KIRKLAND, Wash. -- Losing a playoff game was bad enough. Standing on the sideline for most of it was more than Julius Jones could stomach after four years with the Dallas Cowboys.
"It was just a feeling of disgust," said the man who had started 39 consecutive regular-season games for the Cowboys.
Jones' once-promising career as the Cowboys' starting halfback died a humiliating death. He was happy to land in Seattle as the Seahawks' likely starter in the post-Shaun Alexander era. But nearly three months into his new life on the West Coast, Jones hasn't yet reconciled the way things went down in Dallas. That much was clear in a talk with Jones after a minicamp practice Monday.
Julius Jones is hoping to finally establish himself as a respected every-down running back.
"I definitely have a chip on my shoulder," he said. "I'm going to carry it every single year, every single practice, every single game. It's not going anywhere until I can prove what kind of back that I am and kind of redeem myself from the embarrassment that they have kind of put me through."
Jones carried three times for 8 yards during the Cowboys' 21-17 loss to the New York Giants in their NFC divisional game at Texas Stadium. Despite those 39 consecutive starts, Jones finished the team's most important game in years with the same number of carries as quarterback Tony Romo.
Teams routinely make difficult personnel decisions at the expense of players' feelings. Jones acknowledged as much. But to hardly play at all didn't seem right to him.
"I took that hard," Jones said. "I'll never forget that, ever."
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