease him.

Kobe wasn't gonna leave once the team decided to trade Shaq....this was a team taking care of its superstar's desire and showing his loyalty as a result.

That's what this organization failed to do and is paying the price for a result....if they had given Ricky want he wanted and built a line that prevented him from getting killed every week...I can almost guarantee you he wouldn't have walked this past weekend.

 

[inFINSible]

Ricky's decision had absolutely NOTHING to do with football. His own statement said he has used drugs since he came to the NFL and was tired of trying to hide them. He said he was not going to let someone make rules that he was gonna follow. This is not about who was on the OL, DL or special teams for that matter. It was a simple decision that came down between would I rather have a life and play football by the rules of society, or would I rather throw it all away and pursue my life as a drug addicted free spirit.
He said nothing about the OL until one of them Seth came out with his opinion about what Ricky was doing to the team. Then Ricky responded about a missed block last year, but that CERTAINLY isn't the reason he quit. If even if it was, which it isn't, how absurd would that be? That would be like Kobe Bryant retiring next year b/c Shaq left.

And yeah yeah I know one of the moderators are going to yell at me for calling him clueless, so I'm sorry, aight??

Dude, doesn't it say the same thing like this?

Just take out the first sentence and it's a respectful and intelligent reponse.

Do you have to be hateful?

 

[Champ]

A horse is a horse and a quitter is a quitter........I think tommorrow I'll quit my job.

 

[Jimi]

4 new linemen don't mean much if the caliber of them is not that great. James is not that bad....and will probably be our best OL.....but that statement couldn't be said with many players. Carey may turn into a good offensive lineman...but he'll be a rookie and greatly struggle in his initial season. St. Claire? Give me a break...the Dolphins did a favor giving this guy a contract...he's not even good enough for the AFL. They could have afforded Woody or Tait (or other strong OL who have been out there in the past few years)...its just a matter of priortitizing. We've spents millions of dollars in the past 2 years on free agents (and trades) to get players like Junior Seau, Sammy Knight, David Boston, and AJ Feely. I'm not saying these aren't good players...but they are being picked up at the expense of the OL. This organization (and many of its fans) feel that a good OL is not needed to win....but it needs to be a top priority (especially if you want to be a run dominant team). I don't care who you have in your backfield....nobody will prosper behind this line and I hate to think of how many guys will get injured this year as a result.

How the hell do u kno how good our offensive line will be. And what kind of fan are you calling are staring C talentless. Your no damn talent evaluator, so i have no idea where ur getting tht bull from. His play last year was good. And id bet u dont kno how good Carey or St.Clair will be.

They could of offorded Woody or Tait? Really, last time i checked they couldnt afford Woody(while Ricky was on the team) unless they didnt want to sign any rookies or O-Gun . And we tried to match evrything with Tait, but he just wanted to play in Chicago. His wife wanted to be there and he just felt it was better for him, NOTHING WE COULD DO!

I cant believe how clueless your being(not are, tht would b a personal attack:D ) you dont think Feeley and boston are a help to the runing game. Tell me something, what made defences stack 8 in the box every play?Was it a poor O-Line? NO! It was lack of passing game!! We adressed tht in the offseason as well. You think guys are gonna b injured under this O-Line??Then y the hell was there only one injury last year on offence behind an even worse line?..Ok lets hear ur bad rebutle...

 

[Chuckenice]

I had a feeling

He quit because he got caught getting high again, and was not man enough to adimit it , instead, painting himself into a corner by saying it was not true.

His lawyer probably told him he was going to lose his appeal and he ran Ricky Ran.

When the story about him getting caught first broke, I said to my wife, don't be suprised if this weirdo quits... half joking

I guess the joke was on me.

Go-Dolphins

 

[Fawn Lebowitz]

It's true that every running back gets hit....but most don't get hit all the time in the backfield by a DL (or LB) coming at him with a full head of steam. And no other OL was as bad as ours last year....the line we played with was probably the worst I've ever seen in this league and this years version will only be slightly better.

As for Ricky whining...you couldn't be further from the truth. Ricky never complained about the situaion despite how bad it was....he just went out there and gave his best every week.

Even when he left, he didn't blame anyone else at all...he put the onus all on himself....its only when an idiot like McKinney speaks up and blabs his mouth that Ricky has to defend himself.

You do realise that every RB in the league gets hit. Hall of Famer Walter Payton ran for most of his yards behind one of the worst OL in history. Ricky ran behind a line at least 2x better and is bitching about it? What a whiner.

 

[GridIronKing34]

Ricky's first year here, good season. Why? Decent offensive line. His second. Bad. Why? Injuries and this may be an understatement, but our o-line was pathetic. You wanna tell me I'm not a fan cause I just said that? Go ahead, I was disapointed in Ricky's choice, but I don't have hatred or anything on him. Let's take this into example. You're playing your Madden 2004 franchise. This may not be the best, but it's okay. You have a terrible offensive line, but a good running back, your o-line's overall rating is a pathetic 70. While your RB rating is an outstanding 95. Now, in the offseason, you sign four offensive linemen. Ones a rookie, he'll be jittered like the rest, playing with not so great vet's. And he's rated about 70 or so. While the other 3 you signed, are rated in the low 60's. Did you really make that much of an improvement? Nope. All you did was waste your money. Now you can bash on me saying this is a terrible example, but I tried. And why don't you try running up the middle with this line and tell me you didn't get the wind knocked out of ya... Try this 370 times in Ricky's case.

 

[catapano]

When I heard this weekend that Ricky retired, I said to blame the front office for this debacle because of thier refusal to build a strong offensive line.

Today, I think you've heard Ricky's first reference to that when he replied to Seth McKinney's criticism....



Watching this team play last year, I've never seen a back get hit in the backfield more than Ricky did. I've never seen so many missed blocks as this line produced. I've never seen a running back endure as much punishment as Ricky did and still finish the season.

I guarantee you any back that was faced with as much punishment as Ricky got last year would be smoking dope as well. Any smart doctor would prescribe it for medicinal purposes as I'm sure he needed something to kill the pain everyday.

Ricky never blamed anyone though. He never criticized his teammates. He never tried to disrupt any team unity or publicly embarrass anyone. He just went out there and gave 110% each and every week.

Than he went into the offseason and worked his *** off again...attending all the offseason conditioning programs and getting himself into the best shape of his career.

He gave the Dolphins the entire offseason to address the much maligned offensive line and give him the type of blocking that a HOF calibar back deserves.

When the organization didn't do a good job of this and he was going to be faced with the prospect of running behind an inferior line filled with bums like McKinney, St. Claire, and Smith....he decided to walk instead of facing a serious injury which I think would have been a strong possibility.

You can say that the price tag on guys like Woody and Tait were too high....but the organization put themselves in this position over the years and they needed to address it....even if it meant overpaying.

Besides, they were getting a steal on a great running back who was only due to make about 3.3 million this coming soon and they could have used some of their savings here to address this deficiency.

When Ricky to leave though, he didn't cite the poor play of his blockers or the ignorance of our front office as the reason. Instead, he showed some class and took all the criticism himself.

However, if these idiots like McKinney want to fire barbs at Ricky.....I'm glad to see Ricky counter and defend himself. I can't blame him for walking away now...because he likely would have walked away on crutches by week 4 if he had decided to play.

McKinney needs to shut his trap because he'd be lucky to have a roster spot on most teams....and could probably not start for any other team in the NFL.

And this front office needs to go out and build a real line....the fans can talk all they want about us missing the chance to sign to Eddie George....but no free agent in their right mind would just to be a Dolphin and run behind this POS line.

you my friend are an idiot!!

Mod Note: Catapano, you know the rule about personal and derogatory comments directed at other members. You have one day off. When you come back, don't even start that stuff in the threads.

 

[Jimi]

Ricky's first year here, good season. Why? Decent offensive line. His second. Bad. Why? Injuries and this may be an understatement, but our o-line was pathetic. You wanna tell me I'm not a fan cause I just said that? Go ahead, I was disapointed in Ricky's choice, but I don't have hatred or anything on him. Let's take this into example. You're playing your Madden 2004 franchise. This may not be the best, but it's okay. You have a terrible offensive line, but a good running back, your o-line's overall rating is a pathetic 70. While your RB rating is an outstanding 95. Now, in the offseason, you sign four offensive linemen. Ones a rookie, he'll be jittered like the rest, playing with not so great vet's. And he's rated about 70 or so. While the other 3 you signed, are rated in the low 60's. Did you really make that much of an improvement? Nope. All you did was waste your money. Now you can bash on me saying this is a terrible example, but I tried. And why don't you try running up the middle with this line and tell me you didn't get the wind knocked out of ya... Try this 370 times in Ricky's case.

...wait is there a point? RB's get hit bottom line. You may say "not as much as others, but take into account u dont only get hit when u carry the ball. Look at LT, he also caught the ball 100+ times, all the more hits hes taking there.

 

[csabe]

I seem to remember JTaylor playing as a rookie with a broken forearm just to play football. Forget all the rest, RWilliams didn't have any passion for the game. Footballs for ironmen, not wusses!!

 

[Ozzy]

Zach is surrounded with talent on defense as well that makes his job so much easier. If our OL had the talent that our DL has....I guarantee you this team would have rolled to a Super Bowl last year and there'd be no one happier or more enthusiastic about this upcoming season than Ricky Williams.

UGH!! You showed me that you don't know how this Defense is set up!! The MLB is the one person on this type of D that take the brunt of the load.....