Wolfley's James Thesis: Part Two
by Ron Wolfley
Cardinals Radio Analyst
One great player does not necessarily secure a playoff birth. Football is the ultimate team sport, especially at the running back position. Edgerrin James is going to need help. If there’s nowhere to run there’s nowhere to go. If there’s nowhere to go all the individual ability in “Gridland,” all that magical vision, won’t get James a yard. The Cardinal offensive-line is going to have to get much better than it was in 2005. This, in the King’s English, is what’s known as an understatement.
“But Wolf,” you say in a particularly whiney voice, “our offensive-line was horrible and we haven’t signed five, new, free-agent lineman!”
Alas, my friends, I boldly step to the bell-tower and proclaim a universal truth regarding potential, performance and the art of getting better: NOBODY WANTS TO BE THE WEAKEST LINK!
It doesn’t matter what team you’re on, whether it’s on the football field or in the work-place, nobody wants his teammates (co-workers) to think they stink like yesterday’s Spam, baking in the sun next to a tuna-melt. This is especially true when you factor in a person of high regard presiding over the above mentioned stench-fest.
You don’t believe me, do you? There’s no way the Cardinal Offensive-line could get better with essentially the same people involved, right?
Imagine a person for whom you have a tremendous amount of genuine respect. Now imagine that person going to work with you every day, sitting beside you, watching everything you did. Wouldn’t you want to impress them with your ferocious work ethic, glorious passion and stunning production? Or, would you slough over your desk, consuming Twinkies like Mama Cass, stand by the water-cooler with a bowl of Jelly-Beans, offering the black ones to people you don’t like, and fake an early afternoon illness because Dr. Phil was going to be on Oprah? I think I know, and you know, what you’d do.
Yes, it’s true. These are professional athletes and they should do their job out of respect for the game and their own personal pride, not to mention their considerable compensation. But things don’t always work that way.
Human nature, as I see it, can’t be changed based on what you do for a living. Either you work at your job the way you should or you don’t – regardless of pay. Many times you may think you are working hard when you really aren’t. You may think you only ate a bag of Twinkies when, in fact, you ate a box. You may think you’re performing a service by standing next to the water-cooler when you’re really doing nothing but ripping off your employer. Sometimes, as we work, all of us need a gentle reminder, or kick-in-the-pants, to get us to do what we should be doing.
The best motivation there is in the NFL, believe it or not, comes from a player’s peers. Players like to show-off for their teammates and gain their respect. There’s nothing better than making a big-play, throwing a huge block, watching your teammates rush toward you with pride and admiration.
That’s what a team does. A team supports its members. Players feed off the other’s success, encourage each other and watch their collective backs. They are brothers on game-day, wearing each other’s blood on their pants.
As Shakespeare wrote:
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother
The point – or in this case, The Edge – is this: every offensive lineman on the Cardinals’ roster just got better, especially those that may have underachieved the last few years. You’ve heard of “street-cred,” well Edgerrin James has tremendous “field-cred.” This is the kind of credibility that makes you aware of your work, not wanting to be the guy to let his teammate(s) down.
I hear shrill cries emanating from blue-star souls dotting the desert streets, demanding the band play “Emmitt’s Song” as they fall from their big, blue wagon. “Emmitt had field-cred, Wolf!”
Emmitt Smith was aging rapidly, a memorialized soldier in a forgotten war. Although I agreed with Emmitt’s signing at the time, everyone knew his best years could only be seen through a rearview mirror. James is regarded by most as still in his prime and one of the best, if not the best, running backs in the game. The comparison is a big, fat no-contest; and everyone in the Cardinals’ locker-room knows it. The only thing bigger than James’s reserve of field-cred is Terrel Owens’s helmet; which, upon his retirement, will be used to complete the dome at Texas Stadium.
No, the offensive-line will not produce Pro Bowl players because of James’s presence but they will get much better. Accountability is a wondrous master. There’s no doubt I’d like to see a couple more promising faces signed to the Cardinals’ roster. The usual suspects from last season’s offensive showing are going to have to step-it-up. After all, “Keyser Soze,” a.k.a. Steve Loney, is the real-deal as line-coaches go and won’t put up with mediocrity.
The signing of Edgerrin James bought the organization a huge amount of “we’re-trying-cred” with fans. It says the Cardinals are serious about winning, especially when the wallet comes out. When your organization is the team that played hard and got dirty during the free-agent period it’s hard to describe the goodwill it creates with the faithful. It fills you with a sense of pride, makes you want to be a part of it, recognizing the franchise’s effort and commitment is sincere. The Cardinals have done this…with a stroke of a pen.
James has just become the face of this franchise. Although Warner has done more than James in the league and Boldin is one of the most exciting wide-receivers in the game and Fitzgerald is one of the most promising receivers in the NFL and Bertrand Berry is a shining star, they are not the face of this franchise. And not because of anything they have or have not done for themselves, their team and this franchise.
It’s the circumstances surrounding the signing of James that makes him the poster-boy for the Cardinals. Cardinals Stadium has created a new paradigm for this franchise but this change of environment, this new everything would be small and shallow if winning football didn’t follow.
James came here, a proven winner at the top of his game, because he was paid well and because he wanted to be here. A proven back, an all-pro back, a superstar at the peak of his career chose to become a Cardinal. Let that resonate for a moment. Swirl it around your mouth, enjoy every last drop and consider this: why?
The cynic will say, “He only cares about the money,” gulp down another beer and ask the wife to shave his back. And, to a degree, Chewbacca is probably half-right. But this doesn’t explain the other half of the “Why”?
No player in his prime goes to an organization just because of the money. There are circumstances that need to be considered. Do I like and respect the Head Coach? Where is this team headed? Do they have a chance to win? Is this organization serious about winning? Will I be turned into a June-bug off the windshield of a 1978 Chevy van? All these, and more, need to be considered before a top-level free-agent agrees to terms with a team.
As previously stated, it’s Edgerrin James’s vision that sets him apart from his contemporaries. It’s what he sees and doesn’t see and it’s why Cardinal fans are starting to pick up clubs, waiting for the signal to storm the field.
A new day dawns, does it not my friends?
Click here to read Ron Wolfley's "James Thesis" Part 1 if you missed it last week!
by Ron Wolfley
Cardinals Radio Analyst
You must be registered for see images
One great player does not necessarily secure a playoff birth. Football is the ultimate team sport, especially at the running back position. Edgerrin James is going to need help. If there’s nowhere to run there’s nowhere to go. If there’s nowhere to go all the individual ability in “Gridland,” all that magical vision, won’t get James a yard. The Cardinal offensive-line is going to have to get much better than it was in 2005. This, in the King’s English, is what’s known as an understatement.
“But Wolf,” you say in a particularly whiney voice, “our offensive-line was horrible and we haven’t signed five, new, free-agent lineman!”
Alas, my friends, I boldly step to the bell-tower and proclaim a universal truth regarding potential, performance and the art of getting better: NOBODY WANTS TO BE THE WEAKEST LINK!
It doesn’t matter what team you’re on, whether it’s on the football field or in the work-place, nobody wants his teammates (co-workers) to think they stink like yesterday’s Spam, baking in the sun next to a tuna-melt. This is especially true when you factor in a person of high regard presiding over the above mentioned stench-fest.
You don’t believe me, do you? There’s no way the Cardinal Offensive-line could get better with essentially the same people involved, right?
Imagine a person for whom you have a tremendous amount of genuine respect. Now imagine that person going to work with you every day, sitting beside you, watching everything you did. Wouldn’t you want to impress them with your ferocious work ethic, glorious passion and stunning production? Or, would you slough over your desk, consuming Twinkies like Mama Cass, stand by the water-cooler with a bowl of Jelly-Beans, offering the black ones to people you don’t like, and fake an early afternoon illness because Dr. Phil was going to be on Oprah? I think I know, and you know, what you’d do.
Yes, it’s true. These are professional athletes and they should do their job out of respect for the game and their own personal pride, not to mention their considerable compensation. But things don’t always work that way.
Human nature, as I see it, can’t be changed based on what you do for a living. Either you work at your job the way you should or you don’t – regardless of pay. Many times you may think you are working hard when you really aren’t. You may think you only ate a bag of Twinkies when, in fact, you ate a box. You may think you’re performing a service by standing next to the water-cooler when you’re really doing nothing but ripping off your employer. Sometimes, as we work, all of us need a gentle reminder, or kick-in-the-pants, to get us to do what we should be doing.
The best motivation there is in the NFL, believe it or not, comes from a player’s peers. Players like to show-off for their teammates and gain their respect. There’s nothing better than making a big-play, throwing a huge block, watching your teammates rush toward you with pride and admiration.
That’s what a team does. A team supports its members. Players feed off the other’s success, encourage each other and watch their collective backs. They are brothers on game-day, wearing each other’s blood on their pants.
As Shakespeare wrote:
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother
The point – or in this case, The Edge – is this: every offensive lineman on the Cardinals’ roster just got better, especially those that may have underachieved the last few years. You’ve heard of “street-cred,” well Edgerrin James has tremendous “field-cred.” This is the kind of credibility that makes you aware of your work, not wanting to be the guy to let his teammate(s) down.
I hear shrill cries emanating from blue-star souls dotting the desert streets, demanding the band play “Emmitt’s Song” as they fall from their big, blue wagon. “Emmitt had field-cred, Wolf!”
Emmitt Smith was aging rapidly, a memorialized soldier in a forgotten war. Although I agreed with Emmitt’s signing at the time, everyone knew his best years could only be seen through a rearview mirror. James is regarded by most as still in his prime and one of the best, if not the best, running backs in the game. The comparison is a big, fat no-contest; and everyone in the Cardinals’ locker-room knows it. The only thing bigger than James’s reserve of field-cred is Terrel Owens’s helmet; which, upon his retirement, will be used to complete the dome at Texas Stadium.
No, the offensive-line will not produce Pro Bowl players because of James’s presence but they will get much better. Accountability is a wondrous master. There’s no doubt I’d like to see a couple more promising faces signed to the Cardinals’ roster. The usual suspects from last season’s offensive showing are going to have to step-it-up. After all, “Keyser Soze,” a.k.a. Steve Loney, is the real-deal as line-coaches go and won’t put up with mediocrity.
The signing of Edgerrin James bought the organization a huge amount of “we’re-trying-cred” with fans. It says the Cardinals are serious about winning, especially when the wallet comes out. When your organization is the team that played hard and got dirty during the free-agent period it’s hard to describe the goodwill it creates with the faithful. It fills you with a sense of pride, makes you want to be a part of it, recognizing the franchise’s effort and commitment is sincere. The Cardinals have done this…with a stroke of a pen.
James has just become the face of this franchise. Although Warner has done more than James in the league and Boldin is one of the most exciting wide-receivers in the game and Fitzgerald is one of the most promising receivers in the NFL and Bertrand Berry is a shining star, they are not the face of this franchise. And not because of anything they have or have not done for themselves, their team and this franchise.
It’s the circumstances surrounding the signing of James that makes him the poster-boy for the Cardinals. Cardinals Stadium has created a new paradigm for this franchise but this change of environment, this new everything would be small and shallow if winning football didn’t follow.
James came here, a proven winner at the top of his game, because he was paid well and because he wanted to be here. A proven back, an all-pro back, a superstar at the peak of his career chose to become a Cardinal. Let that resonate for a moment. Swirl it around your mouth, enjoy every last drop and consider this: why?
The cynic will say, “He only cares about the money,” gulp down another beer and ask the wife to shave his back. And, to a degree, Chewbacca is probably half-right. But this doesn’t explain the other half of the “Why”?
No player in his prime goes to an organization just because of the money. There are circumstances that need to be considered. Do I like and respect the Head Coach? Where is this team headed? Do they have a chance to win? Is this organization serious about winning? Will I be turned into a June-bug off the windshield of a 1978 Chevy van? All these, and more, need to be considered before a top-level free-agent agrees to terms with a team.
As previously stated, it’s Edgerrin James’s vision that sets him apart from his contemporaries. It’s what he sees and doesn’t see and it’s why Cardinal fans are starting to pick up clubs, waiting for the signal to storm the field.
A new day dawns, does it not my friends?
Click here to read Ron Wolfley's "James Thesis" Part 1 if you missed it last week!
