Well, That's Encouraging

Arizona actually managed to win a game. So they win the division at 9-7, rather than 8-8, which feels significant to me. Even more important, they actually rushed for 119 yards. Sure, that doesn't sound all that impressive, until you consider that Arizona hadn't rushed for 100 yards in a game since they beat the Rams in St. Louis. That put their record at 5-3. Yes, they went 7 games not rushing for 100 yards. Freaking embarrassing, you know?

What's interesting is that Edgerrin James got almost all the carries today, which hadn't happened since the 7th game of the season. Starting with the aforementioned Rams' game, Tim Hightower had been getting almost all the carries, and James had hardly even gotten on the field. Hightower ran for 134 yards in the Rams game, but he's still under 400 yards for the season. I'm not sure he made it over 50 yards in any other game this season. So, does this mean Whisenhunt has decided to go back to Edge? I hope so. I get the impression that Hightower was more of a shifty running back, which can get you tackled behind the line, whereas James is more inclined to charge into that line. While that may limit James' elusiveness, it usually guarantees he'll get at least a couple of yards, something the Cardinals' running game hasn't seemed capable of lately. Or maybe it's just a consequence of James being a seasoned vet, and Hightower being the rookie who's still learning about finding holes. All I know is Arizona had five games this season with 100 yards rushing or more. In 4 of those, Edge was the starter, Hightower was the starter in just one of those.

OK, maybe I'm getting too excited about a 100-yard running game against the Seahawks, but they'd been playing better lately, and the way Arizona had been going lately, anything positive is reason for cheer. Now I just have to hope Arizona can keep Michael Turner under wraps. Man can dream, right?