Williams' debut ends after injury
By TIM GRAHAM
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
PITTSBURGH — Ricky Williams came back. A few minutes later, he was out of the game.
The former NFL rushing leader made his return Monday night but was able to carry the ball only six times in the Dolphins' 3-0 loss to Pittsburgh at sloppy Heinz Field.
Williams didn't start, but he got in early and gained 15 yards against the NFL's top rush defense. He gained two of Miami's three first downs in the first half before leaving the game with a pectoral injury in the second quarter.
Dolphins quarterback John Beck said Williams' right arm was in a sling after the game, but Williams was nowhere to be found when the locker room was opened to the media.
"That's why I was being very day-to-day and cautious," Dolphins coach Cam Cameron said of activating Williams, who hadn't played for the Dolphins since the end of the 2005 season. "My No. 1 concern coming into the game was if you hurry the guy back he can get hurt.
"We don't know the full extent of the injury, but it's a pectoral injury. He couldn't play anymore."
The Steelers also knocked starting running back Jesse Chatman out of the game. He suffered a neck injury in the third quarter, leaving Patrick Cobbs the only healthy running back.
The Dolphins scratched rookie Lorenzo Booker before the game and waived Samkon Gado to make room for Williams on the 53-man roster.
Beck said the revolving backfield made play-calling more difficult.
"It is a little tough with trying to do formations, trying to have personnel groups when you have a rotation like that where you didn't know what was going on," Beck said. "But I felt both of them (Williams and Chatman) had runs that definitely helped the team."
The NFL last week reinstated Williams after an 18-month suspension for repeated violations of the substance-abuse policy. He completed a league-mandated rehabilitation program at a Boston facility during the summer.
Williams finally returned to the field on Miami's second possession with less than two minutes left in the first quarter.
The Dolphins put their faith in him straight away. On a third-and-4 play, Beck handed the ball to him for a 5-yard burst up the middle to keep the series alive.
Cameron called for a handoff to Williams on each of his first three plays and five of his first seven.
It was on the seventh play he fumbled. Williams lie prostrate, his legs wrapped up, as he watched the ball roll away. Pittsburgh linebacker Lawrence Timmons broke for the recovery, stepping squarely on Williams' right shoulder blade.
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