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Now a Seahawk, spurned Jones spurred to burn Cowboys
Aug. 3, 2008
By Clark Judge
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
KIRKLAND, Wash. -- Suddenly, I want to be in Dallas for Thanksgiving.
That's when Seattle plays the Cowboys, and it's not so much the two of them that interest me as much as it is running back Julius Jones. Once he played for Dallas; now he plays for Seattle. And now he has declared war on his former team.
Jones must be looking forward to actually 'carrying' the ball this season. (Getty Images)
"I'm out to prove I'm one of the better backs in the league," he said.
OK, I get that. He played with Dallas for four seasons, split time with Marion Barber and moved on to somewhere he should have more carries, more yards and more scores. But Jones' drive to make more of himself goes way, way beyond that -- and this I gotta see.
"I thought toward the end of my time in Dallas they kind of put me on the back burner," he said. "They had other plans which were ... whatever. I have something to show to them and the whole country that I'm not that guy who was sitting on the bench in the playoff game."
The playoff game he was talking about was a 21-17 loss to the New York Giants, with Jones having three carries -- or as many as quarterback Tony Romo -- and Barber having 27. So Barber ran for over 100 yards. Jones never had a chance, and don't bother reminding him.
"I'm not that guy," Jones reiterated. "I'm way better than that. That was embarrassing, you know what I mean? So I'm out to prove they made a wrong decision."
That could be good, very good, for the Seattle Seahawks because if there's one thing the club couldn't do well last year it was run. Everyone wants to blame former league MVP Shaun Alexander, but he was only part of the problem. The offensive line that was supposed to spring him wasn't all that good, either.
Anyway, Alexander is gone, Jones is here and the offensive line is different -- with Mike Wahle at left guard and Mike Solari as its coach.
If you ask me who makes the biggest difference, I'd say it's Solari. In his nine years as offensive line coach in Kansas City the Chiefs sent three offensive linemen to the Pro Bowl and made stars of running backs Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson.
"You don't get a chance to hire coaches like that very often," coach Mike Holmgren said of Solari.
He has that right. You don't get a chance to sign free agents like Julius Jones very often, either. I'm not saying he's the second coming of Emmitt Smith, but Jones is an upgrade over Alexander. He's younger. He's faster. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. And, get this, he's willing to block.
"Oh, man," Jones said, "I love it."
That's one of the reasons the Seahawks pursued him. The guy can do almost anything, and someone with those qualifications is a perfect fit in Holmgren's backfield. Remember Dorsey Levens in Green Bay? Yeah, so do I, and I remember how effective he was running and catching the ball.
Jones could fill that same role for Seattle, though let's get something straight: Nobody has named him the starter. In fact, Holmgren insists he'd like to have Jones and Maurice Morris share the position, with T.J. Duckett coming off the bench, and he will go with the guy who is hotter at the time.
"I'm not going to go 50-50," he said. "I'm going to go by 'feel.'"
I would, too, and right now I feel like Jones is someone who is going to excel here. As I said, he's perfect for this offense, and if you don't believe me you should have been at Friday morning's practice. Jones was one of quarterback Matt Hasselbeck's favorite targets and seemed comfortable catching the ball.
"We like everything about him," said Tim Ruskell, the team's president of football operations and general manager. "He can catch the ball. He's a good pass protector. And then there are the run skills: He has vision, burst and speed. I figured out with Mike that if you give him a guy who can do a lot of things he will press all those buttons."
Just a hunch, but nobody will need to push Jones' buttons.
"I can't remember the last time I wanted something so bad," he said. "I'm going to try to make life miserable for every team I face and every player I face."
I can think of one team in particular. Sign me up for the Nov. 27 game in Dallas.
"Nobody wants to go out like (the way I did in Dallas)," he said. "I was a starter there, and in the most important game there in -- what? -- four years, and I'm on the bench? They did what they wanted to do, and that's fine."
Somehow, I don't think it was. Happy Thanksgiving, Big D.
Now a Seahawk, spurned Jones spurred to burn Cowboys
Aug. 3, 2008
By Clark Judge
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
KIRKLAND, Wash. -- Suddenly, I want to be in Dallas for Thanksgiving.
That's when Seattle plays the Cowboys, and it's not so much the two of them that interest me as much as it is running back Julius Jones. Once he played for Dallas; now he plays for Seattle. And now he has declared war on his former team.
Jones must be looking forward to actually 'carrying' the ball this season. (Getty Images)
"I'm out to prove I'm one of the better backs in the league," he said.
OK, I get that. He played with Dallas for four seasons, split time with Marion Barber and moved on to somewhere he should have more carries, more yards and more scores. But Jones' drive to make more of himself goes way, way beyond that -- and this I gotta see.
"I thought toward the end of my time in Dallas they kind of put me on the back burner," he said. "They had other plans which were ... whatever. I have something to show to them and the whole country that I'm not that guy who was sitting on the bench in the playoff game."
The playoff game he was talking about was a 21-17 loss to the New York Giants, with Jones having three carries -- or as many as quarterback Tony Romo -- and Barber having 27. So Barber ran for over 100 yards. Jones never had a chance, and don't bother reminding him.
"I'm not that guy," Jones reiterated. "I'm way better than that. That was embarrassing, you know what I mean? So I'm out to prove they made a wrong decision."
That could be good, very good, for the Seattle Seahawks because if there's one thing the club couldn't do well last year it was run. Everyone wants to blame former league MVP Shaun Alexander, but he was only part of the problem. The offensive line that was supposed to spring him wasn't all that good, either.
Anyway, Alexander is gone, Jones is here and the offensive line is different -- with Mike Wahle at left guard and Mike Solari as its coach.
If you ask me who makes the biggest difference, I'd say it's Solari. In his nine years as offensive line coach in Kansas City the Chiefs sent three offensive linemen to the Pro Bowl and made stars of running backs Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson.
"You don't get a chance to hire coaches like that very often," coach Mike Holmgren said of Solari.
He has that right. You don't get a chance to sign free agents like Julius Jones very often, either. I'm not saying he's the second coming of Emmitt Smith, but Jones is an upgrade over Alexander. He's younger. He's faster. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. And, get this, he's willing to block.
"Oh, man," Jones said, "I love it."
That's one of the reasons the Seahawks pursued him. The guy can do almost anything, and someone with those qualifications is a perfect fit in Holmgren's backfield. Remember Dorsey Levens in Green Bay? Yeah, so do I, and I remember how effective he was running and catching the ball.
Jones could fill that same role for Seattle, though let's get something straight: Nobody has named him the starter. In fact, Holmgren insists he'd like to have Jones and Maurice Morris share the position, with T.J. Duckett coming off the bench, and he will go with the guy who is hotter at the time.
"I'm not going to go 50-50," he said. "I'm going to go by 'feel.'"
I would, too, and right now I feel like Jones is someone who is going to excel here. As I said, he's perfect for this offense, and if you don't believe me you should have been at Friday morning's practice. Jones was one of quarterback Matt Hasselbeck's favorite targets and seemed comfortable catching the ball.
"We like everything about him," said Tim Ruskell, the team's president of football operations and general manager. "He can catch the ball. He's a good pass protector. And then there are the run skills: He has vision, burst and speed. I figured out with Mike that if you give him a guy who can do a lot of things he will press all those buttons."
Just a hunch, but nobody will need to push Jones' buttons.
"I can't remember the last time I wanted something so bad," he said. "I'm going to try to make life miserable for every team I face and every player I face."
I can think of one team in particular. Sign me up for the Nov. 27 game in Dallas.
"Nobody wants to go out like (the way I did in Dallas)," he said. "I was a starter there, and in the most important game there in -- what? -- four years, and I'm on the bench? They did what they wanted to do, and that's fine."
Somehow, I don't think it was. Happy Thanksgiving, Big D.
