Cardinals running back Ryan Williams had to wait a full year to start his NFL career after a serious knee injury in 2011 and things haven’t gone exactly as planned.
Williams has fumbled in each of his first two games, including a turnover late in the win over the Patriots that almost allowed New England to steal a victory. Darren Urban of the Cardinals website reports that Williams turned off his phone after the game on Sunday to give himself some privacy, but turning it back on brought bad news on Monday. Williams’ grandfather died, which puts a fumble into perspective without taking away any of the lingering pain.
Williams also admitted to Urban that he doesn’t totally trust his knee after so much time off the field. He’s not playing as fast or instinctively as he would like because he’s still worried about re-injuring himself during a game. Williams vowed to get things on track after the rough start to the year.
“It’s been a lot but the past couple of days, they’ve got to be gone and they will be gone. For me to be me, I can’t play like that,” Williams said. “This team expects a lot out of me. We’ve got good teams coming up and a lot of plays need to be made and they need to be made out of the backfield. I’m going to get it done. I’m going to get it done.”
The Cardinals haven’t gotten much out of their running game in their two victories to open the season. Getting Williams and/or Beanie Wells rolling would give the team a much better chance of building on their strong start because it looks like they have the kind of defense that will take care of things on their end.
