TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Graham Has Come A Long Way

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 5, 2008

TAMPA - When the Bucs hand him the football, no one in the NFL, on average, takes it farther. Earnest Graham is averaging 5.8 yards per carry. He continues to make up for lost ground.

He's not just knocking people over or moving piles anymore, though he still does those things, and blocks, and battles. He has come from too far back to forget those lessons. But this season, freed from a bothersome ankle injury, from any kind of worries, financial or otherwise, Graham is running slightly wild.

He already has broken runs of 46 yards and 47 yards - and that 68-yard touchdown in the home opener. It's hard to forget how far this guy has come - until he tells you how far he wants to go.

"A long way," Graham said.

A Breakout Star

He has 334 rushing yards this season after gaining 898 last season, and catching 49 balls, too, after he finally made the starting backfield. Earnest Graham has come a long way. And it makes men smile. They'll tell you: Throw away the agility drills and stopwatches.

"When you put him in a game, he gets better," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said, "When it's a game setting and not an individual setting, he's a better football player."

It's funny to hear Gruden wonder why TV analysts talk about Graham as a surprise, seeing as Graham couldn't crack the Bucs' backfield for years. There was Cadillac, Michael Pittman, Mike Alstott, always somebody. One day after Graham got his shot, it finally hit Gruden. He was coming into a coaches meeting when he blurted it out:

"Is it just me, or is Earnest Graham our best back?"

Gruden laughed about it Friday.

"He breaks tackles. He makes 6 yards when most guys would make 1 yard. When it's time to pick up a blitz, he splatters a guy. He's a football player. You can't evaluate some guys in shorts and individual drills on a stopwatch. Am I making sense? I don't know what his 40-yard dash time was coming, but it was a big reason why he wasn't drafted. But just put him in a game ..."

When Graham was at the Super Bowl in February, some fans recognized him and thanked him for saving their fantasy teams.

"I was a third- or fourth-rounder, and they got some numbers out of me," he said.

Most of all, he loves when parents tell him they've told his story to their kids.

"About keep trying, never give up," Graham said.

The long runs have jumped out at us this season. At Graham, too.

"My ankle was hurting last year, so it was pretty much me running straight ahead. This has been a little more wide open; I'm able to do a little more things."

Funny, but he has been seeing daylight for years.

"I always thought I'd be here doing this."

Learning As He Goes

At training camp, he was actually disappointed when his name wasn't on the special-teams roster.

"That's football. That's the real game, running downfield to defeat a guy and make a play."

He's a sponge when it comes to studying great runners. He doesn't think he belongs with them yet, but he watches them - and learns. He always studies his new teammate, Warrick Dunn.

"He's a great back, and the most patient back I've ever seen. You can learn a lot."

Graham saw Dunn put on a great move in the home opener, cutting back against the Falcons. Graham made a mental note to try it.

"That was the 68-yard touchdown. I owe that to Warrick, in a way."

Forget the stopwatch - watch E.G. go.

"Emmitt Smith was like that," Gruden said. "I hate to compare him to that guy, but Emmitt Smith didn't have a great 40 time, but. damn, he made a lot of runs."

Earnest Graham lives in Odessa with his wife, daughter and son. There's always company.

"I got 10, 12 kids there all the time," he said. "Family, friends' kids, you know."

There's some football on the grass, too. Graham's 2-year-old, Miles, has game.

"The little man moves the pile. He's a strong fellow."

Runs in the family.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT