Ricky Williams

[Rover]

Has anyone else noticed that Ricky has been kinda stumbling towards the line instead of exploding off the ball. I know that too many times he ends up with a defender in his face as soon as he gets the handoff - mostly due to extremely poor line play and stacked defenses. But on plays where thats not happening he seems hesitant to get started.

I was just wondering if its just me or if other people are seeing something similar.

[Wesley Walker]

I've really only seen him once or twice this season. Against San Diego the other day, he looked fine. But I suspect what you're noticing is the result of good penetration from defenses playing the run -- the D-line penetrates and then Ricky's gotta think about making a cut before he wants to. You can square your shoulders and bulldoze forward if you're a RB, but not if the defender is bulldozing forward at you.

All this playing the run against Miami has really helped Chris Chambers's fantasy value.

[VHawk15]

Ricky just seems really slow this year. You hardly ever see him running out in the open or breaking tackles. He just runs right into the line and falls down.

[KingGhidra]

Ricky just seems really slow this year. You hardly ever see him running out in the open or breaking tackles. He just runs right into the line and falls down.

Usually that's because the line is 3 yards back from where it was when the ball was snapped. That o-line is opening nothing for him and I think he is running without confidence. When you expect a Dlineman and Lbacker in your face behind the line every snap, it kind of saps the life out of you. He still seems to be running okay and hitting whatever holes he is getting at about 90% of what he was doing last year. I also think he wants the passing game to carry more of the weight and rushing 35x a game does start to wear on you.

[terpfan]

i predicted that ricky would be hurt this year... well hes still playing, but not very well. i was close.

[deftdelivery]

Fielder just brought their passing game no where. So Ricky Faltered, having all the pressure put on his shoulders. If Griese opens up the passing attack, Williams will bust loose.

[arrbez]

i've really noticed that he's lacking confidence this year. i've watched a couple of their games, and the only one he really looked like old ricky in to me was the one against buffallo where he just wore down that entire defense all by himself...

[zombiez]

he has done nothong but get pounded on since going to Miami, mainly because, thats all they got....anyone would be slowing down....thats why they are trying to open it up, or kill the super star

[Wesley Walker]

From NFLFreaks.com...
Ricky Williams (RB - MIA), and some of his teammates reviewed some tape recently and the conclusion was made that he was not running "as hard" as he had in the past. Williams has since pledged to change that problem and begin running harder, and he and the Dolphins staff feel that everything is back to normal now.

Sandman: "I never got the impression he wasn't running as hard as he could, but when you watch film, some guys take the ball and they're gone, some guys get the ball and read down the line," center Tim Ruddy said. "Ricky's a guy who does some of both. And there seems to be a little more lateral movement this year than before." We can only hope that this revelation has a positive affect on what has been an extremely disappointing season for the star back. We'll watch his production against Tennessee and hopefully get an indication of what's in store down the home stretch.  (11/07/03 - 12:00 P.M.)

[Rover]

Thanks everyone for their input and Wesley for those quotes. I didn't get to see any of the Dolphins game to see how Ricky was running this week. I figure, once again, he had no running room at all. Unfortunately it should be another tough week against the Ravens next Sunday.