Commentary: Ricky’s return recalls Sanders’ abrupt departure | Page 3 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Commentary: Ricky’s return recalls Sanders’ abrupt departure

stan marino said:
I dont get the article really. It compares Sanders to Ricky except that Ricky was failing drug tests left and right before he retired, and then compares Ricky to others who had failed drug tests but they didnt retire. In both instances its not a real comparison.

Admittedly, it was a bit stream-of-consciousness. I guess I wanted to say: if you don't want Ricky back because he's a quitter, there is another quitter who has been given a free pass -- all the way to the Hall of Fame -- who never realized the scope of what he had done to his team.

If you don't want Ricky back because of his past drug use, you're holding him to a higher standard than the NFL holds its own players, as evidenced by the cases I mentioned.

Now I must give props to the reader who called me on the Julius Peppers comparison. He should indeed have been left off the list. Even with that omission, it's still a fairly impressive list.
 
people would have welcomed back Barry but the difference is he is Barry Sanders who was an all-time great RB while Ricky was great for only 1 year and had never seen a playoff game. Barry never won a SB but he helped resurrect a bad franchise and get them to the playoffs many years while Ricky was supposed to be the final piece for Miami and instead he sent them backwards instead of forward.
 
TarHeelFinFan said:
I don't want a burnout like that on my team.

A. Unless your name is Wayne Huizenga, I don't think this is your team. If anything it's more of an our team thing. Where the team belongs to the fans no just one fan.

B. If you are not Nick Saban then you have no say as to who steps on the field in Aqua and Orange at Dolphins Stadium on Sunday's.

C. If you are going to be that bitter about Ricky coming back and don't want him on "your" team, then go find another team. I can almost gaurantee that you'll find someone on the roster who smokes weed just like Ricky did.

All that being said, I just want the Dolphin's to succeed, and will cheer anyone that Huizenga and Saban have out there whether they were long time rivals (ie. Thurman Thomas, or possibly Ty Law) or fresh to the NFL.
 
nyjunc said:
people would have welcomed back Barry but the difference is he is Barry Sanders who was an all-time great RB while Ricky was great for only 1 year and had never seen a playoff game. Barry never won a SB but he helped resurrect a bad franchise and get them to the playoffs many years while Ricky was supposed to be the final piece for Miami and instead he sent them backwards instead of forward.

Ricky was great for more than one year.

Rushing for more yardage than any other dolphin's rb in his years here did not send them backwards. Poor coaching did that.


Thanks for playing though.
 
NYinBostonFin said:
Ricky was great for more than one year.

Rushing for more yardage than any other dolphin's rb in his years here did not send them backwards. Poor coaching did that.


Thanks for playing though.

He only averaged more than 4 yards per rush ONE time in his career. he was spectacular in 2002 but you still missed the playoffs for the first time since 1996 and in '03 he averaged 3.5 YPC and you missed the playoffs again for the first time in concecutive seasons since 1989.

Here are his career #s:

Year TM | G | Att Yards Y/A TD | Rec Yards Y/R TD |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
| 1999 nor | 12 | 253 884 3.5 2 | 28 172 6.1 0 |
| 2000 nor | 10 | 248 1000 4.0 8 | 44 409 9.3 1 |
| 2001 nor | 16 | 313 1245 4.0 6 | 60 511 8.5 1 |
| 2002 mia | 16 | 383 1853 4.8 16 | 47 363 7.7 1 |
| 2003 mia | 16 | 392 1372 3.5 9 | 50 351 7.0 1 |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
| TOTAL | 70 | 1589 6354 4.0 41 | 229 1806 7.9 4 |


He was great for 1 year and good for a few others, coincidentally the only team that he played on that made the playoffs maded it by playing the last 6 games and 2 playoff games w/o him(including winning the franchises first ever playoff game)
 
nyjunc said:
He only averaged more than 4 yards per rush ONE time in his career. he was spectacular in 2002 but you still missed the playoffs for the first time since 1996 and in '03 he averaged 3.5 YPC and you missed the playoffs again for the first time in concecutive seasons since 1989.

Here are his career #s:

Year TM | G | Att Yards Y/A TD | Rec Yards Y/R TD |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
| 1999 nor | 12 | 253 884 3.5 2 | 28 172 6.1 0 |
| 2000 nor | 10 | 248 1000 4.0 8 | 44 409 9.3 1 |
| 2001 nor | 16 | 313 1245 4.0 6 | 60 511 8.5 1 |
| 2002 mia | 16 | 383 1853 4.8 16 | 47 363 7.7 1 |
| 2003 mia | 16 | 392 1372 3.5 9 | 50 351 7.0 1 |
+----------+-----+--------------------------+-------------------------+
| TOTAL | 70 | 1589 6354 4.0 41 | 229 1806 7.9 4 |


He was great for 1 year and good for a few others, coincidentally the only team that he played on that made the playoffs maded it by playing the last 6 games and 2 playoff games w/o him(including winning the franchises first ever playoff game)

Rushing for over 1800 yards was not the reason we missed the playoffs. And rushing for over 1300 yds is a great year.
 
NYinBostonFin said:
Rushing for over 1800 yards was not the reason we missed the playoffs. And rushing for over 1300 yds is a great year.


The reason you missed the playoffs was b/c the QB that everyone ridicules around here was injured at midseason. 1,300 yards on 3.5 YPC is NOT a great season.
 
nyjunc said:
The reason you missed the playoffs was b/c the QB that everyone ridicules around here was injured at midseason. 1,300 yards on 3.5 YPC is NOT a great season.

He was running 25+ a game. YPC sucked but amount didn't. He was run into the groung with 8 in box that year.

I know fielder is a jet now so you got to talk him up but you know he is not irreplaceable. Give me a break.
 
TarHeelFinFan said:
Psychological or or chemical is irrelevant. Ricky was addicted to the stuff and risked everything just to smoke it. I don't want a burnout like that on my team.

Do you have proof? Does anyone have proof. I honestly don't know why he quit and neither do you or anyone one else but Ricky.
 
Good article. Everyone focuses on the pot with Ricky, but I don't think it's as important as people are making it. As RW said, he didn't retire because he was failing drug tests, he was failing drug tests because he knew(or thought) he wanted to retire. We've had a much more in-depth look at Ricky's quirky, immature behavior, but I don't think Barry was all that "normal" either.

I'm not giving Ricky a free pass, and he'll have to earn back the trust of the coaches, fans and especially teammates, but as the article points out, he's not the first, and won't be the last. You take exceptionally talented young men, make them instantly rich, and hang the aspirations of a franchise squarely around their necks, a certain percentage of them are likely to lose it.

I, and you, don't personally know either of these players and quite frankly don't much care about their personal lives any more than they care about mine. 1. Can he help the team? 2. Is he affordable? 3. Can he be had with minimal risk, considering his past behavior? These are the only questions in my mind that need be asked and answered. I think Nick's on the job.
 
NYinBostonFin said:
He was running 25+ a game. YPC sucked but amount didn't. He was run into the groung with 8 in box that year.

I know fielder is a jet now so you got to talk him up but you know he is not irreplaceable. Give me a break.

It doesn't matter the circumstances, he had a 3.5 YPC. That is not good.

I know Fiedler is not irreplaceable but he was very important to you guys for a few years. When he played yolu won most of your games and when he didn't your win % went way down.
 
nyjunc said:
It doesn't matter the circumstances, he had a 3.5 YPC. That is not good.

I know Fiedler is not irreplaceable but he was very important to you guys for a few years. When he played yolu won most of your games and when he didn't your win % went way down.

He had 3.5 YPC because everyone in the league knew that the quarterback that "everyone ridicules around here" couldn't throw and hit the broad side of a barn. Hence 8 people who's only goal every play was to stop him. And he STILL averaged 3.5 YPC... I'd say that's a good season.
 
phinphanphrommi said:
He had 3.5 YPC because everyone in the league knew that the quarterback that "everyone ridicules around here" couldn't throw and hit the broad side of a barn. Hence 8 people who's only goal every play was to stop him. And he STILL averaged 3.5 YPC... I'd say that's a good season.

3.5 YPC is not good under any circumstances. Curtis Martin had a similar situation last year as defenses knew Chad couldn't throw w/ his shoulder(and when Quincy was in there they knew he couldn't throw) and yet Curtis averaged 4.6 YPC while Ricky 3.5 and Curtis only had 21 less carries. A similar situation in 2001, the Jets could not throw. Vinny only had 1 or 2 200+ yard games all year yet Curtis had a 4.5 YPC. The bottom line is if Ricky had proven throughout his career that 3.5 was an aberration then I'd cut him a little slack but outside of '02 his career was average.
 
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