What happened to this Jay Ratliff

[Zordon]

These are quotes from Ratliff days after his grandparents passed away in a fire 3 years ago...

"I went down to their burial hurting really bad. I came back feeling proud and motivated. In every situation I'm in from now on, I'm going to love hard the way my grandparents did."

"That's one thing about my family," Jay Ratliff said. "We love hard. We love very hard. That's what I'm trying to bring to this team. I love each and every one of these guys. I will play my heart out for them."

"It's a whole lot easier to play this game when you're surrounded by people who care for you.

"My family has tremendous respect for what Jerry Jones did. For as long as I'm a Cowboy, I'm going to play my heart out for this organization."

Fast forward three years later....we have this...

Jeff Sullivan‏@SullyBaldHead
There is so much more to this Jay Ratliff story. Team has stayed quiet thus far, but that will change this week. Really bizarre stuff.

Depressing to see him pour blood sweat and tears for this organization for so long and have it all end like this. Weird weird dude.

 

[CATCH17]

$$$$$$$$$

 

[theebs]

I heard mickey say on the postgame last night that he talked one on one with Stephen jones in the locker room after the game and that the story nbc told, which I am not even sure what tafoya said because I haven't seen it yet, but it was inaccurate and that they have made no determination on his status and would sit down with him this week.

 

[Zordon]

$$$$$$$$$

idk about that. for many years we had a locker room full of check cashers in this franchise. ratliff was not one of them. he's one of the few that you knew hurt bad when we lost. i think the man has a lot of pride. i also think he has some type of personality/social disorder that makes him a ticking time bomb constantly. something happened behind the scenes that has made him go off and i dont think it was the incident with jerry.

 

[JBell]

I'ma miss Ratliff. GOAT Leonard Davis impression

 

[Idgit]

idk about that. for many years we had a locker room full of check cashers in this franchise. ratliff was not one of them. he's one of the few that you knew hurt bad when we lost. i think the man has a lot of pride. i also think he has some type of personality/social disorder that makes him a ticking time bomb constantly. something happened behind the scenes that has made him go off and i dont think it was the incident with jerry.

I think you're right. There's a lot more to this story. We probably won't know the truth, though, for a couple years, when it finally leaks out after the fact what was really going on. It's not money. It's interpersonal, somehow, and on top of it is whatever weird issue he's got with the training staff. I think that the latter is incremental to whatever the original problem was.

 

[theebs]

in 2010 and 2011 when this defense was struggling Ratliff was the guy on the field in pregame, on the sidelines during the game and in the huddle who was the emotional leader. He didn't have the stats but man he played his tail off. Its one of those things you don't see watching on tv.

I see a lot of that in hatcher this year. Very much like Ratliff was a few years ago. Ratliff was banged up during those years and fought through it and I think we are seeing hatcher do that now. For the second week he dinged himself last night and was on and off and fought through it.

I would love to see Ratliff get back out there and play next to hatcher.

 

[BlueStar22]

Business decisions.. ...

 

[Idgit]

in 2010 and 2011 when this defense was struggling Ratliff was the guy on the field in pregame, on the sidelines during the game and in the huddle who was the emotional leader. He didn't have the stats but man he played his tail off. Its one of those things you don't see watching on tv.

I see a lot of that in hatcher this year. Very much like Ratliff was a few years ago. Ratliff was banged up during those years and fought through it and I think we are seeing hatcher do that now. For the second week he dinged himself last night and was on and off and fought through it.

I would love to see Ratliff get back out there and play next to hatcher.

Yeah. They're aging, and it's not exactly shocking some of them have gone down, but I'd have loved to have seen this DL with Ware, Rat, Spencer, and Hatcher all playing and our current starters subbing.

 

[Zordon]

in 2010 and 2011 when this defense was struggling Ratliff was the guy on the field in pregame, on the sidelines during the game and in the huddle who was the emotional leader. He didn't have the stats but man he played his tail off. Its one of those things you don't see watching on tv.

it's sad people forget about this. this reminds me of greg ellis so much. produce for many years then ruin it all with the fans at the end of your career. i see greg is working with mickey now so he's back in the circle. ratliff might be ruining long term relationships with the way he's acting.

 

[Zordon]

I heard mickey say on the postgame last night that he talked one on one with Stephen jones in the locker room after the game and that the story nbc told, which I am not even sure what tafoya said because I haven't seen it yet, but it was inaccurate and that they have made no determination on his status and would sit down with him this week.

i never believed it for a moment. jerry and stephen have "their guys" in the media who they leak info to. it damn sure isn't a michelle tafoya.

 

[theebs]

it's sad people forget about this. this reminds me of greg ellis so much. produce for many years then ruin it all with the fans at the end of your career. i see greg is working with mickey now so he's back in the circle. ratliff might be ruining long term relationships with the way he's acting.

this fanbase bags on everybody the second they think they are the culprits or feel like putting all the blame on them.

we have seen it with many of the good and great ones here.

I still think it sucks the way treated newman, roy Williams, barber and parcells at the end here.

it looks as though many will do this to Ratliff and I bet a lot will do this to ware and I know they will to romo.

 

[TwoCentPlain]

My take on this is that Ratliff is bipolar or has some serious mental issues. Ware even spoke about this years ago when he made the comment 'Good Jay, or Bad Jay' when asked about something Ratliff said. You never know what you are getting with Ratliff mentally. His issues were 'tolerated' while he was playing well. Now that his play and potential has dropped tremendously due in part to injury and age, no one is interested in dealing with his crap.

I think the Cowboys are leaning toward IR. But, I think Ratliff will fight it and force himself to be cut. To release him, the Cowboys will have to clear cap room or get Ratliff to agree to a pay cut. A trade is probably out of the question unless Ratliff agrees to re-do his contract and contingent on passing a physical.

 

[cowboys1981]

Tafoya shouldn't have did that! That was bad speculation due to what she perceived to be " JJ's body language".

I hope Ratliff can come back and play. If this is about the whole incident with JJ he needs to get over it.

My guess is he doesn't play another down in the NFL. I don't see anyone taking a flyer on him. Question is what are the cap ramifications for releasing him now (injury settlement) or releasing him in the offseason?

 

[Gridiron Man]

this fanbase bags on everybody the second they think they are the culprits or feel like putting all the blame on them.

we have seen it with many of the good and great ones here.

I still think it sucks the way treated newman, roy Williams, barber and parcells at the end here.

it looks as though many will do this to Ratliff and I bet a lot will do this to ware and I know they will to romo.

Ya, they even did this with Emmitt when he made the comment about being "a diamond among trash". It was taken the wrong way by many and when he went to the Cardinals, people went berzerk.

Towards the end of Dorsett's career I was at the stadium watching the game and the fans were booing him due to a lack of performance. It was really sad.

 

[theebs]

Ya, they even did this with Emmitt when he made the comment about being "a diamond among trash". It was taken the wrong way by many and when he went to the Cardinals, people went berzerk.

Towards the end of Dorsett's career I was at the stadium watching the game and the fans were booing him due to a lack of performance. It was really sad.

I was there for that double safety emmitt returns game against the cardinals. Emmitt was booed and then there were fans cheering when Williams knocked him out.

It made me sick. I so wish emmitt could have stayed on in 03 with that team.

 

[Idgit]

this fanbase bags on everybody the second they think they are the culprits or feel like putting all the blame on them.

we have seen it with many of the good and great ones here.

I still think it sucks the way treated newman, roy Williams, barber and parcells at the end here.

it looks as though many will do this to Ratliff and I bet a lot will do this to ware and I know they will to romo.

Yep. It's 'blood in, blood out' for some. I hate it, and think it should be beneath us as fans, too.

 

[Gridiron Man]

My take on this is that Ratliff is bipolar or has some serious mental issues. Ware even spoke about this years ago when he made the comment 'Good Jay, or Bad Jay' when asked about something Ratliff said. You never know what you are getting with Ratliff mentally. His issues were 'tolerated' while he was playing well.

I remember hearing this as well.

 

[bayeslife]

this fanbase bags on everybody the second they think they are the culprits or feel like putting all the blame on them.

we have seen it with many of the good and great ones here.

I still think it sucks the way treated newman, roy Williams, barber and parcells at the end here.

it looks as though many will do this to Ratliff and I bet a lot will do this to ware and I know they will to romo.

Uhh, sorry... but we fans don't "owe" anything to players who have mailed it in. Like how all of those players did.

 

[Idgit]

I was there for that double safety emmitt returns game against the cardinals. Emmitt was booed and then there were fans cheering when Williams knocked him out.

It made me sick. I so wish emmitt could have stayed on in 03 with that team.

Though, I agree Emmitt was treated badly on his way out of Dallas, it's a different situation when one of your beloved players comes back in another team's uniform. I didn't want him to gain a yard that game, and was cheering like a fool on the hit that ended up breaking his collarbone. Not for injury, of course, but I didn't mind at all seeing the guy get jacked when playing against his old team. Generally, though, I agree with your point re: how we treat our players once they leave the organization.