Fast-Starting Back Gives Colts Extra Horsepower

They live in Westwood, and they’re the only people outside Indiana and Florida who couldn’t be more pleased with Edgerrin James’ rookie season with the Indianapolis Colts.

They are the members of UCLA’s defense, specifically the guys who were on the Orange Bowl field when James ran for 299 yards and the University of Miami wrecked the 1998 Bruins’ shot at a national championship.

Now, more than a year later, they can point to James’ NFL-leading 1,553 yards rushing and say, “See?”

It wasn’t only UCLA. Nobody in the NFL can tackle him either.

In retrospect, those UCLA defenders don’t look so bad. And the Colts look very, very good.

It’s not often that a team cannot feel a hint of regret for trading a running back who would go on to set an NFL record for yards from scrimmage.

And while it’s common to see teams pass on Heisman Trophy winners during the draft, it’s hard to ignore the guy who set an NCAA rushing record.

The Colts don’t have to apologize for that, either.

No Marshall Faulk, no Ricky Williams, no problem.

James has been one of the main reasons the Colts turned a 3-13 record last season into the AFC East championship this season. The Colts host the Tennessee Titans today in the first NFL playoff game in Indianapolis history.

To their credit, the Colts don’t go around saying, “We told you so.” The fact is, they didn’t know exactly what they were getting either.

“We saw it on film, before we drafted him, that he had running back ability and the ability to catch the ball,” Colt Coach Jim Mora said. “But a lot of times it doesn’t quite pan out that way when you get a player with your team.

“But he has lived up to our expectations when we took him with the fourth pick in the draft. You don’t know about a guy as far as how competitive he is or how tough he is or how he handles adversity, things like that. Edgerrin is very good in all those areas.”

The Colts didn’t find out right away. James held out for the first three weeks of training camp, making Colt fans even more upset that Indianapolis did not take Williams or at least accept the gaggle of draft picks Mike Ditka was offering for its pick.

But even during the holdout there were indications that James would work out. The telephone calls to quarterback Peyton Manning’s room were one example.

“He woke me up just about every night,” Manning said.

It got to the point that whenever the phone rang at some God-awful hour, Manning would pick up and say, “What do you want, Edgerrin?”

James wanted daily updates on what the Colts were working on, which players looked good.

“That was a sign--to me, at least,” Manning said. “I’d tell my teammates that he wants to be here.”

James wanted to be there even more after he signed a contract worth as much as $49 million, with a $9.5-million signing bonus.

Wait a second, Colt fans said. You guys traded Marshall Faulk because you thought he wanted too much money and now you doled out this much cash to this James guy, someone who started only 17 college games and left Miami after his junior year?

“Coming into this year, I was supposed to be the weak part of the team,” James said. “Peyton, he was going into his second year and he was going to be a better player. Marvin [Harrison, the wide receiver] he was having a great year last year, and he got hurt. And they upgraded the defense.

“So the weak part was supposed to be me. I was aware of that. I knew people would be saying, well, if I had another year or two under my belt, [the Colts] would’ve been a good ballclub. I wanted to eliminate that, come out and do everything I could to get my game to their level.”

Manning found a bond with James. It sure wasn’t their backgrounds--Manning lived a charmed life as the son of former New Orleans Saint quarterback Archie Manning, while James’ mother dished out Tater Tots at a school cafeteria to support Edgerrin and her five other children. One of James’ uncles died from AIDS complications, another from gunshot wounds.

The one thing Manning and James had in common was they had both been high draft picks that were considered questionable.

The Colts went against the conventional wisdom when they took Manning over Ryan Leaf with the No. 1 pick in 1998.

“I remember just telling him, ‘Edgerrin, if you work hard and you play well, all those critics quiet themselves pretty quickly,’ ” Manning said.

In Manning’s case, Leaf acted like a jerk and alienated his team, then proved himself practically worthless on the field. With James, Ricky Williams spent most of his rookie season injured and hiding behind his helmet during interviews, and rushed for less than 900 yards and only two touchdowns.

Manning was wary of losing Faulk, who enabled him to survive his rookie year by drawing the attention of defenses and serving as an escape option to catch screen passes when receivers were covered.

But Manning was impressed with the way James ran, blocked, and understood the playbook. He developed into such a threat that Manning’s play-action fakes to him have become the best in the league.

James carried the ball on 369 of Indianapolis’ 419 rushing attempts. He gained more than 100 yards 10 times, a rookie record. He also caught 62 passes for 586 yards and four touchdowns. His 17 touchdowns were the most by a Colt rookie.

And back in Los Angeles there are still plenty of UCLA fans who groan whenever they hear his name. It brings up too many bad memories.

“They’ll be all right,” James said. “Tell ‘em I’m gone now.”

Gone to bigger and better things.

*

J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Instant Offense

Season statistics for Indianapolis Colt rookie running back Edgerrin James, who finished with 17 touchdowns:

Rushes: 369

Yards: 1,553

Yards per rush: 4.2

Rushing touchdowns: 13

Receptions: 62

Reception yards: 586

Reception average: 9.5

Touchdown receptions: 4