Every sports blog and sports news outlet is talking about Ricky Williams today. In case you missed it, Ricky rushed for 119 yards last night against the Carolina Panthers and scored 3 touchdowns in the game. Williams was moved to the Miami Dolphins starting lineup because of an injury to Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown.

Ricky Williams is 32 years old. This is significant because running backs generally hit a wall at 30 and are never effective again. Very, very few backs produce at a high level once they hit 30. Ricky is different though. He may be 32 years old, but he doesn’t have the wear and tear on his body like other backs (Ladainian Tomlinson) do.

You may recall that Ricky Williams missed a lot of football due to drug suspensions and an early retirement. I can’t even count how many times he failed a drug test, but basically Williams missed the entire 2004 and 2006 seasons. He only played in 13 games from 2004-2007.

Now Ricky Williams was an absolute beast on the field during his first two years on the Dolphins. He had around 4,000 yards of offense and 27 touchdowns in two seasons. He was the top back in the NFL before things went south. It took Williams a long time to get back into football and be a productive member of the team.

Here we are in 2009 and Williams has 127 attempts for 677 yards (5.3 ypc) and 10 total touchdowns through 10 games. The Dolphins are 5-5 and fighting for a wildcard spot. Is Ricky Williams really back? Can he carry this team in Ronnie Brown’s absence? What do you think?