Right now, Jones. It'd be interesting to see other RBs plugged into that Wildcat Offense in place of Williams to see how they'd produce.
If you ignore the possibility of Ricky screwing up off the field he's far better than TJ. People have forgotten just how much talent Ricky has due to his screwups, this guy started as a FB at Texas and his amazing college stats would be even higher had he started as a RB. And he could have played pro baseball if he wanted to, guy is a monster talent with the brain of a hippie stoner. He's prolly at a Phish concert right now.
If you want to ignore the possibility of Ricky screwing up then couldn't we also bring up the fact that Jones was under utilized in Arizona and could have easily been a 1100-1200 yd a season rusher every season for his 8 seasons. They both have averaged 4 yds a carry for their carreer, the td totals are close. The only stat where Ricky really stands out is that he has twice as many fumbles as Jones.
You have four things here, Ricky, his brain and TJ and his brain. The best possible combination of these four things is TJ's brain in Ricky's body.
Based on talent Ricky would be a lock HOFer and one of the top 2-3 of all time. Talent isn't everything and his career has been a colossal disappointment outside of the ONE great year he had in 2002.
To be clear Ronnie Brown is the No. 1 back on Miami. You would have to be out of your mind to quote Jones stats, TD blah, blah, blah and argue he is in Browns class but people seem to be found of that. If your option behind Brown was a healthy Ricky Williams or a healthy Thomas Jones to come in behind him you would be out of your head to choose Jones. Jones is a mediocre but solid journeyman NFL back, not particularly fast, not particularly elusive. Ricky Williams is fast, powerfull and elusive. He is a major threat on every play playing on a team with a young and weak OL where teams are keying on stopping the run. Thomas Jones is on the bench in Miami and never sees the field. Ricky Williams would have taken at least half of Jones carries by the midpoint in the season and would have been starting down the stretch for us when Jones dissapeared.
You mean like the last game of the season which was meaningfull for both teams when Jones was 10 for 23 and Ricky was 10 for 50?
The game wasn't meaningful for us. In Ricky's last 7 games he was under 4 YPC in 5 of them, in his last 10 under 4 YPC 7 times and under 3 YPC 3 times.
You know the 1 year John Riggins was all pro he averaged 3.6YPC. The year before when he was SB MVP he averaged 3.1YPC. Running backs on passing teams have big YPC. Running backs on Running teams move the chains.
This thread makes no sense Cakes. 1. Its a Jets messageboard. 2. Thomas Jones is better and AFC Rushing title Champion (Starter in Pro Bowl) 3. Ricky Williams is not that good.
If it was not for the Weed Ricky Williams would be one of the top back in the league. From a talent perspective he is way better than Thomas Jones. Jones is good nothing special!
Ohhh I see so we are comparing YPC to a player from the 70s and that is a good comparison? We threw the ball 38 more times than Miami last year, less than 3 more per game but we were a passing team and Miami a running team? In '02 when Ricky had his only great year he averaged 4.8 YPC and Miami ran it 36 less times than they did this year. 2002 dolphins: ran it 530, pass 455, ricky had 4.8 YPC 2008 dolphins: ran it 448 times, pass 491, Ricky 4.1 YPC Weren't they a running team in 2002? why was his YPC so much better? Riggins in '83 had 375 carries and scored TWENTY FOUR TDs. That may be why he was 1st team all-pro.
Better OL and he got the carries and could get in rythm. He had a great year the following year and averaged more than a yard less per carry. Curtis Martin had many years where he averaged well under 4 per and had solid years. YPC are a function of the back the O the OL and the D you face. Many great backs have played just as well averaging 3.6 as 4.6 in a team game their are other factors. A 9 yard run on third and 10 is a less effective run than a 1 yard gain on third and a yard. Situational backs which is the role Ricky is playing YPC are much more likely to be a function of situation than a feature back.
Ricky Williams had the potential to be great, but never panned out. And let's not necessarily blame weed either. I would point to weed as the reason he "quit" football, but not necessarily the reason he isn't elite. Hell, Reggie Bush was supposedly a "once-in-a-lifetime" talent. (Wasn't Williams hurt a few times early in his career as well?) Sometimes, as junc has pointed out, talent only takes you so far. Jones is underrated. I've said it before, and I'll say it until I'm blue in the face. Jones' primary problem is his lack of desire to go outside. He pounds it up the middle, even though he's got the talent and body structure to head around the ends. Even so, playing against his own talent, Jones still gets 4 YPC.
