Some Food For Thought

[Taynted_Fayth]

So Trent Richardson is going to make his debut this week vs the Argos.  It got me thinking of when Ricky Williams came to the CFL and got completely shut down like it was a statement for opposing D's. Could this be another case of that? Is this potentially why a lot of NFL washouts don't do so well up here as well? That opposing teams target them specifically and make it a point to show that the talent in the CFL can go toe to toe with the "big names"?  

If this is the case in some instances, I wonder if it's actually a negative thing to try and sign these washouts. You can't ignore the talent,  but it might not matter if you're fueling your opposing teams ambition and drive...

[Booch]

I expect not much...and most likely an injury. 

[Brandon]

He hasn't played in 2 seasons,   I expect very little from the guy.

[Taynted_Fayth]

I too don't expect much,  gotta figure a guy like Bear Woods will be licking his chops to shut this dude down early and often. IMO if I was a LB or DL playing against a former NFL'er with a decent pedigree this would be a game I get up for just to say I beat so and so

[Atomic]

While Ricky Williams never lived up to the hype or the salary, I thought he was still an okay RB.  Better than lots we've seen up here.  109 carries for 526 yards (4.8 YPC) in half a season.  Not all-star numbers but not terrible.

[bearpants]

He's already gone on record as saying just give him the ball and he will score touchdowns and knock people over... also that he is too talented to be in the sidelines... he thinks he's going to walk in here and become the best RB in the league overnight...

That, coupled with the fact that he plays for the Riders... makes me want him to fail miserably and wash out of football for good...

[Booch]

That weak Sask O-line is going to have all they can handle with T.O's D-line to just keep guys off of Kevin Glenn...let alone have any success opening up holes for a run game.

 

On the flip side I can see Wilder ripping off huge gains against that 3 man front and undersized Di-line of sask

[Arnold_Palmer]

Ricky Williams was a weird case. He actually went on to have a good career when he got back into the NFL and played for a number of years..

[Mark F]

3 hours ago, bearpants said:

the fact that he plays for the Riders... makes me want him to fail miserably and wash out of football for good...

don't you already have both wishes?

for sure you've got the wash out of football part.

I went to the game where ricky williams played here. He was like public enemy no.1 out on the field. just surviving the amount of hits he took was impressive.

Edited October 3, 2017 by Mark F

[wbbfan]

4 hours ago, Brandon said:

He hasn't played in 2 seasons,   I expect very little from the guy.

maybe the biggest bust in nfl history. 2 major knee surgeries. Hes nothing like ricky williams. In the right system and given time i think ricky williams would have done a lot better.

[Chaosmonkey]

42 minutes ago, Mark F said:

don't you already have both wishes?

for sure you've got the wash out of football part.

I went to the game where ricky williams played here. He was like public enemy no.1 out on the field. just surviving the amount of hits he took was impressive.

 

Going from my memory of being at the game, about halfway through the 4th quarter, Williams gets his longest run of the game, I think it was like...12 yards?. That brought his net total of yards for the game up to 7......

[blueingreenland]

To be fair there have been many NFL "busts". How about Johny Manzel, Tony Mandarich etc? And there have been NFL players coming here who been busts (i.e. Vince Faragammo)

And I think Ricky Williams coming up here was a bigger deal, at least as far as the media attention is concerned.  

I for one am interested in seeing what Richardson can do...the guy looks totally ripped.

[Goalie]

Difference between Williams and Richardson is Ricky had lots more talent. I expect Trent to struggle. 

[Jpan85]

All I remember from that game was the fans on the east side with a giant joint.

[blue_gold_84]

He's a perfect fit for the Jonestowns: arrogant and delusional.

The Argos' D is gonna slap him in the mouth and shut him down hard. He's in for a rude awakening.

[Eternal optimist]

I'm just waiting for Jonesy to announce that they've re-signed Vince Young... they'll double their chances of winning with two former NFLers on their roster.

[Arnold_Palmer]

1 hour ago, Goalie said:

Difference between Williams and Richardson is Ricky had lots more talent. I expect Trent to struggle. 

Well yeah Ricky Williams once upon a time rushed for over 1800 yards in a single NFL season. Trent Richardson hasn't done a single thing in compassion. 

[Floyd]

6 minutes ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

Well yeah Ricky Williams once upon a time rushed for over 1800 yards in a single NFL season. Trent Richardson hasn't done a single thing in compassion. 

Maybe he just anonymously donates to charity... or adopts kittens

[Chaosmonkey]

Okay, it was bugging me so I had to look up the stats from that game:

 

According to this record of the game: https://www.cfl.ca/games/1314/toronto-argonauts-vs-winnipeg-blue-bombers/

Williams had 8 carries for 14 yards with his longest being 11 yards. 

His first Carry was a 2 yard gain, tackle by Doug Brown (Net +2)

Second carry was a loss of 4 yards, tackle by Malveaux (Net -2)

Third carry, gain of 2 yards, tackle by Tom Canada, (Net 0)

Forth carry, gain of 4 yards, tackle by R. Warner (note: I have no recollection of that player?) (Net +4)

Fifth Carry, gain of 1 yard, tackle by Tom Canada, (Net +5)

Sixth Carry, gain of 3 yards, tackle by D Carter, (Net +8)

Seventh carry, loss of 5 yards, tackle by Iceman (Net +3)

Final carry, gain of 11 yards, tackle by $tanford Samuels, (Net +14)

 

So after seven carries, he was averaging under half a yard a carry....yikes.

[mbrg]

2 hours ago, Chaosmonkey said:

 

Going from my memory of being at the game, about halfway through the 4th quarter, Williams gets his longest run of the game, I think it was like...12 yards?. That brought his net total of yards for the game up to 7......

For some reason I remember him averaging 1.8 yards per carry that game...which is an oddly specific number for my brain to spit out at me.  Meth.  Go figure.

Edit - see above for non-meth numbers.

Double edit - apparently that is 1.75 yards per carry.  Keep using meth kids!

 

Williams was a decent enough back, it's more that his run straight ahead battering-ram style didn't take advantage of how much space there is on a CFL field.  He could have done more up here if he had waited on his blocks once in a while, and maybe don't go A gap every time.

I expect very little from Richardson.  It's not like he washed out of the NFL because his skill set wasn't suited to their big game and he's a tweener who's better suited here.  He was physically well-suited for the NFL and just plain sucked, which points to not getting the mental side of it.  What will a big guy with bad study habits and/or a poor understanding of the X's and O's accomplish in the CFL?  Probably a lot less than Williams.

Edited October 4, 2017 by mbrg

[Chaosmonkey]

2 minutes ago, mbrg said:

 

Edit - see above for non-meth numbers.

Math. Not even once.

[bigg jay]

42 minutes ago, Chaosmonkey said:

Forth carry, gain of 4 yards, tackle by R. Warner (note: I have no recollection of that player?) (Net +4)

Ron Warner.  Played for us twice in 2000 & 2006.  He was phenomenal in 2000 (6 sacks in 9 games) before going back to the NFL.  IIRC injuries caught up with him and wasn't the same when he came back.

[mbrg]

5 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

Ron Warner.  Played for us twice in 2000 & 2006.  He was phenomenal in 2000 (6 sacks in 9 games) before going back to the NFL.  IIRC injuries caught up with him and wasn't the same when he came back.

There was a stretch of time where we kept cycling thru DT's to play next to Doug Brown.  No one ever stuck.  I think Denny Fortney might have been the best of the bunch, but he only got two seasons with the club before he was replaced.

[Atomic]

Pretty sure Warner had 3 sacks in his first game back and then never got another one.  And it may have been the bowling ball, Jerome Haywood, who took over at DT afterwards.

Edited October 4, 2017 by Atomic

[Mark H.]

33 minutes ago, mbrg said:

There was a stretch of time where we kept cycling thru DT's to play next to Doug Brown.  No one ever stuck.  I think Denny Fortney might have been the best of the bunch, but he only got two seasons with the club before he was replaced.

Joe Fleming was decent