Ricky Williams - Another good story

MIAMI HERALD
COMMENTARY / DAN LE BATARD
Ricky's not caught up in magic of 2,000 yards

Ricky Williams wanted out.

There was lot of money left on that field because of his contract incentives, hundreds of thousands of dollars. His excited offensive linemen were yammering in the huddle about wanting to break the single-game rushing record. Every yard would extend his NFL rushing lead and bring him closer to the Mecca for running backs -- 2,000 yards.

But Williams didn't feel like playing any more. He had lost his motivation. Money? History? Fame? They are not interesting to him.

It's why, when told after just about every game recently about his latest rushing record, Williams has shrugged his huge shoulders dismissively and pretended to yawn. And it's why Monday night, with 190 rushing yards early in the third quarter, Williams wanted out of the game.

''I've got to work on fixing that,'' he said Thursday. ``That's not a good approach. But the game was over. I wanted Travis [Minor] to play. He works hard, too.''

Williams has always had a different way of looking at things, bringing an artist's touch to a workplace with the army's rigidity. He likes to feel free, the way he does in the open field, but football is forever confining, ordering him to just keep on marching. He tends to rebel against that, which is why he went to his mailbox once in New Orleans expecting a check for $250,000 and, after all the fines, found just $14,000 instead.

But he has found a home here and says, ''My good disposition has nothing to do with my success, but my success has everything to do with my good disposition.'' He says he hasn't been late or fined once this year, although there was that one time he ran out of gas coming back from the airport and missed a motivational speech.

''But I called the team, and they picked me up,'' Williams says. ``In New Orleans, I would have just gone home, missed practice and paced. Part of growing up is facing things, and I'm better at not avoiding confrontation.''

His relationship with Dave Wannstedt helps. Wannstedt, a kind man, treats Williams like a human, not another robot. Williams tends to turn his coaches into father figures, so desperate to please them he would run to the sidelines after touchdowns in New Orleans hoping to get an encouraging word from Jim Haslett. So he was moved recently when he went into Wannstedt's office and saw the coach had put up a picture of them together.

''I can't screw up,'' Williams says. ``I don't want to disappoint him.''

His body fat is down from 16 percent when he arrived here to less than 7 percent. Williams still has obsessive-compulsive tendencies, able to eat entire cheesecakes and treating himself once a month to a grocery-shelf worth of honey buns, so he understands when people wonder, given his flightiness, if he'll treat this statement season as a finish line and get fat.

But he says, ``I've set the bar too high for that. I have to be accountable. It would kill me to disappoint these guys. If I slack off, it would be too obvious. There's no going back now. I've finally found the formula to playing well.''

The formula?

''It has been awhile since science class, but I think work equals mass times distance,'' he says. ``My mass is down, so I can run the same distance more efficiently. I haven't been hurt this year because I'm doing a better job protecting myself. When I was heavier, I felt I couldn't get out of the way. I'd see a big hit coming and have to absorb it anyway. I'm hitting the hole full speed now. And when I catch a crease, I know no one is going to catch me.

``I'm in a zone. I was hitting the holes too quick even against Baltimore. I left another 100 yards on the field. But it has all been patience, speed and agility the last few weeks. It might be time to break out the power again.''

And 2,000 yards?

''I don't care,'' he says. ``It's the weirdest thing in the world, but I really don't. First of all, I don't think it's possible, not this year. Second, I've found when I go out and try to do things for just myself, I'm not successful and I don't feel as good even when I am. Did we win or lose? That's what matters. I wish I wasn't like that sometimes -- I'd have a lot more yards and money -- but that's how I'm built.''

He doubted how good he was when he arrived here, his time in New Orleans crippling his confidence. He doesn't doubt anymore, at all.

Even during that 63-yard run against Chicago, he found himself wondering if New Orleans had realized how wrong they were about him. Lamar Smith carried 40 times for 209 yards in the playoffs once, and his body was so broken he had only 4 yards on eight carries the following week against Oakland. Williams has two straight games with bigger totals than 209, and he wants the ball another 30 times Sunday.

Has his body ever felt this fresh this late?

''I don't think,'' he says, ``I've ever felt this good at any time of any year.''

 

He has said the only thing that he concerns himself with is are his numbers better than Duece. He wants the people of NO to see that he is good.

Ricky has come a long long way! In his own words:

"The head NFL P.R. guy commented on how good it was to see me sitting there in front of them (a youth gorup), after knowing the way I was a few years ago, i.e. wearing my helmet during interviews and being generally distant. I left that meeting feeling pretty good about where I am today. "