AzWins23
Registered User
A great Larry Centers article
Dan Bickley
Republic columnist
Jan. 31, 2004 12:00 AM
HOUSTON -- Forget about the commercials, the cases of beer and the pocket money you've placed on the outcome of Super Bowl XXXVIII.
There is a better reason to watch this game.
Or maybe you've already forgotten about Larry Centers.
"This day coming up felt like a million miles away when I was in Arizona," Centers said.
If ever there was poetic justice in sports, this is it. Centers could be the most underrated player in NFL history, a fullback who sits in the company of the game's greatest receivers. He has spent his career toiling for bad teams, mostly in Arizona, and he thought his career may have ended when he reached an injury settlement with the Patriots after the sixth game of the season.
He was once the Gollum of the NFL, futilely chasing the magic ring. As he ponders all the implications of playing in the big game, he has a message for downtrodden fans in Arizona.
"I'm over the problems I had with that organization," Centers said. "But the fans will always have a special place in my heart. There's no way I'd have been as motivated in my career if not for the support of the Valley. They loved me. They appreciated me. They drove me. I don't know if I can say I gave them as much as they gave me."
There have been many frustrating chapters in the history of the Cardinals, but the current episode started with Centers. He wasn't just a fullback who redefined his position. He was the beating heart of a team that made the playoffs in 1998, and when he and other key members were released for money reasons after that season, it killed everything.
"I thought about it long and hard, for a long time, and to have all that effort and passion balled up and thrown away, it just left me baffled," Centers said.
Centers was not alone, and his release crystallized what the locker room feared: that maximum effort was not valued, and why give everything when the owner won't?
As for Centers, well, in 14 seasons, he has played on eight losing teams, six of which finished in last place. He jokes that he once felt a higher power held some mysterious grudge.
After leaving Arizona, he played for the Redskins, the Bills and now the Patriots. He made the playoffs once in Washington, where he became the NFL's all-time leading pass receiver out of the backfield, but it wasn't the same. He went 3-13 in his first season in Buffalo, and the Bills released him after the 2002 season. The Patriots picked him up, but then paid him $95,000 to go away when he suffered a torn knee ligament in the first half of the season.
When he rehabilitated his injury by December, the Patriots welcomed him back.
"He is a special guy," the Patriots' Kevin Faulk said. "He brings that added asset to your team."
Centers, 35, has been only a bit player in a team full of interchangeable parts, but he made a key play in the playoff win against the Colts. He can't help but wonder if another key play is awaiting him Sunday, something that would make a nation take notice of his brilliant career.
"I started to doubt whether I'd make this game or not," Centers said. "The hardest thing for me was the years I spent in Arizona, watching guys who played the same position participate in the big game, and not doing the position justice, in my opinion."
This week, Centers has been harping on all new Patriots not to take this moment for granted. He has been coaching as well as practicing. But he admits his mind has been drifting.
Are his 827 receptions, seventh best in history, good enough for the Hall of Fame? And if he wins this game, is it time to walk off into the sunset?
"I'm toying around with the idea," Centers said. "It would be a great way to go out. But when I say that, that this is my last game, it doesn't necessarily sound right to me."
But you know what sounds perfect to him?
Thank you, Arizona. Not the football team that tossed him away. Rather, all those die-hard fans who kept his competitive heart beating.
"I hope one day they can all wear their Arizona paraphernalia with pride," he said. "They deserve it."
Dan Bickley
Republic columnist
Jan. 31, 2004 12:00 AM
HOUSTON -- Forget about the commercials, the cases of beer and the pocket money you've placed on the outcome of Super Bowl XXXVIII.
There is a better reason to watch this game.
Or maybe you've already forgotten about Larry Centers.
"This day coming up felt like a million miles away when I was in Arizona," Centers said.
If ever there was poetic justice in sports, this is it. Centers could be the most underrated player in NFL history, a fullback who sits in the company of the game's greatest receivers. He has spent his career toiling for bad teams, mostly in Arizona, and he thought his career may have ended when he reached an injury settlement with the Patriots after the sixth game of the season.
He was once the Gollum of the NFL, futilely chasing the magic ring. As he ponders all the implications of playing in the big game, he has a message for downtrodden fans in Arizona.
"I'm over the problems I had with that organization," Centers said. "But the fans will always have a special place in my heart. There's no way I'd have been as motivated in my career if not for the support of the Valley. They loved me. They appreciated me. They drove me. I don't know if I can say I gave them as much as they gave me."
There have been many frustrating chapters in the history of the Cardinals, but the current episode started with Centers. He wasn't just a fullback who redefined his position. He was the beating heart of a team that made the playoffs in 1998, and when he and other key members were released for money reasons after that season, it killed everything.
"I thought about it long and hard, for a long time, and to have all that effort and passion balled up and thrown away, it just left me baffled," Centers said.
Centers was not alone, and his release crystallized what the locker room feared: that maximum effort was not valued, and why give everything when the owner won't?
As for Centers, well, in 14 seasons, he has played on eight losing teams, six of which finished in last place. He jokes that he once felt a higher power held some mysterious grudge.
After leaving Arizona, he played for the Redskins, the Bills and now the Patriots. He made the playoffs once in Washington, where he became the NFL's all-time leading pass receiver out of the backfield, but it wasn't the same. He went 3-13 in his first season in Buffalo, and the Bills released him after the 2002 season. The Patriots picked him up, but then paid him $95,000 to go away when he suffered a torn knee ligament in the first half of the season.
When he rehabilitated his injury by December, the Patriots welcomed him back.
"He is a special guy," the Patriots' Kevin Faulk said. "He brings that added asset to your team."
Centers, 35, has been only a bit player in a team full of interchangeable parts, but he made a key play in the playoff win against the Colts. He can't help but wonder if another key play is awaiting him Sunday, something that would make a nation take notice of his brilliant career.
"I started to doubt whether I'd make this game or not," Centers said. "The hardest thing for me was the years I spent in Arizona, watching guys who played the same position participate in the big game, and not doing the position justice, in my opinion."
This week, Centers has been harping on all new Patriots not to take this moment for granted. He has been coaching as well as practicing. But he admits his mind has been drifting.
Are his 827 receptions, seventh best in history, good enough for the Hall of Fame? And if he wins this game, is it time to walk off into the sunset?
"I'm toying around with the idea," Centers said. "It would be a great way to go out. But when I say that, that this is my last game, it doesn't necessarily sound right to me."
But you know what sounds perfect to him?
Thank you, Arizona. Not the football team that tossed him away. Rather, all those die-hard fans who kept his competitive heart beating.
"I hope one day they can all wear their Arizona paraphernalia with pride," he said. "They deserve it."
