Arrington a blast from past for Cards

Let's take a look at the Cardinals' fastest-rising players the past month. One is the team's first-round draft pick. That figures. Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie was supposed to shore up the cornerback spot, one of the team's most suspect areas.

Cardinals notebook: Aggressive Cards league lead in creating turnovers

Read Mike Tulumello's blog, 'Bird Watching'

Besides, top picks are supposed to rise quickly.

But the other one? He's a blast from the past.

J.J. Arrington was supposed to be big time three years ago. That's when the running back and kick returner was the team's second-round pick.

Ever since, he's shown glimpses, only to slide sideways or backward.

He appeared to be a goner in September. After a solid training camp, he still wasn't on the 45-man active roster for the first four games.

Considering he was entering the final year of his contract, his modest exploits seemed to be the stuff of scrapbooks.

Now, he appears to be the team's No. 2 running back - at least he's been used more than Edgerrin James lately - after coming up with the best month of his career.

Last week against Seattle, he broke through in a big way by scoring two touchdowns in the Cardinals' 26-20 win.

He also has a kickoff return for a touchdown, one that helped propel the Cards to a big win over Dallas, and boasts the team's best yard-per-carry average (5.9).

Coach Ken Whisenhunt maintains that the pressure of competition forced Arrington to become more consistent, that he started making plays in practice and more or less elbowed his way into the playing rotation.

"When he got his chance, he took advantage of it," Whisenhunt said. "Because he had to fight through a little bit of adversity, he's now playing at a much higher level. That speaks to competition, which we've talked about numerous times around here."

Arrington, not surprisingly, doesn't quite see it that way. He believes he could have been producing all along if he'd been given more opportunities.

"I think the more opportunities you get, the better you are. The competition brings out the best in everybody. But it wasn't that for me, though. I was trying to play well every time I got the ball."

So he could have been doing this all along?

"Yeah, pretty much. ... I just know in my situation, every time I get the ball, I have to try to make something happen. That's a point of emphasis for anybody on this team, especially on the offense. They can go to anybody at any time."

Arrington's increased playing time has given the Cardinals a dose of speed and explosiveness.

"I don't think anybody questioned ... his speed and ability to make big plays," Whisenhunt said.

"He has done that, maybe not as consistently as this organization would have liked over the course of time. But he is making big plays for us now.

"His confidence is building because he knows very clearly what the expectations of him are and what level he has to play to. If he doesn't ... he's not going to play. That's making a big difference."