Arizona Cardinals come close, but lose to the Redskins

October 21, 2007 by Mike Olbinski

After the Arizona Cardinals lost to the Baltimore Ravens a few weeks ago, I stated that sometimes there are moral victories no matter what people say. From that loss, you could see confidence grow in the team which resulted in a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers the following Sunday.

Well, one moral victory a season is enough. While this one showed that the Cardinals have a ton of heart and played with an amazing effort, a loss is a loss. This time it was a 21-19 road defeat to the Washington Redskins.

The bye week will come at a good time for this team. Kurt Warner played great today, but could really use some rest and healing. The entire squad needs a break, to let wounds heal up, to collect themselves and get ready for the second-half.

The truly sad thing about this game was that the Cards shot themselves in the foot so many times. There were all kinds of horrible, badly-timed penalties, from holding to personal fouls. Larry Fitzgerald had at least two on his own.

And then there were three turnovers, one of them inside the five yard-line of Washington. Warner threw two picks, which you pretty much deal with considering he’s playing with 1.5 arms.

But despite all the penalties and turnovers, Arizona had a chance to tie it, which they failed, and then a chance to win it on a long field goal, which just missed.

This team is so close. They believe they are good and they keep fighting. Once again they shut down a team in the final quarter and make their comeback. Clinton Portis only had 43 yards on 18 carries in this game.

There were huge plays. Calvin Pace tipped a pass that was intercepted and allowed Arizona to score. Tim Rattay came in almost as a decoy for a running play, but ended up throwing a touchdown pass to Leonard Pope.

Then there was an onside kick recovery Jerheme Urban. Bryant Johnson had two big catches to get in field goal range, which turned out to be 55-yards out.

Neil Rackers’ leg was strong enough, but even without wind, it drifted left by about five stinking feet.

There is no question about the toughness and integrity of this team and coaching staff though. Despite the mental errors with penalties, they took chances and played hard until the very end. Seeing the guys on the sidelines hanging onto Rackers’ kick just praying it would go in was great to see.

Ken Whisenhunt went for it on fourth down at the end of the first half, resulting in a touchdown to Anquan Boldin.

And then when they needed the two-point conversion, they go to a trick play that had Boldin throwing to Larry Fitzgerald in the endzone, but he just left it way short.

This staff takes chances and has guts. While sometimes they will be seen as the wrong choice, I love the way they try to win.

Here’s to a great healing bye week and a better second-half.

And go Rams.

Posted in larry fitzgerald, ken whisenthunt, kurt warner, anquan boldin, football, nfl, arizona cardinals