azdad1978
Championship!!!!
By Darren Urban, Tribune
The running back was done. Washed up. Out of gas. He couldn’t possibly keep doing what he had been doing for so many years. Emmitt Smith heard the talk. Only in this case, it wasn’t about Smith.
It was directed at another veteran running back, the Jets’ Curtis Martin.
The only thing Martin had done wrong was celebrate birthdays.
"He’s going through what I went through," said Smith, who hasn’t always been fond of talking about his own age and its effect on his play. "I am going to tell you what’s natural, for people to start secondguessing what he is doing, because he’s doing something a lot of people never expected him to do.
"The natural reaction is once a running back hits this stage of his career, this is what is supposed to happen to him. How often do we say that . . . because it is based upon what? History."
Martin and Smith meet on the field Sunday, historic in that no two running backs have ever faced each other with more production on their resumés. Martin, sixth on the all-time rushing list with 12,741 yards, should catch Jerome Bettis for fifth place by the end of the season. Smith, of course, sits atop the all-time list with his 18,076 yards and counting.
But it’s more than that. Smith, the oldest starting running back in the league at 35, has surprised everyone with his 658 yards rushing and eight touchdowns. He is one of a handful of backs 30 and older having impressive years at ages when running backs usually slide downhill.
Marshall Faulk (31), Bettis (32), Priest Holmes (31) and Corey Dillon (30) all have hit that magic number and have played well. But no one has topped what the 31-year-old Martin has done, with his 1,072 yards ranking third in the NFL behind Shaun Alexander and Edgerrin James. Martin is on pace to smash his single-season high of 1,513 yards, set in 2001.
"In football we have a tendency to go young," Cardinals coach Dennis Green said. "There are probably going to be guys that play longer, because of the training and conditioning, than people were ready to give them credit for."
Smith and Martin have more in common than just their advancing ages. Cardinals linebacker James Darling, who also played with Martin in New York, said both have great vision in which to find cutback lanes for their runs.
There also isn’t a lot of flash to either of their games.
Martin, who tied Barry Sanders by rushing for at least 1,000 yards in each of his first 11 seasons, is more low-key than Smith when it comes to records. Smith obviously cherishes every notch he makes in the record book. Martin doesn’t like talking about himself.
But both have earned high praise — on and off the field — from teammates.
"They just do things the right way and you just can’t help but respect them," Darling said.
"First of all, they don’t have nicknames," Jets coach Herman Edwards said. "They don’t do crazy dances or anything when they get to the end zone. They just kind of show up for work every day, and then they work.
"The thing with Curtis that is probably similar to Emmitt is that they don’t make a lot of highlights because they don’t make the big 60- and 70-yard runs all the time. They just make the runs to win games for you."
Getting older hasn’t changed that, either.
"It’s time to turn the page," Smith said. "We have a new history. The new history is we have a 35-year-old running back who is still doing what he is doing . . . and you have a guy (Martin) in his 11th year, still consistent, fortunate enough to never be seriously injured, still performing and you have other guys coming behind him doing the same thing.
"It’s a new day and time."
EXTRA POINTS: Smith (ankle) was upgraded from questionable to probable Thursday, although he still missed part of practice. Tackle Leonard Davis (knee) was added to the injury list as probable for Sunday, although he didn’t miss any practice. Defensive tackle Darnell Dockett (groin) and reserve safety Adrian Mayes (hamstring) were the only other players to miss at least part of practice.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=32173
The running back was done. Washed up. Out of gas. He couldn’t possibly keep doing what he had been doing for so many years. Emmitt Smith heard the talk. Only in this case, it wasn’t about Smith.
It was directed at another veteran running back, the Jets’ Curtis Martin.
The only thing Martin had done wrong was celebrate birthdays.
"He’s going through what I went through," said Smith, who hasn’t always been fond of talking about his own age and its effect on his play. "I am going to tell you what’s natural, for people to start secondguessing what he is doing, because he’s doing something a lot of people never expected him to do.
"The natural reaction is once a running back hits this stage of his career, this is what is supposed to happen to him. How often do we say that . . . because it is based upon what? History."
Martin and Smith meet on the field Sunday, historic in that no two running backs have ever faced each other with more production on their resumés. Martin, sixth on the all-time rushing list with 12,741 yards, should catch Jerome Bettis for fifth place by the end of the season. Smith, of course, sits atop the all-time list with his 18,076 yards and counting.
But it’s more than that. Smith, the oldest starting running back in the league at 35, has surprised everyone with his 658 yards rushing and eight touchdowns. He is one of a handful of backs 30 and older having impressive years at ages when running backs usually slide downhill.
Marshall Faulk (31), Bettis (32), Priest Holmes (31) and Corey Dillon (30) all have hit that magic number and have played well. But no one has topped what the 31-year-old Martin has done, with his 1,072 yards ranking third in the NFL behind Shaun Alexander and Edgerrin James. Martin is on pace to smash his single-season high of 1,513 yards, set in 2001.
"In football we have a tendency to go young," Cardinals coach Dennis Green said. "There are probably going to be guys that play longer, because of the training and conditioning, than people were ready to give them credit for."
Smith and Martin have more in common than just their advancing ages. Cardinals linebacker James Darling, who also played with Martin in New York, said both have great vision in which to find cutback lanes for their runs.
There also isn’t a lot of flash to either of their games.
Martin, who tied Barry Sanders by rushing for at least 1,000 yards in each of his first 11 seasons, is more low-key than Smith when it comes to records. Smith obviously cherishes every notch he makes in the record book. Martin doesn’t like talking about himself.
But both have earned high praise — on and off the field — from teammates.
"They just do things the right way and you just can’t help but respect them," Darling said.
"First of all, they don’t have nicknames," Jets coach Herman Edwards said. "They don’t do crazy dances or anything when they get to the end zone. They just kind of show up for work every day, and then they work.
"The thing with Curtis that is probably similar to Emmitt is that they don’t make a lot of highlights because they don’t make the big 60- and 70-yard runs all the time. They just make the runs to win games for you."
Getting older hasn’t changed that, either.
"It’s time to turn the page," Smith said. "We have a new history. The new history is we have a 35-year-old running back who is still doing what he is doing . . . and you have a guy (Martin) in his 11th year, still consistent, fortunate enough to never be seriously injured, still performing and you have other guys coming behind him doing the same thing.
"It’s a new day and time."
EXTRA POINTS: Smith (ankle) was upgraded from questionable to probable Thursday, although he still missed part of practice. Tackle Leonard Davis (knee) was added to the injury list as probable for Sunday, although he didn’t miss any practice. Defensive tackle Darnell Dockett (groin) and reserve safety Adrian Mayes (hamstring) were the only other players to miss at least part of practice.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=32173
