Edge still peeved about benching

It's a good thing the Cardinals coaching staff threw a few bones to Edgerrin James after he was benched in favor of rookie Tim Hightower, because the veteran running back revealed hat he would have quit on the team and walked away.

It almost got to that point, too, as James didn't play in three games and in four others, had only seven total carries. Until responding with 173 yards his past two games, including a 73-yard effort to beat the Falcons in last Saturday's playoff game, James has spent much of the season on the sideline.

"It was a different world, but you've got to take the good with the bad," he said after practice on Tuesday. "Throughout my career, everything's been easy and finally you get some adversity. Did I deserve that adversity? No, I'll never agree with that.

"But this is where I'm at and when you sign up to play in the NFL, you've got to take the good with the bad. If it got to the point where I couldn't play, I would have just went home, I would have said '(expletive) it, I ain't going to play then.' But, it never got to that point."

James' return to the Cardinals' offense has given the team new hope, especially this week heading into their NFC divisional playoff game against the Carolina Panthers.

"We all feel great for Edge," quarterback Kurt Warner said. "He's been a great teammate and a great leader on this team. I know he went through some frustration and disappointment earlier in the year, but couldn't be more excited, not only for what he's doing for us, but for him to get back out there and have some success himself."

Asked whether being more of a contributor down the stretch could make him think twice about his future with the Cardinals, James paused to reflect, but wouldn't bite.

"All I want to do is play right now," he said. "I'm not going to think about that or entertain those thoughts because we've got a chance to do something great right now and talking about stuff like that can only take away from things and be a distraction and more to hurt the team than help it."

(azcentral.com)