I was listening to a short commercial for the Jersey Johnny show on 1070 this morning and he brought up the possibility that Edge could be cut by Arizona this off-season. The Cardinals are in a bad cap situation and really don't need an expensive 30 year-old running back. Did that signing ever make sense? The speculation is that since cutting him would save the team five million dollars they would be better off getting a much cheaper and much younger back in the draft.
Where would that put Edge? He'd be a free agent with plenty of money in his pocket. He'd be free to go ring-hunting. A title is the only hole on his superb resume. I'm guessing the market wouldn't be a whole lot bigger for #32 than it was for Dom Rhodes last year. It's sounds like sacrilege, but he is thirty years old.
The Colts could desperately use a bigger, experienced RB. Edge would be a major upgrade over Keith. Duh. He is an excellent receiver, unlike Keith. On the ground he'd be at least as effective as some random guy from Canada. And there's an outside chance they'd be creating an unstoppable tandem with Addai. That would depend on the offensive line, of course.
The Cardinals are saying they expect Edge to be back next year, so this is purely talk. I think I'd have him back for one more year if I was Ken Wisenhunt, but you never know. Just keep your eyes open.
DZ Comments: Let's start baseless rumors like, "I saw Edge at the airport. What could he be doing in town? Is Peyton having a barbecue or something? It's not time for Marvin Harrison's yearly Jarts tournament for charity. . . HE'S GOING TO RE-SIGN!"
While you are floating around the web today, make sure you check out the good folks at INEPT. Thier new shirt, "How does New England spell defeat: MANNING" is sweet. Watch the F***ing Pats video about a quarter of the way down, you won't be disappointed (most of the profanity is bleeped). While we're at it, here's a couple of links I missed last week:
Peyton is glad Dungy is back
Peyton on Eli
Here's a great recap of the mounting evidence against the Rocket.
FO has a great piece on just how crazy it was that the Giants won the Super Bowl. Last year, Demond kept telling me that the Colts' run to the title would be the most unlikely of all time. I thought he was nuts. Apparently, he was right according to this article. Note that 5 of the most unlikely champions ever won in the last 8 years. This tells me that something is afoot in the NFL. This current era is the age of upsets, apparently. In all of NFL history, it has never been less important to be a favorite or even to have a bye week than it is right now.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
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If you think about the odds, 12 evenly-matched playoff teams would each have an 8.5% chance of winning--not very high. If one great team has a 20% chance, and the other 11 divvy up the remaining 80% (about 7% each on average), that one team--which does not have very good odds, is still 3 times as likely to win the SB as the average other playoff team. Thing seem much closer these days, but I surely prefer those odds to the all even scenario.
Demond:
Go rent season one of the Shield.
Seriously.
After you watch the pilot - you'll be on episode 15 in no time...similar to the way those of us who didn't watch LOST from the get-go plowed through the DVD's in a week.
Vic Mackey is the most crooked, loyal, vicious, angry, muderous, loving character you'll ever watch.
It's a tour de force.
Even if your wife doesn't like that kind of stuff she'll like that show.
He won't do it. He's too busy posting on the devotedtogossipgirls.com fan site.
Having Edge in the backfield again would be fun to see, but I don't think it's a move that the Colts will make, even though it is Edgerrin. It seems too Patriot-esque to me. KK should not be a Colt next year, that's for certain, but I think we go to the later rounds of the draft or the waiver-wire for Addai's backup. And who's to say we even need that great of a backup? Addai showed he can handle being a full-time back, despite a few nagging injuries, and I think his third year will be an elevated season for him. Would I like to see Edge back? Sure! It would legitimize all of my posters of him that are still on the walls. Do I think it will happen? Nope.
I don't think any of us actually believe it's going to happen, but it's nice to think about during a point of the year when there isn't anything else to talk about...unless you all want a string of Pacers posts. No? Didn't think so. No one wants that. Not even Mel and Herb want that.
Big Dave:
I think Dungy and Tom Moore showed that they believe Addai needs a backup. Go back and look at the number of times in 2007 that Addai was benched even during the context of a single drive. They tended to pull him near the red zone, specifically on drives that featured him heavily. The fact that Peyton throws to him so often amplifies his importance to the offense. The last two or three seasons Manning has thrown underneath more than ever.
I can't count the number of times, even in the playoff game, that I found myself screaming "Leave Addai in!" Addai is a fantastic talent, but he's not going to get Edgerrin James-type carries.
I think they need to spend a draft pick on a real NFL caliber player. I'm kind of disappointed that DeDe Dorsey (Dom's initial replacement) had the turf toe injury in preseason because after he got healthy he averaged nearly 9 yards a carry for Cincy late in the season.
I always figured if Edge came back it would be a one-day Emmitt Smith-type affair before retirement to Canton. Actually I HOPE that's it, and the fact they they gave him a SB ring makes me think Irsay and Polian also hope so.
Addai needs a compliment, a guy to handle 10 carries and 3 passes a game. Refresh my memory... what's wrong with Keith again? Receiving issues? Blitz pickup? I thought they were both having fine years up til about week 10.... (what a miserable stretch, from which nobody recovered sufficiently)
Oh, and BTW, somebody on FO corrected my math regarding playoff odds--the extra game puts even "evenly-matched" teams at a disadvantage, with the non-bye teams having steeper odds against than the bye-teams (who also have HFA in Week 19).
KK pretty much sucked at everything, including running. He had some good runs, sure, but they were not like what Dom used to bring to the table. I think all he had going for him was the CFL experience that helped him learn the playbook faster than his camp competition.
Demond: Addai was definitely not used as a full-time back in 07, but why? Because they had faith in KK or because they wanted to save Joe for the playoffs? I think his injuries (including the first touch of the season vs. New Orleans) put fear in the coaches to the fact that if they lose Addai, they are stuck with Keith and Lawton: not a pretty picture. Add to that the fact that his rookie year was very long, they probably just wanted to save him. In '08, I could see him being a full-time guy without requiring the talent of an Edgerrin James to back him up, IF he can stay healthy. That if is why I agree with you about the draft: they should pick a RB on day 1.
KK's problem is he can't catch. He dropped passes all year. The tip pick in the playoffs would have been just 'bad luck' except that he did OVER AND OVER all season. As I've said many times, if you suck when the lights are brightest in the same way you sucked all year, it's not choking. You can't play RB for the Colts and not be able to catch the ball.
I'll defend Keith's running. 4.4 a carry with a 58% success rate(best in the league) -he consistently moved the chains and gained significant yardage towards the first down.
Your Idealizing Dom. Great receiving back, blocks well, but he hasn't been an above average runner since 2001 filling in for James after his knee injury. When he stepped back into a bigger role in the offense in 2006 he responded with 3.4 YPC.
All that said, Keith has shown he doesn't have the hands to play RB for the Colts.
I 100% agree. The problem with KK isn't that he shouldn't be an NFL back, it's just that he isn't right for the Colts. You have to catch the ball and do damage. If you can't catch, you can't play for the Colts, no matter how effectively you run.
Nice comment.
Great RB analysis. I'd venture that Dom wasn't even that great in his rookie year either, despite 1,104 yards in 10 starts. I'd say for at least half of those games teams saw an undrafted RB and Manning in the backfield and "made" Dom beat them by overplaying Peyton and the WRs. Without resorting to FO, I'd guess that his success rate was modest and he had a lot of "meaningless yards." Of course that could be that he was just suffering by comparison with Edge.
If Keith has hands of stone, then he really isn't a Colt back. I wonder what trade value he has, because he IS decent, seasoned, and cheap.... paging Mister Al Davis, I said the magic word: cheap.
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