Opinions: Ricky or Jason Taylor?

Sadly, no. And Ricky Williams is my favorite dolphin of all time. There are many if ands or buts with Ricky, and I will always love him and wear his jersey on sundays. However, too much has happened in his life and career outside of football. He will always be one of the most interesting personalities Ive ever been exposed to in any aspect of life. I'll be esstatic if he breaks the record because I believe he truely deserves it with everything he went through and fought through. It really is a great story, but to say he has done more in his career than JT...? Even with JT on the jets, I still consider him and ZT to be some of the best phins i've ever seen play. If Ricky never departed...who knows, but he also may not being playing today if he never went on a hiatus.


Ricky Williams for life

 

Ricky is awesome, but...

Jason Taylor.

Drafted a Dolphin.
12 years.
184 starts.
124 sacks.
42 forced fumbles.
8 interceptions.
9 touchdowns.
2 safeties.

And a partidge in a pear tree.

 

Ricky is indeed the best RB to ever sport our uniform, and he might be one of the best people to ever play/work for the organization.

But Jason Taylor gave us a lot more. In the end, Ricky gave us two amazing seasons and a few more solid seasons as a back up. Ricky becoming our franchise rusher says more about how sad we are at the position as a franchise than it does about ricky.

Gotta go Taylor. As much as i don't want to.

 

I got a kick out of that, haha.

 

Run Ricky Run, forget Taylor. Ricky bailed on the team cuz his head was messed up. Taylor chased the payday.

 

This + the fact that Taylor is probably a HOFER while Ricky is not. Taylor is also the current active sacks leader and owns a DPOY award. The DPOY award combined with a half dozen pro bowls and a career as long and consistent as Taylors is a damn fine resume for Canton.

Ricky could have had a career like that but I guess everything happens for a reason. At least he got Wannstedt fired by bailing and probably prolonged his career after taking nearly 800 carries in 2 years. I guess everything happens for a reason.

Taylor hardly chased the payday. He chased a job. The jets were the only one who offered him anything and he didnt feel like hanging them up yet. I dont like it anymore then anyone else seeing my favorite active player in that hideous snot green Jet jersey but what's he supposed to do when Parcells and JI havent given him the time of day?

 

It is too hard to choose one guy over the other from the flurry of great Dolphin players from past to present

 

Jason Taylor is a Jet.

Ricky just liked the hippie lettuce and might be a genuis.

 

I think when most Dolphin fans "rank" players they rank guys according to what they meant to this franchise along with overall likeability. I doubt any player will ever rank higher to Dolphin fans then Dan Marino, who held pretty much every QB record when he retired, even though he never won a SB.

Most of the most admired Dolphins come from the Superbowl years, Csonka, Griese, Kuech, Manny Fernandez and Buoniconti. I look at Ricky Williams a lot like I look at Mercury Morris....he did great things on the field, but he also messed up his life with drugs and some off-the-field stuff which kind of ruined him. I think most Phin fans have forgiven Ricky for they way he quit on the team because he came back and has done a nice job for us.

Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas did a lot for this team and both could be future Hall of Famers, but neither led the Phins to a Superbowl. But they both deseve to be in the Dolphins Ring of Honor. I do think that a QB like Henne, and a RB like Ronnie Brown would forever be thought of as heroes and be among the most loved Phins if they can help the Phin's win a third SB.

My top ten most loved/admired Phin's:

1. Marino
2. Csonka
3. Z. Thomas
4. Kuech
5. Griese
6. JT
7. Buoniconti
8. Dwight Stephenson
9. The Marx Brothers
10. Ronnie Brown

Honorable Mention: Kiick, Morris, Warfield, Fernandez, Little, Roby, Scott, Langer, Moore, Webb, Betters, Baumhower, R. Williams

 

ricky > jt


jets is unforgivable ...it wasn't his only offer...it's only may...he's not even participating in anything up there.

all the spin created by him and his agent is to cover the fact that he wants to play for the jets...he wants the attention and he never got it with the redskins...he now has the opportunity to turn all those jet fans that hate him into fans of his.

 

Are you kidding me? Ricky Williams "retirement" sent this team into a downward spiral. Don't get me wrong. The team was going nowhere above average. But this guy and his issues sent this team into irrellevance. The only player movement that comes close to the damage issued by Ricky Williams to this team was Csonka and Warfield's exodus to the WFL in 1974.

IMO, it's not even close. Jason Taylor gave you 11 years without all the drama.

But I could see where some would question each of the others answer. The question really comes down to who you are and what you prefer. It's sort of like asking the age old question - Ginger or Mary Ann?

 

I've said this before...for all the JT love...

Name me one time where he came up with a huge stop or big play when we absolutely needed it.

JT is the A-Rod of football. Piles up stats when it's basically meaningless, and disappears at crunchtime.

 

Ricky will break Csonka's all time rushing record as a Dolphin this season
which will guarantee him a place amongst the greats of Dolphin history
it will move him to the status of an absolute Icon & @ that point in time
comparisons will no longer matter, becoming mute in the light of iconism

there is love enough to go around for all our heroes,
once they are permanently enshrined in Dolfandom
plenty of room for all our latest franchise greats:
Zach, Jason & Ricky to enter the pantheon on equal footing

 

he did us a favor...it's all led to us now having the trifecta!

thanks ricky


and jason taylor gave us drama...i used to cringe with all the jets bashing he did...his locker room interviews sucked because he came off like a baby and not a leader...

those things annoyed me a lot for many years about JT...i always thought he had a negative impact on the other players with his attitude.

 

People forgave Csonka and Williams for leaving. I don't blame Williams so much as I blame Wanny for that. He killed Ricky. To this day Ricky has the record for number of carries in a two year span. No one is even close to him. Wanny messed up this franchise worse then any player revolt ever could. I, at first, had the knee jerk reaction to Ricky that everyone did. Hated him. Then after a while really understood what he was suffering through.

I agree with Boik14. Jason was chasing a job. I understand some people being very emotional about going to the jest, but it's a job. Football is emotional for us fans. Each player has given us his best while in our uniform. I would say Jason Taylor has given us more highs then Ricky. Love both of them, but I select Jason.

 

i do agree with you, but at the same time i feel it was mostly our teams fault for never putting him (or Zach for that matter) in very many situations where they COULD make such a play.

If i recall, whenever we actually did make the playoffs with those two, it was our secondary that would just fall apart, leaving ZT and JT utterly useless.

 

If Ronnie stays healthy this season Ricky wont break Csonka's record this season. If he does it'll be quite impressive. He still needs 974 yards. Even if Ricky does break the record I just cant put him above JT in my favorite Dolphins list.

 

people will say ricky just because they feel sorry for him. Nevermind how much he boned the franchise a couple of years ago haha.

 

Tough one.

One guy criticized because he didn't love football and winning enough, the other criticized for loving it too much.

Both great players. Both game-changers. Taylor is probably a HOF'er and owns many Dolphin records, but has a legacy tainted by virtue of his joining the Jets.

It's funny, because if you posed this question 2 or 3 years ago you'd get laughed off the site.

(BTW I pick Taylor)

 

I don't think you can at all. Unrealized potential is the worst kind of failure in my opinion. Williams 'shoulda, coulda, woulda' gone down as one of the best RBs of all times had he not had the weakness for the weed. His highs (no pun intended) have been spectacular and his lows equally and oppositely unimpressive.

JT was largely unheralded coming out of college, a tweener DE that thrived off of Wanny and Bates 4-3 D. Then, late in his career converted to OLB in a 3-4 successfully, something many pundits said he couldn't do. Up until his DWTS antics, he was one of the most highly regarded players in Fins history. What has transpired since then has tarnished his image, but he'll still go down as one of the premier stars in the NFL and for the Fins in his time here.

The difference between the two, despite the tarnish of JT with the end of his career here, is that for 5 yrs there was a real concern for Ricky's attitude and behavior.

 

I can remember back in 06, the bears were undefeated. we played them in chicago. JT owned that game. He had 2 huge sacks and an INT for TD. Set us up to start a 6 game win streak to keep us competative for the playoffs. We lost the wildcard tiebreaker to the jets, but we don't win that game, we don't even get close enough to lose the tie breaker.

 

I'll always have way more respect for ricky williams than i will for jason taylor.
ricky williams retired from football jason taylor lied to the team on several occasions. it all goes back to 2008 for me when taylor said he would be back to camp the day after DWTS so what does the guy do instead he flies off to hollywood and doesn't show. here is a guy who is supposed to be a team leader and he is lying directly to the organization,, sure ricky quit on us but he never lied about it he just did it. i was upset but i never blamed rick considering all the punishment he had taken and his state. i don't know if anyone else felt this way at the time but i could see he didnt want to play football. i actually made a comment to someone in that 2003 season that i wouldn't be surprised if ricky didnt play much longer. people were burning their jerseys it was sad. i kept mine and still wear it to this day. funny thing is we all have seen ricky grow into a man right in front of our very eyes and jason taylor has morphed into this somehow i am the miami dolphins me guy. he has put himself before this team one time too many times and has now hit the road. his ego is so huge these days. i am not the least bit upset like most of you that taylor went to the jets. i have been saying it for a while now that taylor still values himself as a player that matters in this league and at his age that is just not the case. his nfl days are numbered.

as for ricky the guy continues to stay strong, is a valuable team player who continues to shut his mouth and play for what he is worth. the guy will always be a winner in my book regardless of the past. taylor on the other hand has none of my respect and whatever legacy most dolphin fans have for him that is long gone imo. as far as i'm concerned taylor is just another player in the revolving door of pro football and one who put himself way too high on a self annointed pedestal.

Run Ricky Run in 2010!!!!!

 

As a Yankees fan, A-Rod came up huge for us in the playoffs last year.....He shedded the whole gagger label, say what you want about his personality, but the guy produced last year...

that being said I love Ricky man....I got more respect for him than JT all day...Ricky had 700+ carries in 2 years time, and it didnt look like it was going to slow down either, and he quit....different than JT who just lied about it.....I dont like liars...

 

hopefully our shiny new WR, will be there in eyes in a few years!!!! Ahh I cant wait to see this cat on the field bringing the pain to people, much the way Ricky does.....

 

So you mean to tell me that all those defensive TD's he scored (tied for the all time lead), all those sacks hes accumulated, and all those turnovers hes forced or recovered...not a single one came in a big spot? Thats just insane and mathematically unlikely.

 

JT over RW easily. JT is a HOF candidate for what he accomplished in Miami. RW isn't close to being a HOF candidate and 35% of his yards came with another team. RW is basically a less productive version of Jamal Lewis. RW is an interesting person but he arguably has done the franchise as much harm as he has been a benefit (1 great year, 2 good years, some good publicity vs. 2 #1 picks, quitting on team, tons of negative publicity). People always want to blame others for RW's quitting, but RW himself admitted that it was his own doing.

JT has also been a member of seven playoff teams (3 playoff wins) while RW has only made the post-season once (0 playoff wins).

IMO people like RW and don't like JT so it skews their perception, but an unbiased comparison is no no comparison at all. JT has meant so much more for the Dolphins.

 

Absolutely. People's perceptions are so skewed b/c they don't like him.

 

I think most Dolphin fans like him, many are just frustrated with the end result after DWTS and now this off season. Im no more pleased then many that hes a jet now but I cant blame the man. He wants to play and the jets are the only team that offered him anything after we pulled the contract offer. He's got a right to work.

 

Not everyone. Like I said Ricky Is my favorite phin of all time, but I still choose Taylor. The OP also didnt ask who has the best career, but where you would place the two players.(for whatever reasons you choose)

 

Personally yeah I rank Ricky higher. But in the end the NFL community/fanbase as a whole will look at JT as the better Dolphin.

 

But alot of people seem to forgive Csonka, Kiick and Warfield for bailing on the team and ending a dynasty.

 

no i dont think you can put him above JT

 

I know bro...I'm a Yankee fan too. He did come up big, but in the WS it was Matsui who was the hero, no?

Many years A-Rod choked. I do give him last year though. Just like JT did have some great games.

But top all those defending him...name me one "the game is on the line" moment where he came through. I mean really.

 

I think, no, I'm pretty sure, that Tom Brady could provide you with a pretty good list alone.....

 

Jason Taylor has Hall of Fame-like numbers. Ricky doesn't. I wish he did, but he doesn't.

 

Yeah. Jason Taylor single-handily (well, pretty much) won us two games in three weeks in 2006, against Chicago and Minnesota. His whole play in those two games were big spots.

 

JT > Ricky, and I love Ricky.