Arizona Cardinals lose Warner, game to Carolina 25-10
October 14, 2007 by Mike Olbinski
The only luck the Arizona Cardinals ever get is bad luck.
First Matt Leinart goes down, and now Kurt Warner. I was sure that Jeremy Urban was going to play some quarterback once Tim Rattay entered the game.
That’s just the way things go when you are an Arizona fan. The team gets to 3-2 and is on a roll. Leading the division and with a beatable opponent at home, in a worse quarterback situation, you start to get excited.
But then Larry Fitzgerald fumbles on the second play of the game, and then the next drive Warner goes down. His elbow did something it should never do and he was done for the day. In comes the backup signed just days ago and he was obviously not ready to play.
Carolina, in the same boat, had Vinny Testaverde playing like a guy who had been in training camp and with the team all season. Arizona couldn’t get any pressure on him at all and their defense was subpar.
Even so, the Cardinals were in the game for most of the day, but when Roderick Hood somehow quit on a play that let Steve Smith score a 60+ yard touchdown, the game was over.
Why? Because poor Rattay wasn’t in any position to put a drive together. Most fans and critics will blame the defense or the effort, but there is zero doubt in my mind that this game would have been won if Warner had been in there.
After he left, the offense lost all hope. Granted, they scored a touchdown by running the ball, but without a passing game, they become one dimensional and predictable.
Even when there was some hope, players like Urban dropped passes that Rattay actually threw well. Fitzgerald had the afore mentioned fumble. Adrian Wilson had a big pass interference call and a personal foul.
With Leinart and Warner out, the team has seemingly lost their hope and excitement. Now at 3-3, with Seattle at the winless Saints, and Washington looming next week, suddenly going into the bye week with a winning record doesn’t feel realistic.
A lot depends on the severity of Warner’s injury, but we don’t know how bad it is yet. Regardless, Rattay may not be the answer if he does get hurt. There are rumors of Tim Hasslebeck signing, but who knows what he can do.
Hopefully this isn’t the loss to Chicago last year all over again.
Posted in tim rattay, larry fitzgerald, roderick hood, matt leinart, kurt warner, football, nfl, arizona cardinals
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I feel ya Mike, it’s been a very rough week for AZ fans with the dbacks on the verge of losing a 4-1 game in Coors to go down 3-0, and of course the UA Wildcats losing another frustrater but obviously not a surprise in a game they could have won at USC. On the brightside Boldin should be back for next Sunday’s game along with Levi Brown. With another week of practice and with boldin back in Rattay might not look so bad. We can only hope that Kurt’s injury isn’t that bad. With everything taken into consideration it was still so sad to see a Cardinals team that seemed to lack any motivation after Wilson’s Interference call followed up by Rod Hood’s catostrophe.. Lets just hope the Saints will hang in there and finish off the hawks tonight (28-10 3rd quarter.)
Hopefully the Cards can move on and come out strong against Washington going into the bye week, a must win situation since Seattle is likely to beat St. Louis and go 4-3 heading into week 8.
Seattle loses, so we’re still #1 in the division. Hopefully what you think happens will happen and Warner isn’t gone long.
But someone on our forums mentioned that Warner used the words “torn ligaments” during post-game, so that worries me.
Definitely a tough weekend for the D-backs, but don’t forget the ‘04 Redsox came back from 0-3 against the Yankees, so there’s still hope. Especially given that this team has shown a propensity for comebacks.
As for the Cards, wasn’t it just really a matter of time before the wheels totally came off? I do feel bad for Cards fans, but given my Cowboys took a beating yesterday, I feel bad for me too.
The good news is ASU is 7-0 and in good shape for a run at a BCS bowl.
ASU ranked #8 is amazing!
Things look bleak right now. However, it appears we have a real NFL head coach in Whisenhunt.
What I did not like was the large number of empty seats in the upper deck of the stadium.
I agree with the notion about a real coach. The guy is brilliant…I haven’t seen one bad move yet. He knows what to do and even in the bleakest part of the day on Sunday, you could see him smiling with Tim Rattay when there was confusion, because really…what else could you do?