Green Watched Film, Appoints Emmitt

the ghost

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Dennis Green

Green Watched Film, Appoints Emmitt
By Viking Update Staff
Date: Jun 21, 2004

Some around the NFL were shocked when Dennis Green named Emmitt Smith as his starting running back. But, it shouldn't come as a surprise, given Smith's key role in keeping the Vikings out of the 2003 playoffs.

Dennis Green's first game as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals is going to be a preseason tilt at his former home -- the Metrodome when the Cards come to town. When they do, future Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith will be Green's starting running back.

Many thought this might be the end of the line for Smith, who has clearly shown the signs of wear and tear from being the focal point of the Cowboys offense for a decade. But Green, who has always been a proponent of playing veterans needed to see just one thing in his film study of the Cardinals to make his decision -- Smith's fourth-quarter performance in the Cardinals crushing defeat of the Vikings in the regular-season finale.

For those who watched those painful final minutes, what may have been missed by casual observers was Smith's role in the comeback. While he didn't make any huge plays for long touchdowns, any fans (i.e. masochists) who still have the game on film should check out Smith's fourth-quarter performance -- you can be sure that Green did.

In watching the film, you can see Smith with his team still two touchdowns behind, emploring his offensive linemen to get off the ball and get the team back to the line of scrimmage. He didn't do it just once. He did it several times. This saved his team valuable seconds that, as it turned out, they would need.

Many players, including some key current and former Vikings, likely wouldn't have played with that level of passion -- much less for a team that entered the game with a 3-12 record and were throwing an inexperienced quarterback to the wolves. Green, who spent much of time going over game film of his new team, saw this and was impressed with the kind of work ethic that would spawn such a reaction from a player with championship rings and a ticket to Canton already punched.

Will Smith be the answer for the entire season? Not a chance. He simply can't handle the 300-350 carry workload a featured back must endure. But what he showed at the end of a meaningless game with nothing at stake (other than losing out on the first pick of the draft) showed VU a lot -- and apparently Green as well.
 

Gnomad

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There is no doubt that his leadership in the huddle is priceless. But, how does it compare to the lack of ability neecessary to get the job done?
 

Ryanwb

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I would bet $100,000 the "the ghost" has the same IP address as "Vikesfan"

Actually, it wouldn't be a fair bet because I already know they do....
 

Pariah

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Ryanwb said:
I would bet $100,000 the "the ghost" has the same IP address as "Vikesfan"
You would win that bet. He hasn't been very quiet about it, has he?
 

Pariah

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nidan said:
Are you really sure you want to make that bet ? If so I might take a piece of it.

In case you havn't guessed that IP's are different, in all 4 octets
I don't know if it's the same IP address, but I would take the bet that it's the same man behind the keyboard.

PS-- I have no idea what the "octets" sentence means. :)
 

az1965

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Smith provided the "leadership" mentioned in the article as a backup. If it can happen then, it can happen now. You cannot make a old, soon-to-be-retired RB starter just for that... The article does not make sense especially when DG has very clearly indicated that he appointed Smith as a starter because of him hitting cracks and holes harder and quicker.
 

denverbirdfan

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cutting emmitt would be the worst pr move for the cards. a team with one winning season in the last 18 years cuts the nfl's all time leading rusher? i know he's 35 and not the same emmitt - but is scobey or anderson really all that much better? maybe, maybe not.
 

Lex

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Viking fans think the world revolves around them...

They think Denny Green abandoned them, and everything he now does, is in some way tied to them.

For them, that last game is forever burned in their memory, larger than life.

For us, it was a nice way to end a bad season, and shut up some invading fans. After all, the Vikings weren't THAT good, at least not as good as they THOUGHT they were.

As for Emmitt, I agree he helped us many times last year, as a coach on the field. But if we would have had a coach on the sidelines, the issue never comes up.
 

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