Ricky Williams Dishes on Dolphins on his Way Out the Door
"We're worried about mouse manure when we have elephant s--- all over the place."...
A rough season receives a distinct punctuation from Dolphins running back Ricky Williams as he wraps the year on his radio show in Miami. Joining Sid Rosenberg on 560 WQAM, Williams begins explaining the blowout loss to the Patriots as a lack of preparation:
"I had a little bit of a sense during the week of practice that we weren't as focused or preparing as well as we needed to.
So the first couple of snaps I was in the game, it was a pass play, and I was open. I wanted the ball. And then the next time it was a run play. I got hit in the backfield. And then the next time it was a run play and Chad (Henne) turned the wrong way.
For me, the frustration was that it's not even that they're a better team and they outplayed us. It's like we weren't prepared. We didn't show up."
The focus eventually shifts to the man ultimately responsible for the preparation, embattled head coach Tony Sparano:
"I think, unequivocally, all the guys have tons of respect for Tony."
Yet, that didn't prevent Williams from this critique of the coach:
"A team takes on the personality of the head coach. I think the way we're coached, Tony goes through a lot of effort to show us the things that it takes to win football games.
Not turning the ball over, converting third downs, scoring in the red zone.
He spent a lot of time saying, 'If you do these things you win.' Sometimes, I feel like he does it a little bit too much."
Whoever was working the board back at the station during this remote broadcast had to have his finger firmly planted on the "dump" button during various points of the interview when Ricky's language turned salty.
"If you focus on creating an atmosphere and an attitude of winning without nit-picking...
(Former Dolphin) coach (Nick) Saban had a saying, 'We're worried about mouse manure when we have elephant s--- all over the place.'"
Williams makes it clear throughout the interview that he plans to play another season somewhere in the NFL next year, but it's not likely to be in Miami:
"This has been a long lesson I flunked a couple times and so it seems like now it's time to move on.
I think the way I left Miami the first and second time, it wasn't a clean break.
I was sitting in the locker room today and the media was in there, and the fact that I'm the longest tenured Dolphin on the team right now and no one came up to me to ask me any questions about if this is going to be my last year or not. I think, 'Well, this is awesome.' This signifies that... you know."