Columnist Sal DeFelippo: Ricky would fit mess in Miami

Sal DeFelippo

Friday, Nov. 12, 2004 | 10:07 a.m.

Sal DeFilippo's pro football picks column appears Friday. Reach him at sal@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4076.

As we pass the midway point in this year's Sal's Celebrity Selectors pro football prognosticating competition, New York-New York headliner and comedian Rita Rudner appears poised to make a run to defend her title and retain the quasi-prestigious Golden Nerf.

Rudner is 15-11-1 against the spread this season and tied for the lead with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. Mirage headliner and impressionist Danny Gans is in third place.

If he were smart, Ricky Williams would have rejoined the Dolphins this week.

Williams, you may recall, gave the club the cold shoulder when he suddenly retired just as July workouts were set to begin. For two seasons he had been the focal point of the offense in Miami.

There has been speculation about drug problems, reports that he has returned to school in California, and lots of confusion about why he waited so long to make his announcement, which gave the Dolphins no time to attempt to trade for another running back or to implement a new offensive system. I don't think they could have anyway. The majority of the pages in the team's playbook involved putting the ball in the hands of the dreaded runner with the dreadlocks.

As a result, the Dolphins have been pulling their hair out all season. Miami is an NFL-worst 1-8 and this week coach Dave Wannstedt resigned.

His replacement is Jim Bates, whose last head coaching assignment was with the San Antonio Gunslingers of the USFL in 1985. Prior to that, his only other head coaching experience was at Sevier County High School in Tennessee.

I'm trying to envision the conversation in the Miami front office explaining the decision to give the job to Bates.

"Well, boss, you told me to find a coach that would remind our fans of Don Shula, so I found someone who has a first name of three letters and a last name of five letters and who hasn't been a coach in a really, really long time."

So why should Williams return have returned to this quagmire? Simple. The Dolphins are on a bye week anyway, and with a new coach, that has to be a lot like going to school with a substitute teacher.

Forget all this stuff about filing for reinstatement. Just slide on a helmet and go sit in the back of the class.

It also makes good financial sense. An arbitrator ruled that Williams owes the Dolphins somewhere about $8.6 million for his breach of contract in July. Here's a chance for the halfback to get about half back by playing out the season.

Though Williams' teammates likely would not host a "Welcome Back Ricky" party, there are fewer of them to worry about these days. This week, safety Antuan Edwards was terminated from his contract and two weeks ago veteran Junior Seau's season was ended because of an injury.

Even the guys Williams doesn't know are dropping like flies. On Tuesday, kicker Bill Gramatica was waived, which is slightly amusing because Gramatic was signed less than a week ago, and made all three of his field goal attempts. Of course, missing an extra point in Miami's 24-23 loss against Arizona probably didn't help.

The Dolphins also cut ties this week with Matt Bryant, another kicker, who also made all three of his field goal tries.

So even if Williams performs well, there's a chance the Dolphins will release him in a few weeks anyway.

And if they don't, Miami has a couple of prime time games left this season for Williams to show the other 31 teams that he can still play the game. If not for a team that welcomes him, maybe at least for a coach who somebody recognizes.

This week's picks: A 2-1 mark against the point spread improves the season total to 14-12-1. This week, I'll try the Buccaneers plus 3 1/2 against the Falcons, the Packers-Vikings over 50 and the Patriots minus 8 1/2 over the Bills.