Edge needs to start in the playoffs

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Amazing how you still can't admit that you were wrong. Did the line just miraculously get good yesterday as well? Let me guess, they just blocked better for Edge. The reality is that Whiz screweed up, the line isn't as bad as you all think, and a good RB can make any line look good just like a bad back like Hightower can make a line look bad.

i'm willing to admit i was wrong. though i was never a champion of TH, and repeatedly stated such, i was all for pulling edge. he's def the man for the playoffs. that said . . . you think yesterday was all about edge? how about the fact that we were playing a really crappy seahawks team? edge wouldn't have looked nearly as good against the pats as he did yesterday.

as for the coach . . . yeah, he waited a long time. longer than was likely warranted, but he also pulled the trigger when he was wrong. credit him that at least . . . and it wasn't when things were too late . . . it is in time for the playoffs. so nashman, while you were right to a degree, and some of us are owning up to that fact, you also need to stop with the vitriol against whiz . . . he changed a mistake. give him that credit at least. denny never would have done that.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

With Edge, you get vision and experience. He can cut back when a sliver of a hole opens.

With Hightower you get acceleration and power. This is why is an idea short yardage guy. He follows his blockers with determination.

Early in the season, they were being properly used. Now we just have to return to it.

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

Saving the Shotgun draw for a surprise, instead of using it as the staple of our running game will help tremendously.

 

[nashman]

I don't need to get off of wiz he made a huge mistake and if it weren't for our pathetic division it could have easily cost us the playoffs. The niners finished 7-9 and are getting better, thank god we stopped them on that 4th and goal or we could have been on the outside looking in. I don't care if Wiz realized and changed it, fact remains it took the moron 8 weeks to realize it, I don't know about you but thats pretty scary to think our coach is that dumb. Or how about last game even a complete bafoon would have known snowy weather perfect game to start Edge and try to run run run, but the Wiz comes out trying to sling the ball around in a blizzard, he just makes some very poor decisions I don't have to like or accept that in our HC.

 

[D-Dogg]

but the Wiz comes out trying to sling the ball around in a blizzard,

no he didn't. They came out and ran it I think 9 straight times. By that point though, we were down by 21 I think. You can't run from behind.

They came out to run, run, run. Only not with the guy you wanted to run it.

 

[Duckjake]

I don't need to get off of wiz he made a huge mistake and if it weren't for our pathetic division it could have easily cost us the playoffs. The niners finished 7-9 and are getting better, thank god we stopped them on that 4th and goal or we could have been on the outside looking in. I don't care if Wiz realized and changed it, fact remains it took the moron 8 weeks to realize it, I don't know about you but thats pretty scary to think our coach is that dumb. Or how about last game even a complete bafoon would have known snowy weather perfect game to start Edge and try to run run run, but the Wiz comes out trying to sling the ball around in a blizzard, he just makes some very poor decisions I don't have to like or accept that in our HC.

If the 49ers had still been in contention the last 6 weeks of the season things would have been different in all aspects of the games.

That moron has a 12-4 record at the UPS and is still playing in week 18.

Maybe we can get another MORON to coach our defense in 2009.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Let's see... Hightower tore up the Rams in St Louis and people annointed him as the future...
Edge tears it up at home against the Seahawks and people are re-annointing him...

Pathetic...

 

[slanidrac16]

I don't need to get off of wiz he made a huge mistake and if it weren't for our pathetic division it could have easily cost us the playoffs. The niners finished 7-9 and are getting better, thank god we stopped them on that 4th and goal or we could have been on the outside looking in. I don't care if Wiz realized and changed it, fact remains it took the moron 8 weeks to realize it, I don't know about you but thats pretty scary to think our coach is that dumb. Or how about last game even a complete bafoon would have known snowy weather perfect game to start Edge and try to run run run, but the Wiz comes out trying to sling the ball around in a blizzard, he just makes some very poor decisions I don't have to like or accept that in our HC.

Nashman, we are all happy Edge did good. Please keep in mind that after Edge was benched we won our next 3 games and moved to 7-3. We lost a game to the Giants that MAYBE Edge could have made a contribution. Other than that , you can't tell me we would have won the games against the Eagles, Vikings or Pats if he had started.

It works out perfectly. TH got some valuable experience and Edge is fresher than any back in the playoffs. If Edge goes off in the playoffs and we win a couple of these games, there may be an argument that saving Edge was the smartest thing Whiz has ever done.

 

[joko4]

JJ ran 1 play for 9 yds. and was taken out, that too me says he's the starter.

 

[azsouthendzone]

I don't need to get off of wiz he made a huge mistake and if it weren't for our pathetic division it could have easily cost us the playoffs. The niners finished 7-9 and are getting better, thank god we stopped them on that 4th and goal or we could have been on the outside looking in. I don't care if Wiz realized and changed it, fact remains it took the moron 8 weeks to realize it, I don't know about you but thats pretty scary to think our coach is that dumb. Or how about last game even a complete bafoon would have known snowy weather perfect game to start Edge and try to run run run, but the Wiz comes out trying to sling the ball around in a blizzard, he just makes some very poor decisions I don't have to like or accept that in our HC.

I completely agree. If it was fat Denny playing musical QBs or botching the Edge situation he would have death threats but because Whiz talks soft and is one win over .500 lifetime as a HC he gets a free pass. I am willing to let it go if they go deep in the playoffs and progress next year but a 7-3 team should have accomplished much more in the regular season. Ask Eric Mangini what late season meltdowns get you. Whiz's arrogance is his achilles heel.

 

[SuperSpck]

Let's see... Hightower tore up the Rams in St Louis and people annointed him as the future...
Edge tears it up at home against the Seahawks and people are re-annointing him...

Shhhh. If you make sense you get the smiley that throws the rock.
It's like a Shirley Jackson story in here.

 

[nashman]

Peoples only argument seems to be but we won 3 straight after benching Edge.....against who? St. Louis, and close ones against Seattle and SF wow what an impressive 3 wins, what a joke! This team regressed after Edge was benched period, the 3 game winning streak against the pathetic 2or3 win teams created the illusion we were still good then bam we play some good teams and get DESTROYED! One could argue the ONLY teams we were competitive with were the NFC West teams since Edge was benched and the others well they all kicked our asses! Wiz made a mistake and he knows it and he corrected it, all I am saying is it should take your coach, a guy who is paid to make adjustments on the fly, 8 freakin weeks to realize something was severely wrong. You guys are welcome to your opinion as I am to mine and right now Whiz is not impressing me at all, this team has talent and is mis-used and coaching is questionable at best.

 

[SuperSpck]

Peoples only argument seems to be but we won 3 straight after benching Edge.....against who? St. Louis, and close ones against Seattle and SF wow what an impressive 3 wins, what a joke!

Each week any team can beat any other (although the Lions are trying to disprove that).

I'll take a win over any team and be damn glad to have it.

The Seahawks proved to be one of the differences in the Jets season, and SF has been improving steadily.

I'm not saying they're good teams, but the margin between good and bad is thin enough that calling a team a joke isn't accurate.

 

[ajcardfan]

Each week any team can beat any other (although the Lions are trying to disprove that).

I'll take a win over any team and be damn glad to have it.

The Seahawks proved to be one of the differences in the Jets season, and SF has been improving steadily.

I'm not saying they're good teams, but the margin between good and bad is thin enough that calling a team a joke isn't accurate.

The Niners beat the Jets too. And, you are right. Both can point to a handful of close losses that would've made a big difference in their record this year. It's not far-fetched that both could be more successful next year.

 

[azsouthendzone]

The wins vs. the Niners and the Seahawks signaled the beginning of the complete collapse of the running game. The team that took Carolina to the wire and the team that got lucky vs. San Francisco was two entirely different teams. Anyone who really watches the Cardinals could have diagnosed this problem weeks ago, and it was Tim Hightower. It is hip to constantly blame the O-line here in AZ, as if they all went from the same line who gave Edge two back to back 1,000 yard seasons and could pass protect, to a line that could pass protect when Edge was the back, but couldn't run block, to a line that couldn't do anything. People were even blaming Grimm. I think some need to realize that a good chunk of the responsibility of the running game comes from teh running back.

 

[Mulli]

The wins vs. the Niners and the Seahawks signaled the beginning of the complete collapse of the running game. The team that took Carolina to the wire and the team that got lucky vs. San Francisco was two entirely different teams. Anyone who really watches the Cardinals could have diagnosed this problem weeks ago, and it was Tim Hightower. It is hip to constantly blame the O-line here in AZ, as if they all went from the same line who gave Edge two back to back 1,000 yard seasons and could pass protect, to a line that could pass protect when Edge was the back, but couldn't run block, to a line that couldn't do anything. People were even blaming Grimm. I think some need to realize that a good chunk of the responsibility of the running game comes from teh running back.

Most will agree that Cards need at least one new running back next year. But I also blame the Oline.

Who cares?

Is there nothing else to discuss with a home playoff game in four days or something?

 

[Duckjake]

Peoples only argument seems to be but we won 3 straight after benching Edge.....against who? St. Louis, and close ones against Seattle and SF wow what an impressive 3 wins, what a joke! This team regressed after Edge was benched period, the 3 game winning streak against the pathetic 2or3 win teams created the illusion we were still good then bam we play some good teams and get DESTROYED! One could argue the ONLY teams we were competitive with were the NFC West teams since Edge was benched and the others well they all kicked our asses! Wiz made a mistake and he knows it and he corrected it, all I am saying is it should take your coach, a guy who is paid to make adjustments on the fly, 8 freakin weeks to realize something was severely wrong. You guys are welcome to your opinion as I am to mine and right now Whiz is not impressing me at all, this team has talent and is mis-used and coaching is questionable at best.

Again you overlook the poor performances by James in the 4 games leading up to the Rams game. 9-29, 21-57, 9-29, and 7 for 17 would get most RBs benched. So in reality nothing changed when Edge was replaced. The Car*s couldn't run the ball before and they couldn't run it after.

However, as long as the Car*s offensive line can't run block James is the best back for the team as he makes 2-3 yards out of nothing and 6-7 yards out of what should have been a 3 yard gain better than almost any back I've ever seen. His ability to instantly move laterally is as amazing as Fitzgerald's ability to catch the uncatchable.

Who cares if we got destroyed in games that meant nothing in the big picture? Now we have a RB with playoff experience AND fresh legs. Nothing wrong with that.

You want to complain about something complain about our defense that had trouble stopping Seattle Sunday or anyone else all season for that matter. 427 points is the 3rd highest total since 1995. Only the horrible teams of 2000 (3-13) and 2003 (4-12) were worse.

I can't see how, after the Car*s won 9 games with that defense, people can still gripe about the offense.

 

[nashman]

Well people gripe about the offense because when we have the ball and control the clock the defense plays a hell of alot better! And the 4 games you bring up prior to Edges wrongful benching its funny how in only ONE of those games he got a decent amount of carries and also happen to be against some of the toughest teams we played all year. Many, MANY RB's aren't going to have great numbers with 7 or 9 carries sorry thats just football. Edge is not AP he needs carries to wear the D down, thats the problem with our coaching staff they expect instant run game or just totally abandoned it. You have to COMMIT to the run for it to work, you know kinda like they did Sunday, you have to stick with it over and over it will work, we don't need a prolific running attack as we have the passing so we just need adequate which we can have.

We did not have any with TH clearly. And I just think when we were 7-3 we could have ended the season better than 9-7 if Edge wouldn't have been on the sideline as he changes the offense in a good way. Its not so easy to stop our passing attack if we had the threat of a run and we didn't have that the last 8 weeks.

Duck you keep saying nothing changed when Edge was benched and thats simply not true. It changed the team dramatically and if you watched the last 8 weeks it should be easy to see. I mean the team that just beat Seattle didn't even resemble the team that has been getting beat down by opponents the last 6 weeks or so, shoot even the games we managed to win with TH were not dominating by any means.

 

[azsouthendzone]

What is with Car*s?

 

[earthsci]

What is with Car*s?

No D

 

[ajcardfan]

What is with Car*s?

No d. Get it?

 

[Duckjake]

Well people gripe about the offense because when we have the ball and control the clock the defense plays a hell of alot better! And the 4 games you bring up prior to Edges wrongful benching its funny how in only ONE of those games he got a decent amount of carries and also happen to be against some of the toughest teams we played all year. Many, MANY RB's aren't going to have great numbers with 7 or 9 carries sorry thats just football. Edge is not AP he needs carries to wear the D down, thats the problem with our coaching staff they expect instant run game or just totally abandoned it. You have to COMMIT to the run for it to work, you know kinda like they did Sunday, you have to stick with it over and over it will work, we don't need a prolific running attack as we have the passing so we just need adequate which we can have.

We did not have any with TH clearly. And I just think when we were 7-3 we could have ended the season better than 9-7 if Edge wouldn't have been on the sideline as he changes the offense in a good way. Its not so easy to stop our passing attack if we had the threat of a run and we didn't have that the last 8 weeks.

Duck you keep saying nothing changed when Edge was benched and thats simply not true. It changed the team dramatically and if you watched the last 8 weeks it should be easy to see. I mean the team that just be Seattle didn't even resemble the team that has been getting beat down by opponents the last 6 weeks or so, shoot even the games we managed to win with TH were not dominating by any means.

So how can you say things would have been different if James had stayed as starter? TH never had more than 13 carries in a game after the Rams game (13,11,11,7,12,5,10) and the Car*s played the NFCs #1seed the #3 seed and the #6 seed as well as the 11-5 Patriots. The top teams in the NFL.

BTW: The Car*s defensive problems have nothing to do with time of possession. The D has been mediocre at best in all situations.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Well people gripe about the offense because when we have the ball and control the clock the defense plays a hell of alot better! And the 4 games you bring up prior to Edges wrongful benching its funny how in only ONE of those games he got a decent amount of carries and also happen to be against some of the toughest teams we played all year.

some of the toughest teams all year? Out of those four games only ONE made the playoffs. In our four losses in the second half of the season, we lost to an 11 win team, a 12 win team (and 1 seed), another playoff team in the Eagles and a 10 win Vikings team. Your excuse above is that Edge sucked because he played against tough teams... well, a) they weren't that tough (Dallas, Buffalo, Carolina and the Jets) and b) how would he have fared any different against teams that were BETTER than the teams we faced in that four game stretch? It's simple. He wouldn't have. That's not to say Wiz made the right decision to hold him out as long as he did, but Edge being in there wouldn't have helped against NE, Minn, the Giants or Eagles anymore than he did against the Bills, Jets, Panthers and Dallas.

Duck you keep saying nothing changed when Edge was benched and thats simply not true. It changed the team dramatically and if you watched the last 8 weeks it should be easy to see. I mean the team that just beat Seattle didn't even resemble the team that has been getting beat down by opponents the last 6 weeks or so, shoot even the games we managed to win with TH were not dominating by any means.

uh, you think maybe that's because... we played Seattle? They resembled the same team that beat the Rams twice... in other words, with or without Edge, they beat tar out of the really bad teams. You say we didn't dominate the games we won with TH? Just as we pulverized Seattle, we pulverized the Rams by 34-13 scores.

Was it great to see us have a running game again last week? Hell yes. Did Wiz wait too long to put Edge back in? Hell yes. Would it have made a difference against NE, Minnesota or the Eagles? Hell no. Maybe it would have against the Giants, but the offense actually played decently in that game.

Bottom line... Edge played well against a team without a pulse. Let's see him do that against a good team this week and hopefully that just ends the conversation.

 

[nashman]

Hopefully cheese, but if you don't think that Edge would have helped in the NE, Giants, and Minny game your crazy. Come on man the offense is better and more balanced with him in, if you don't think that could have helped I am not sure what to say. I am not saying he would have made the difference between winning and losing but he sure the hell would have made a difference from TH losing yards and putting the offense into constant bad situations. Especially the NE game!

 

[Duckjake]

Hopefully cheese, but if you don't think that Edge would have helped in the NE, Giants, and Minny game your crazy. Come on man the offense is better and more balanced with him in, if you don't think that could have helped I am not sure what to say. I am not saying he would have made the difference between winning and losing but he sure the hell would have made a difference from TH losing yards and putting the offense into constant bad situations. Especially the NE game!

But you just said that Edge struggled because he didn't get enough carries and was playing against tough teams. So how would he have made any difference getting the same # of carries TH got against even better teams?

You just have to realize the Car*s can't run the ball against any defense with a pulse. They can throw the ball and beat just about any team.

What is with Car*s?

Arizona has the horsepower to motor up and down the field they just don't have any "d".