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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Quick question: Edgerrin James ... Hall of Fame running back?
You're skeptical. So am I. Then I look at the guy's record, and I wonder how you can keep him out, and I'm not sure you can.
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| Edgerrin James' statistics should land him in Canton. (AP) |
"No, I will crack the top five before it's all over," James said.
So what? So everyone in the top 10 career rushers is either on his way to the Hall of Fame or already there. The top 10 backs not in Canton are Jerome Bettis, Curtis Martin and Marshall Faulk, and all are virtual slam dunks.
James thinks he can be, too, and he makes a compelling argument.
"I want to be one of the best ever to play the game, and I'm doing everything you can possibly do to put myself in that situation," he said. "That's all I can do: Take care of my end, and that's what I've been doing my entire career -- taking the good with the bad and making sure I'm doing exactly what it takes to make sure that when that time does come (he's up for Hall of Fame consideration) and you look at it as a no-brainer."
The knock on James now is that he's wearing out; that he can't run away from defenders; that he's lost at least a step and that he might have no more than one year of good, solid football left.
Yeah? Well, it happens. He's 30, and at 30 running backs tend to slow down.
Only James isn't convinced that happens to him. He visits each year with Martin, and the former New York Jets star keeps telling James that anything's possible -- no matter what age James is. Martin is the proof, having won a rushing title at 31.
But while James seems to be slowing down -- his yards per carry the past two seasons dropped to 3.4 and 3.8 -- he still cranks out the 1,000-yard seasons. In fact, his 1,222 last year put him seventh in the league.
"I asked (Martin), 'Did you start feeling any different (at 30)?," said James, "and he said, 'Honestly, I started feeling better.' He knew the things he could do, and he knew the things it took to prepare himself for playing.
"If you do it right in your 30s you should be running fast and doing everything the right way because you know what it takes; you know what your body needs."
James is what the Arizona Cardinals need. The club last year ranked 29th in rushing, and that won't cut it under coach Ken Whisenhunt. When Whisenhunt was the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh, he resuscitated the team's moribund running game overnight, and the results were hard to miss: The Steelers wound up winning a Super Bowl.
The Cardinals probably aren't winning a Super Bowl this year, but they would like to win the division. And they might, if James can do for their running game what Martin did for the Jets.
A year ago, Whisenhunt and offensive line coach Russ Grimm tried a couple of different approaches with the Cards' offensive line, mixing straight-ahead drive blocking with zone blocking as Arizona struggled to find the right combination for its star running back.
Eventually, the Cards discovered that James is best when he can stretch the sidelines, feeling his way until he can hit a hole or make one of his trademark cutbacks.
But it took awhile, and it was frustrating to both sides.
"We know what we're good at, and we know what we're not good at," James said. "Last year everything was new for everybody, so we kind of got a feel for each another. Now we know what we're doing, and we're going to play to our strengths."
You would think James would be one of them.
"This year I'm a whole lot more comfortable," he said. "For the past two years I was in two different systems. This year I'm in the same system, and anytime I've been in the same system always found things I could do better. I have a better feel for them, and they have a better feel for me."
And if everything goes as planned, I have a better feel for James as a Hall of Fame choice. You look at his nine-year career, and the only times he didn't reach 1,000 yards were when he missed all but six games in 2001 with a knee injury and when he battled through ankle, rib, cartilage and hamstring setbacks the year after ... or when he returned from surgery.
He is one of only 12 backs to win back-to-back rushing titles. He leads all active rushers with 11,607 yards. It took him 108 starts to produce 50 100-yard rushing games, the third best in NFL history. Only Eric Dickerson and Brown were faster.
So let's try this again: Edgerrin James ... Hall of Fame running back? Tell me how you keep him out.
"I look at all the guys (ahead of him) to see where they were when they were 30," he said, "and I'm right there with some of the best of them. I feel I'm in great shape and can play as long as I want, so that works in my favor. I also keep myself in great shape so that if I want to continue to play and go after big numbers I'm available.
"The thing is: I kind of lay low, and at the end (when his record is reviewed) when everyone looks up I'm going to come out of nowhere. And they'll go, 'Damn, where did he come from?' I don't need that attention right now."