Forgotten James rediscovers his game

During an eight-game stretch starting in Week Nine, Arizona Cardinals veteran running back Edgerrin James was a virtual non-entity as a backup to rookie Tim Hightower.

James was not happy sitting on the bench and made his displeasure known in no uncertain terms, asking to be released following a 35-16 victory over the St. Louis Rams on November 16.

Arizona declined James' demand, and now he might want to rethink his position.

After being limited to 11 carries in that eight-game span, the former Indianapolis Colts standout regained his starting role in Week 17 and has helped fuel the Cardinals' surprising run to the NFC championship game.

"I got some adversity," James said. "Did I deserve adversity? No, I'll never agree with that. But the thing about it is, this is where I am at, this is what I signed up for. You sign up with an NFL team, you take the good with the bad."

On January 3, the Cardinals hosted their first home playoff game since 1947, defeating Atlanta, 30-24, in a wild-card contest.

Arizona then went to Carolina and knocked off the second-seeded Panthers, 33-13, in a divisional playoff game Saturday. The Cardinals received an added bonus Sunday when Philadelphia, the No. 6 seed, ousted the No. 1 seed and defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants, 23-11.

That means Arizona gets to host Philadelphia next week with a berth in the Super Bowl on the line.

The Cardinals will be looking to avenge a 48-20 loss at Philadelphia on Thanksgiving - one of three games this season in which James did not receive a single carry.

Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt joked that there was a method behind his madness to bench James.

"It was planned all along," Whisenhunt said. "We knew if we gave him a couple weeks off, he'd be ready to go at the end of the season."

After five straight 1,000-yard campaigns in Indianapolis and Arizona, James was limited to 133 carries and career-low 514 yards this year.

However, he never thought he couldn't still be a productive runner.

"If I got to the point where I couldn't play, I would've just go home," said James, who turned 30 before the start of the season.

"But it didn't get to that point. I love to play the game and I'm not going to be somebody who is going to be a sore loser. I want to be somebody that regardless of how things went, I want to try and man up and stand there and not pout about things."

James finally got a another start in the regular-season finale against Seattle and ran for a 100 yards on just 14 yards against the league's worst rushing team.

"He never went in the tank on us," Arizona wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald said.

James rushed for 73 yards on 16 carries against Atlanta in the playoff opener, then added 57 yards on 20 carries at Carolina. Much of that total came in the first half when the Cardinals surged to a 27-7 lead.

Now the 10-year veteran is one step away from a trip to the Super Bowl - something that eluded him after he left Indianapolis to sign with Arizona in 2006. The Colts capped that season by beating Chicago, 29-17, in Super Bowl XLI.

(nationalpost.com)