Tikker wrote:Phlegm wrote:The Cardinals wouldn't have lost that game if Dennis Greene let Leinhart keep dumping those short passes instead of running James. James had 36 carries for 55 yards. If he insisted on running than he should get someone to block Urlacher.
that's hard to say
when you throw the ball 4 things can happen, and only 1 of them is good
Now im not a fan of running the ball ala Marty Ball. But in this situation up 23-10 in the 4th quarter, all they had to do was run the football and they would have won. Example. The "winning" punt return was with 2:48 left in the 4th quarter. Now lets check out the Cardinals play calling in the 4th quarter........
First and 10 at their own 23. First play is a run in the quarter (they got the ball via kickoff after Leinhart was sacked and fumbled for the score. First play a run...perfect. But then, the next play wich would have run the clock down ohhhh 20 more seconds they call a timeout. If they would have just run the ball on this down the clock doesnt stop and then the next play they can run the game clock down more (45 seconds). After the timeout their next 2 snaps.....2 passes....incomplete...incomplete. Stopping the game clock twice more. Just in this series they could have run almost 2 minutes off the clock just by running the ball up the middle for no gain, and still get the same result....a punt.
Next possesion with just under 11:00 minutes left in the game (same score) their possesion went....run play...pass play incomplete, pass incomplete. They could have run another 2 minutes off the clock if they just ran the football. Just those 2 posessions and the punt return never would have happened.
Now granted Edgerin did fumble on a play that i believe should have been whistled dead for stopping of forward progress. 36 carries is WAY too many. Switch it up with JJ Arington, give him alittle of the workload. Not saying he would not have fumbled but 36 is alot, esspecially when the Bears are not being blocked, and you are hitting a wall everytime.
After the fumble they had to go back into moving the ball mode and passing more. At that point you just cant sit on it. But the Bears had turn the ball over SIX (yeah 6) freaking times. The offense did not get very many first downs. Make them beat you, by running and giving them the ball.