I agree, but I also think giving Edge only 2 carries in the last 2 weeks is also dumb. To me it looks like they neither gain nor lose any production with Hightower in there vs. Edge. If you think Hightower is your best option at RB and he can't even be productive vs. the 49ers you may have some thinking to do.
Completely abandoning Edge is weird to me too. At the same time, he doesn't seem upset by it, so maybe there's more to the story than we know.As far as not being productive against the 49ers, to me it didn't look like any AZ RB was going to have much to work with in that game. I didn't notice huge cutback lanes or other holes he missed, but it's not like I've been breaking down the film.
The reason Edge has not played is because he ripped the coaching staff.
Any link at all to something like this? Whis. said Hightower earned it, it was better for the team, and there are other similar statements around.
Perhaps this from around October 22?
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/s...2cards1023.html
"I don't know what's going on," he said. "I'm just here, just going to ride it out and get to the playoffs and, hey, that may be it right there."
"I don't want to just be on a team; I like to play," he said. "If I'm not playing, it's not serving a purpose. What purpose is it serving? I don't want to feel like I'm selfish but you want to play.
"Hey, I still got years in me, I know that. I can still play some ball. I ain't worried."
James knows he's not much of a threat to go 70 yards. The Cardinals should have known it, too, when they signed him.
"When I came here, I came a certain way," he said. "I wasn't going to hit no 70, 80 (yards). I was going to non-stop grind, make my plays and keep wearing a team out.
"That's what I've always done and now it's like I'm supposed to be Superman. You want to have success, you want to do things and that's the most frustrating thing, I know I can play, I know I'm a good player."
"I don't want to seem like I'm bad-mouthing the system," James said. "I've never been somebody to just go off on somebody. I don't want this to appear negative because that's not my style."
But this offensive system, he said, is "totally different" from the one he expected the Cardinals would use when he signed in 2006. "And I have to take all the criticism," he said.