00:00Happy to be joined by Ricky Williams. Ricky Williams joining us here on the show.
00:04Ricky, how are you, man?
00:06I'm great. Thank you.
00:07Thanks for having me.
00:08I appreciate you joining us, man.
00:09Real quick, what was the longest period of time you missed due to injury?
00:20Six games.
00:21Six games?
00:22Six games.
00:23What was the injury?
00:26I tore my patch.
00:27Oh, yeah. That was Monday Night Football, wasn't it?
00:30Yeah.
00:30Oh, that was...
00:32Yeah.
00:34And also, I missed six games when I broke my ankle.
00:37Right, but that's in 10 years?
00:40Yeah.
00:41Right, right.
00:42Like, I don't understand, and maybe you can help me out with this.
00:48We've gone out of our way to protect guys from getting injured in the most physical sport in the world.
00:57And they seem to be getting hurt more because they're not prepared for the most physical game in the world.
01:07Yeah.
01:07Yeah, that's fair.
01:08It's been a rough week, Ricky, obviously, for the Dolphins fans.
01:16I think they knew they were coming into a season with a lot of, you know, I guess, a lot of expectations and hopes that this was going to turn around.
01:26And then you get absolutely stomped like that.
01:28I mean, have you seen, I guess, some of the reaction of the Dolphins getting boat raced the way they did in week one?
01:35And what have you made of it?
01:37No, I haven't seen...
01:39I haven't read much.
01:41You know, I typically don't read when teams I follow do poorly.
01:46It's healthier.
01:48It's depressing.
01:49It is.
01:49And I've been there.
01:51Everyone piles on.
01:52And to me, losing early in the season like this is much better than losing later in the season.
01:57And I think the teams that lose early like this have the ability to make the corrections so that they can get better and improve.
02:03I think one of the things that I've always believed that football fans overreact about is anything that happens in the first four weeks of the season is an overreaction.
02:13Listen, don't get it, baby, because you've been as upset as anybody, Leroy.
02:23You were coming in saying this was going to be one week, and you've been furious with the coach ever since we've come here on Monday.
02:29But it's for different reasons.
02:32It's not for the win or loss.
02:35I have never mentioned the win or the loss.
02:39I have mentioned, if you have a guy, and Ricky, you can kind of help me out.
02:46If you have a guy who left your team three years ago, and he can still prepare with the stuff that you're running when he was here,
02:56then as an offensive guru, you don't have any nuance to your offense.
03:00And they do a zone blitz and park a traffic cone right in the window where you're going to throw it, and you still throw it to him.
03:07I have a problem with that.
03:09Not the fact that they lost or not, but the fact that a guy who was here three years ago can help the defense set up to defend you.
03:18Like I said, I think it's healthy to have reactions, but I think it's not helpful to overreact.
03:28Because obviously there are things that need to be addressed, and it's like a relationship.
03:34There's things that come up in a relationship, but there's also that lingering thing that's always there.
03:39And I think as a fan, we can complain about what we see topically, but a lot of us, especially Dolphin fans, we got wounds.
03:48And so when we see things that are deep, that haven't been addressed, it can tend to lead towards an overreaction.
03:56Yes, I think so.
03:58Well, do you ever remember, like is it different, like watching reactions?
04:02I'm sure it is, just after playing than as opposed to playing.
04:05Like when you, was there ever a season that just got off to like a rotten start week one, two?
04:10And did you have that perspective, or did it feel like, oh my God, there's urgency right away?
04:15I think as a player, I always tried to, but as a player, your life is, the quality of your life is so much determined by the tightness of your coach's butthole.
04:25So it depends on the coach.
04:28I remember my second year in New Orleans, Jim Hazlitt was the head coach, and we started off one and two.
04:35And he pulled me aside, and he said, look, he said, these things happen, you know, they happen in chunks.
04:39You just got to stick with it.
04:41And then we went on to win six games in a row.
04:43So it's all about how you handle the onslaught, the difficulties.
04:48If you panic and start pointing fingers, you're done.
04:51All right, if you say, okay, we got to fix this, then you got a chance.
04:55And then you start to get to week five and six, and if you've been trying to fix it and you still haven't, then it's time to overreact.
05:00So, like, you would say, with this team in particular, do you feel like it's even more, or do you feel like that's still a fair time, like six games into the season?
05:12Or if they lose this week, everyone's going to be in red alert mode?
05:16I think you got to give them to week four.
05:18You got to give them to week four.
05:19Right?
05:20And what you want to see is not necessarily winning.
05:22You want to see that the issues are being addressed.
05:24And if a team can show you that they can address issues, they got a chance.
05:29If they show you that the internal workings, they can't address issues, they don't have a chance.
05:34You know, when I played for Tony Sperano, we had good teams.
05:38I think we played above our level.
05:41But when issues came up, our internal, the way we worked, we couldn't fix anything.
05:46You know?
05:47And so even though we were good and we were two years in a row, we were on the edge of the playoffs, but we couldn't address the things we needed to address.
05:54When it was important and we couldn't do it.
05:56But I think you learned to address things by, unfortunately, things that show up early in the season.
06:01But again, if you can show that you can make an adjustment, you got to show.
06:07Four.
06:09You think that's too many weeks, Leroy?
06:14No.
06:14Because, Ricky, I always ask him, because fans tend to base everything off of winning and losing.
06:25And what I would ask him is, can your team be better than it was the year before while not having the same amount of success?
06:33And some of the things that you're talking about lend to that.
06:41And I would say that, especially now with nobody playing in the preseason, you almost have to prolong your opinion to what your team is or not.
06:52Because a lot of it, they're picking up on the fly, the physicality, how they're going to run the football, stuff like that.
07:00You're picking up on the fly because you haven't really experienced it the first couple of weeks of the season.
07:06But as soon as the Dolphins lose, it goes to, we haven't won a game in 25 years, a playoff game in 25 years.
07:16And, like, some of these guys weren't even alive.
07:20What do they care?
07:22Yeah.
07:24Yeah.
07:25Yeah.
07:26Did you, like, were those past playoff no winnings?
07:30Like, did that linger at all when you played here?
07:32Well, because when I, I mean, they, when I got to Miami, Miami was a perennial playoff team.
07:39But, you know, we didn't, I mean, we didn't win for a long time, six years, seven years until we won a playoff, six years until we won a playoff game.
07:46And then we've seen what's happened.
07:48So before I got there, there was the expectation.
07:51And after my first year, when we didn't make the playoffs, the expectation started to disappear.
07:56So it was more like this is where we are, you know, and we're pretty good.
08:02But, you know, until we make some great, big changes, we're not ever going to be, have a shot to run, to make a run at the Super Bowl.
08:09But for some teams, being a playoff team, you know, that's good enough.
08:14Yeah.
08:14From your, from your standpoint with, with this team, like, they talked so much about, like, you know, getting more physical this year.
08:22And, you know, I know Leroy, I know you, you both were not afraid of, of that physical style and it kind of drives him nuts.
08:29I know sometimes to see them try and do everything outside.
08:32Like, do you feel like that's something that is possible to change from a coaching perspective?
08:36Like if Mike McDaniel has one thing, can he get back to it this year?
08:41Like, is that, is that something that is, is doable as far as a coaching philosophy is concerned?
08:47That depends on the coach.
08:49It's kind of what I was saying earlier about making adjustments.
08:52You know, I think a football coach is like a preacher, you know, a good one.
08:57Because you got to get everyone on the same page.
08:59So when you were giving the sermon, they all get it and can, can listen and try to execute.
09:04And so it just depends on the relationship the head coach has with the team that they trust.
09:09Trust is the most important thing.
09:11If a coach keeps changing things up and nothing is working, it's easy to lose trust.
09:16A coach sticks to his guns and makes small adjustments to get his philosophy through.
09:21I think that's, a coach like that has a much better change.
09:24What have you, uh, what have you thought about your, your alma mater, Arch Manning?
09:28That's another guy's dealing with a lot of, uh, expectations and, uh, like the whole spotlight on him.
09:34Do you feel like he's going to get that time to, to actually develop with all, with everything on him?
09:39No, he'll be fine.
09:40I think it's, I think he's, he's met the hype monster in real life.
09:45It's one thing to hear about it, but when you meet the hype monster, right, you, you know, and I think he knows now.
09:51So, so I have faith again, it's early in the season, way too much hype, but the kid can play.
09:57So hopefully Sartre can do a good job keeping things quiet around him and helping him focus and, and execute.
10:04What do you got?
10:04Uh, you got, uh, you coming down to Florida anytime, Ricky, you got any, uh, events or anything coming up?
10:08I know sometimes you'll, you'll get on, on the road.
10:11Yeah.
10:11There's, um, there's a conference I usually get down to in Miami early October.
10:15Um, so yeah, I'll be down next, next month with, uh, with Heisman.
10:21Yeah, exactly.
10:22All right.
10:23Very cool, man.
10:24Well, listen, I'm sure Dolphin fans are going to be looking forward to seeing you.
10:27Yeah, this was fun.
10:28Hopefully their team starts winning.
10:30So it goes, it goes bad really fast in Miami.
10:35Again, you get to week four and they haven't shown anything, right?
10:38Dolphin fans, a lot of them, not all of them, right?
10:41Yeah.
10:41Oh, no, no, it's going to be all of them this year.
10:44All of them.
10:45Ricky, if you can feel what we feel it down here after week one at week four, oh, no, he's, he, you, you nailed it when you said we have a lot of pain and you can already know you like, you probably already know the routine.
11:00It's like, you can already feel like, oh, it's that it's at that moment right now.
11:03And I feel like, like, I don't know where they go from here, but I know I'm kind of worried for like, if it goes bad, like the fans at home, because at least the last game was on the road.
11:14This one's going to be in their building.
11:16And man, I just, I imagine it's got to be a rotten feeling as a, as a, as a team where you're like, oh man, this fan base has lost.
11:24We've lost them in week two.
11:26Yeah.
11:26That's no, that's no fun at all.
11:29Ricky, we appreciate it, man.
11:30Thanks for the time.
11:31Yeah.
11:31Thanks for having me.
11:32There you go.
11:33Ricky Williams, former Miami Dolphins running back.
11:35Always appreciate when he gives us time on the show.
11:37I want to punch you in the eye right now.
11:39Why, dude?
11:40Because some of the stuff that he started with.
11:45Yep.
11:45I have said to you over and over again, and then you're like shaking your head with him.
11:51I see what you're saying, Ricky.
11:52I see what Ricky's saying.
11:53Well, Ricky's very.
11:54No, no, no, no, no.
11:55Hold on.
11:55Hold on.
11:56Hold on.
11:56Hold on.
11:57That's not fair.
11:57That's not fair.
11:58That's not fair.
11:58That's not fair.
11:59That's not fair.
12:00First of all.
12:00You have not behaved like that this week.
12:03Okay.
12:03You have not been perspective poly this week.
12:06No, no, no.
12:07Again, if you listen to anything that I've complained about, it has been nothing to do with the loss.
12:16I have not talked about.
12:18In fact, I have been one of the guys who has said, I don't necessarily agree with the unprepared,
12:25that this, and I'm not going down that road.
12:28And then I said, but I do have a problem with this.
12:33And that really gets to me when a guy who was here two, three years ago can come in and say, let's defend this play.
12:43And you're still running it.
12:45Yes, I had a problem with that.
12:49But you have never heard me say anything about how bad they lost or what, you know, huh?
12:58Dude, let me tell you something.
12:59I haven't.
13:00Hey, listen, I'm going to turn the honest tree back on you.
13:04All right.
13:05Go.
13:06You felt Ricky Zen as well.
13:09And I think that calmed you down.
13:10But you, my friend, have been on edge all week.
13:15And I told you what I was on edge about.
13:15You had a cardiologist.
13:17And that is not perspective.
13:19I told you what I was on edge about.
13:21It had nothing to do with the win or the loss of the game.
13:24I understand.
13:25Okay.
13:25But the fact that they didn't play well and they did lose.
13:29No.
13:30Again, don't try to twist my words.
13:33I understand losing early and what that means.
13:37But what I had a problem with was the play calling and what they were running.
13:43You should not be running the same plays that you were running three years ago without any nuance or any adjustment to it.
13:54You shouldn't.
13:56That's on any team.
13:58You know, all the teams watch film, right?
14:01They get your film of every game.
14:03So, if you're running the same damn plays, guess what?
14:08When you play Baltimore, traffic cone.
14:12Right in the middle of the field.
14:14I promise you.
14:15Well, week four, Ricky said.
14:17Just, you know, patience.
14:19But I've said that.
14:20I've said that all summer.
14:22Did I not?
14:23You did.
14:23And then week one happened.
14:25And I told you what I had a problem with.
14:28But you never heard me talk about win or losses.
14:31You never heard me talk about that.
14:32I didn't feel like I had to.
14:34I thought it was, like, I thought it was built in.
14:37Whether you're implying it or not, I was not talking about the score.
14:42I wasn't talking about any of that.
14:44What I was talking about is what I saw on the field and why I had a problem with what was going on offensively with this team.
14:53That's what I had a problem with.
14:55I don't like that Ricky came here, like, almost like a, like, like a war hero, though.
14:59And he goes, oh, the dolphin scars.
15:02Yeah.
15:03And I was like, oh, no.
15:04He's like, yeah, I did two tours in Nam.
15:07Right?
15:08Right?
15:09Right?
15:12That's what it sounded like, right?
15:15And both my stints with the dolphins.
15:18Yeah.
15:19Man.
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