I have read alot of posts regarding Ricky. I am also pretty new to the message board, but I wanted to state my opinion.
First of all......Ricky has shown that he will if he feels like it abandon his team. There is no excuse for that. However, let's look at what caused him to do it. There was obviously the drugs. But beyond that there was the philosophy that he was dealing with from the Dolphin coaches. For the previous two seasons that he was the running back for the Miami Dolphins, he ran with the ball more than any other back in history. That took its toll. And Ricky never wanted to do that. He never wanted to be the man for 75% of the plays on offense. He knew he was a great runner but he also knew that he could not do it on his own. The first year, he enjoyed alot of success and was dealing with it well, but he had a decent line to run behiind and a better than average OC in Norv Turner. However, his second year he was running behind a terrible line and was constantly being used in Wanstedt's 'three yards and a cloud of dust' playmaking pattern. This was even with playmakers such as Chambers and McMike on the field. When they again failed to make the postseason, Ricky believed changes would happen. However, when he realized that Wanstedt would be retained and that Norv Turner was moving on to coach the Raiders, he knew that he was in store for another year of merciless pounding. He had had enough. Norv Turner was the only one who could at least change things up to provide him some support. Now with Wanny using one of his handpicked individuals to run the offense, Ricky knew what he would have to deal with. The line had not been improved during the offseason and no other playmakers had been obtained. It was going to be Ricky for an insane amount of carries again. So he decided to quit. A bad decision and one that I do not condone, but we do not know how the physical pounding took its toll on Ricky. He was not strong mentally to handle it and needed to escape and he did it with his favorite plant.....:shakeno:
So I was thinking that now, with a new regime which includes Saban, who likes balance in all facets of the game, and Linehan as OC who utilizes different backs and different formations, Ricky is rediscovering the good parts of the game and how he could fit into that situation. He wants to help the team now and likes its direction. We have to give him the chance to prove he is committed. The team was bad last year and while I didn't like his decision, I don't think it would have made alot of difference. We may have won a few more games. And ask yourself, while the team took their lumps and most played valiantly against better talent on the other side in most cases, what person would have been pounded on more than Ricky if he had played? JT and Zach didn't get destroyed as much as Ricky would have. He made the decision for his health (minus the gonja) and his sanity (minus the gonja) and to find himself. He says he has and he wants to play football again. Let's see what happens!