82CardsGrad
7 x 70
I don't like Bickley all too much... but this is a pretty decent summary.
NASHVILLE
Football is a game of emotional roulette. One bounce can mean the difference between champagne toasts and antacid dinners.
So while you were throwing your remote control across the room, the Cardinals limped off the field in a dejected daze, the sound of hysteria burning their ears. Some 30 minutes later, Adrian Wilson was still slumped at his locker, refusing to speak and refusing to undress.
Expecting to win on the road is a sign of a [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]good [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]team[/FONT][/FONT]. And yet great teams do not allow 99-yard drives to lose a game as time expires. For the moment, the Cardinals are stuck somewhere in between.
"This will only make us stronger," safety Antrel Rolle said.
For fans in Tennessee, this 20-17 victory was an instant classic, ranking a notch or two below the Music City Miracle. [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Quarterback [/FONT][/FONT]Vince Young suddenly is threatening to steal the Comeback Player of the Year award from Brett Favre. Young led a Titans offense that shredded the Cardinals defense for 532 yards. He trumped [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Matt [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Leinart[/FONT][/FONT] once again, just like he did for the BCS title in 2006.
"It was funny, because it was second or third down on the goal line, and Steve (Breaston) came up to me," Leinart said. "He was like, 'God, this is deja vu all over again.' He did that to Michigan, and he did that to myself in the title game."
Afterward, Young dedicated "all the love" to the late Steve McNair, and the Titans gave a game ball to assistant coach Dave McGinnis, the affable man once fired by the Cardinals. In another time, the latter gesture might've brought a smile to many [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Big [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Red [/FONT][/FONT]fans.
Not now. This game was too painful, and attempts to minimize the sting were feeble and clumsy. Coach Ken Whisenhunt said his defense controlled Titans running back [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Chris [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Johnson[/FONT][/FONT] fairly well, if not for that 85-yard touchdown burst. For a moment, he sounded just like Clancy Pendergast, the former defensive coordinator who specialized in such rationalizations, the same guy that Whisenhunt fired after the end of last season.
"That's on us," linebacker Clark Haggans said of the Titans' three fourth-down conversions on the final drive. "We're supposed to stop that. You can't convert all of them. That's unacceptable. We need to do our job."
If you need bright spots, punter Ben Graham and special-teams ace LaRod Stephens-Howling had great games. Leinart played well in the second half, restoring much of his confidence and ours. And Dominique-Rodgers Cromartie played with great fire, forcing a key fumble and jawing with Johnson after his long touchdown run.
"He told me he was still faster than me," said Johnson, who disputed the claim.
Yet the trouble with silver linings and moral victories are that they don't exist in the [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]NFL[/FONT][/FONT]. You win or you lose, and you move on. And for all the relief that accompanied Leinart's competent performance, he has produced just one touchdown in his past six quarters of football, and his surprise start Sunday prompted extremely cautious play-calling in the first half.
The truth is painfully clear. This team goes nowhere special without a healthy Kurt Warner, and he's still experiencing some unnerving symptoms from a hit he suffered last week against the Rams.
"It feels like a light sensitivity (in his eyes) or my eyes aren't quite adjusted right," Warner said.
"I had tightness in my neck all week, so I think we were trying to gauge whether what I was feeling was coming from issues in my neck or whether it was an issue with my head. Ultimately, we couldn't make that determination, and that's what led us to the decision that we came to."
Caution is prudent in this case, and yet one game has been chipped off the division lead. The powerful Vikings are coming to town. Warner isn't sure what's next and, as a result, neither do Cardinals fans.
At the moment, both have a hard time seeing straight.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cardinals/articles/2009/11/29/20091129spt-bickleycards.html
NASHVILLE
Football is a game of emotional roulette. One bounce can mean the difference between champagne toasts and antacid dinners.
So while you were throwing your remote control across the room, the Cardinals limped off the field in a dejected daze, the sound of hysteria burning their ears. Some 30 minutes later, Adrian Wilson was still slumped at his locker, refusing to speak and refusing to undress.
Expecting to win on the road is a sign of a [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]good [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]team[/FONT][/FONT]. And yet great teams do not allow 99-yard drives to lose a game as time expires. For the moment, the Cardinals are stuck somewhere in between.
"This will only make us stronger," safety Antrel Rolle said.
For fans in Tennessee, this 20-17 victory was an instant classic, ranking a notch or two below the Music City Miracle. [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Quarterback [/FONT][/FONT]Vince Young suddenly is threatening to steal the Comeback Player of the Year award from Brett Favre. Young led a Titans offense that shredded the Cardinals defense for 532 yards. He trumped [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Matt [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Leinart[/FONT][/FONT] once again, just like he did for the BCS title in 2006.
"It was funny, because it was second or third down on the goal line, and Steve (Breaston) came up to me," Leinart said. "He was like, 'God, this is deja vu all over again.' He did that to Michigan, and he did that to myself in the title game."
Afterward, Young dedicated "all the love" to the late Steve McNair, and the Titans gave a game ball to assistant coach Dave McGinnis, the affable man once fired by the Cardinals. In another time, the latter gesture might've brought a smile to many [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Big [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Red [/FONT][/FONT]fans.
Not now. This game was too painful, and attempts to minimize the sting were feeble and clumsy. Coach Ken Whisenhunt said his defense controlled Titans running back [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Chris [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Johnson[/FONT][/FONT] fairly well, if not for that 85-yard touchdown burst. For a moment, he sounded just like Clancy Pendergast, the former defensive coordinator who specialized in such rationalizations, the same guy that Whisenhunt fired after the end of last season.
"That's on us," linebacker Clark Haggans said of the Titans' three fourth-down conversions on the final drive. "We're supposed to stop that. You can't convert all of them. That's unacceptable. We need to do our job."
If you need bright spots, punter Ben Graham and special-teams ace LaRod Stephens-Howling had great games. Leinart played well in the second half, restoring much of his confidence and ours. And Dominique-Rodgers Cromartie played with great fire, forcing a key fumble and jawing with Johnson after his long touchdown run.
"He told me he was still faster than me," said Johnson, who disputed the claim.
Yet the trouble with silver linings and moral victories are that they don't exist in the [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]NFL[/FONT][/FONT]. You win or you lose, and you move on. And for all the relief that accompanied Leinart's competent performance, he has produced just one touchdown in his past six quarters of football, and his surprise start Sunday prompted extremely cautious play-calling in the first half.
The truth is painfully clear. This team goes nowhere special without a healthy Kurt Warner, and he's still experiencing some unnerving symptoms from a hit he suffered last week against the Rams.
"It feels like a light sensitivity (in his eyes) or my eyes aren't quite adjusted right," Warner said.
"I had tightness in my neck all week, so I think we were trying to gauge whether what I was feeling was coming from issues in my neck or whether it was an issue with my head. Ultimately, we couldn't make that determination, and that's what led us to the decision that we came to."
Caution is prudent in this case, and yet one game has been chipped off the division lead. The powerful Vikings are coming to town. Warner isn't sure what's next and, as a result, neither do Cardinals fans.
At the moment, both have a hard time seeing straight.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cardinals/articles/2009/11/29/20091129spt-bickleycards.html
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