Is Edgerrin James Poised To Take The Arizona Cardinals Over The Hump?
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by user The Jim
If you've been to a fantasy football draft in the past ten years, you recognize and have even uttered this phrase to explain some ridiculous pick you just made. "This is the year the Bengals/Cardinals break through!" Arguably, the Bengals did so last year, going 11-5 and winning their division before getting whomped by your Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs.
But enough about those felonius and comical Bengals. Let's talk about the redheaded step-children of the NFL, the Arizona Cardinals. Stop laughing. Think about what the Cards have going for them. Two-time NFL MVP (though aging and apparently married to a man) QB, check. Two studly and practically uncoverable WRs, check. A FB where 5 of 10 letters in his name are vowels, check. A young, Hollywood-type QB set to come in and take the world by storm, check. A speed-rushing DE capable of taking over a game, check. A coach with a winning pedigree and state of the art stadium, check. And now, a top shelf RB that can be identified with only one word, Edge.
Can James make that big of a difference though? Take this into account, last year's dynamic duo of Cardinals tailbacks, J.J. Arrington and Marcel Shipp, combined for 279 carries, totalling 921 yards and 2 TDs. Edge had 360 carries, 1506 yards, and 13 TDs himself, albeit on a much better team. That certainly screams upgrade.
Now, don't get me wrong. Edge has his problems. Despite being 28 years this is his 8th year in the league and he's got a lot of mileage on him for a guy his age. Additionally, being the fine, upstanding guy from The U that he is, Edge isn't crazy about being a team guy. He generally prefers to train in the offseason on his cigarette boat in the Gulf Of Mexico as opposed to say, attending mini-camp. But, the fact is, he's got over 9200 career yards, so I guess he's earned the right to go blue marlin fishing instead of running wind sprints if he so chooses.
But do the fortunes of this lowly franchise really ride on Edge? You bet they do! Kurt Warner went from bagging groceries at Wal-Mart, to all world QB, back to grocery bagger in the span of 5 years or so. Matt Leinert will be taking snaps and not losing the football game by mid-season. And despite the heroics of man-beast, Anquan Boldin and the possibly best receiver in the league, Larry Fitz, we all know that throwing the ball will only take you so far…just ask America's favorite idiot savant, Peyton Manning.
So that leaves Edge, his power boat, and the will of fantasy football geeks all over the nation to sneak the Cards into the playoffs as a wild card at 9-7. Yes people, I'm saying the Cardinals will be 9-7 and the world champion Pittsburgh Steelers will be 6-10.
Originally posted at Sportsocracy
Date
Fri 08/11/06, 12:19 pm EST
