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A Look Back at 2005-06 Season
5/1/2005
Andrew Barlam Signal Staff Writer
To: J.J. Arrington
From: Andrew Barlam
Date: Feb. 6, 2006
Subj: Congratulations
Hey J.J, I realize you probably get thousands of these letters every month now that you’re a big National Football League star. And I also realize that you’re probably still pissed about the incident in week 2 when you spotted me behind the endzone heckling you at your game against the Rams, when you burned them for 103 yards, but I have to send out my congratulations on a great rookie season.
We’ve been following you all year here in the Santa Clarita area, especially at The Signal, because of the fact that you played those two years on the College of the Canyons football team and are now off to such big things, as the starting running back for the Arizona Cardinals. And I have to tell you, I’m very impressed with the totals I’ve seen week after week in your team’s box scores.
Offensive Rookie of The Year and a Pro Bowl alternate spot as a rookie? I thought they said you were supposed to be too small for this kind of stuff.
To run for over 1,400 yards, 12 touchdowns, with three more coming as a receiver — what an amazing season.
And to take the Arizona Cardinals, a perennial laughingstock that went 6-10 last year and turn them into a legitimate contender at 11-5 like you did, you have to feel good about that.
I realize it’s easy to say this in hindsight and I wish I had thought to put it in writing before the season actually began, but in a way, I actually saw this coming. I knew that you’d burst right onto the scene and impress NFL fans the way you did COC and Cal fans.
Just by looking at past years, I knew the type of production that a second round pick could have as a rookie running back.
Look at Clinton Portis with the Denver Broncos in 2002 when he ran for 1,508 yards.
Or Julius Jones of the Dallas Cowboys who ran for 809 yards in just eight games last season (1,618 if projected to a full season).
I even picked you with the first overall pick in my fantasy football league’s keeper draft.
By the way, in case you haven’t been following The Flying Giraffes as closely as I have, we took second place this season.
The injury to your fantasy teammate Portis and my inability to grab backup Manuel White as insurance, hurt me toward the end of the year.
But anyway, back to your real team, the Cardinals.
Maybe we shouldn’t be so shocked about the turnaround of this team as a whole either.
Last year your teammates went 6-10 but that was on a roster that had no quarterback and a million-year-old running back.
Not to mention the huge holes on defense the Cardinals addressed in the offseason, adding Chike Okeafor, division rival Seattle’s leading sack artist from the season before, to pair with Bertrand Berry, who even when the defense was bad in 2004, had double digit sacks.
Your team also added this year’s rookie Pro Bowl alternate cornerback Antrel Rolle in the draft, and safety Robert Griffith through free agency, just to name a few of the key additions that led your team through that much improved season you just ended.
The big additions though, were you and this year’s NFL’s Most Improved Player, two-time league Most Valuable Player, Kurt Warner.
With the weapons you have at receiver with third-year man Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald as well as former first round pick Bryant Johnson, with you running out of the backfield, and a solid offensive line to lead the way, it was clear this team would be competitive.
Speaking of Warner, to get an idea of what kind of a winner this guy can still be at the NFL level, look at the Giants in the 32 game period that included the season before he arrived and his one season on the team when he started the first nine games of the year.
With him, they were 5-4. Without him in the other 23 games over that two-year period, they were a combined 5-18.
Adding Warner obviously was a huge step in the right direction, but you were the final piece to the puzzle.
While productive in his final season with 937 yards, Emmitt Smith gained just 3.5 per carry — not enough to keep quality NFL defenses honest.
Of course, you already know all of these things. You just lived this stuff and are probably looking forward to a restful offseason at your new summer home and a chance to finally start spending some of your new money before heading out for the 2006-07 season.
Good luck in a handfull of months from now when that one actually gets underway.
I’m already going on record as predicting a Pro Bowl appearance and another Cardinal trip into the playoffs.
5/1/2005
Andrew Barlam Signal Staff Writer
To: J.J. Arrington
From: Andrew Barlam
Date: Feb. 6, 2006
Subj: Congratulations
Hey J.J, I realize you probably get thousands of these letters every month now that you’re a big National Football League star. And I also realize that you’re probably still pissed about the incident in week 2 when you spotted me behind the endzone heckling you at your game against the Rams, when you burned them for 103 yards, but I have to send out my congratulations on a great rookie season.
We’ve been following you all year here in the Santa Clarita area, especially at The Signal, because of the fact that you played those two years on the College of the Canyons football team and are now off to such big things, as the starting running back for the Arizona Cardinals. And I have to tell you, I’m very impressed with the totals I’ve seen week after week in your team’s box scores.
Offensive Rookie of The Year and a Pro Bowl alternate spot as a rookie? I thought they said you were supposed to be too small for this kind of stuff.
To run for over 1,400 yards, 12 touchdowns, with three more coming as a receiver — what an amazing season.
And to take the Arizona Cardinals, a perennial laughingstock that went 6-10 last year and turn them into a legitimate contender at 11-5 like you did, you have to feel good about that.
I realize it’s easy to say this in hindsight and I wish I had thought to put it in writing before the season actually began, but in a way, I actually saw this coming. I knew that you’d burst right onto the scene and impress NFL fans the way you did COC and Cal fans.
Just by looking at past years, I knew the type of production that a second round pick could have as a rookie running back.
Look at Clinton Portis with the Denver Broncos in 2002 when he ran for 1,508 yards.
Or Julius Jones of the Dallas Cowboys who ran for 809 yards in just eight games last season (1,618 if projected to a full season).
I even picked you with the first overall pick in my fantasy football league’s keeper draft.
By the way, in case you haven’t been following The Flying Giraffes as closely as I have, we took second place this season.
The injury to your fantasy teammate Portis and my inability to grab backup Manuel White as insurance, hurt me toward the end of the year.
But anyway, back to your real team, the Cardinals.
Maybe we shouldn’t be so shocked about the turnaround of this team as a whole either.
Last year your teammates went 6-10 but that was on a roster that had no quarterback and a million-year-old running back.
Not to mention the huge holes on defense the Cardinals addressed in the offseason, adding Chike Okeafor, division rival Seattle’s leading sack artist from the season before, to pair with Bertrand Berry, who even when the defense was bad in 2004, had double digit sacks.
Your team also added this year’s rookie Pro Bowl alternate cornerback Antrel Rolle in the draft, and safety Robert Griffith through free agency, just to name a few of the key additions that led your team through that much improved season you just ended.
The big additions though, were you and this year’s NFL’s Most Improved Player, two-time league Most Valuable Player, Kurt Warner.
With the weapons you have at receiver with third-year man Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald as well as former first round pick Bryant Johnson, with you running out of the backfield, and a solid offensive line to lead the way, it was clear this team would be competitive.
Speaking of Warner, to get an idea of what kind of a winner this guy can still be at the NFL level, look at the Giants in the 32 game period that included the season before he arrived and his one season on the team when he started the first nine games of the year.
With him, they were 5-4. Without him in the other 23 games over that two-year period, they were a combined 5-18.
Adding Warner obviously was a huge step in the right direction, but you were the final piece to the puzzle.
While productive in his final season with 937 yards, Emmitt Smith gained just 3.5 per carry — not enough to keep quality NFL defenses honest.
Of course, you already know all of these things. You just lived this stuff and are probably looking forward to a restful offseason at your new summer home and a chance to finally start spending some of your new money before heading out for the 2006-07 season.
Good luck in a handfull of months from now when that one actually gets underway.
I’m already going on record as predicting a Pro Bowl appearance and another Cardinal trip into the playoffs.
, I would love to be wrong in my previous assessments regarding Arrington, and 
