Interesting article in the Indy Star about RB Dominic Rhodes. It casts a shadow over Dom's ability to replace Edgerrin James.
His optimism [about the 2006 season] aside, Rhodes didn't exactly provide strong evidence in 2005 that he was the man capable of replacing James.
He admitted allowing a lack of playing time on offense -- just 40 carries, including five or fewer in 11 of 13 appearances -- to affect his attitude and performance. Rhodes averaged 3.0 yards per rush and 20.9 yards on 41 kickoff returns, each career lows.
"It was a combination of things; frustration, things like that,'' he said. "It was a year I really don't like to (dwell) on a lot. I didn't have as much fun as I usually have with football.
"Just not playing at running back, I let that bother me. I wasn't the same guy. To be totally honest, I was cheating myself, cheating my teammates, just cheating a lot of people by not being as much of a team player as I should have been.''
Yet the Colts decided to reinvest in him.
I guess it's good he admitted this, but this just reinforces my belief that the Colts need to draft a guy like Maroney or Addai in the first round. I like Dom, but he has serious durability issues to go along with his lack of professionalism. It's not acceptable for Dom to lose interest in what he's doing just because he isn't starting at RB. And this lack of interest hurt the team. Dom's kickoff returns last season were terrible.
He admitted allowing a lack of playing time on offense -- just 40 carries, including five or fewer in 11 of 13 appearances -- to affect his attitude and performance. Rhodes averaged 3.0 yards per rush and 20.9 yards on 41 kickoff returns, each career lows.
"It was a combination of things; frustration, things like that,'' he said. "It was a year I really don't like to (dwell) on a lot. I didn't have as much fun as I usually have with football.
"Just not playing at running back, I let that bother me. I wasn't the same guy. To be totally honest, I was cheating myself, cheating my teammates, just cheating a lot of people by not being as much of a team player as I should have been.''
Yet the Colts decided to reinvest in him.
We'll see if Dom has what it takes to start and succeed, but I'm not optimistic.