azdad1978
Championship!!!!
An opportunistic Chicago defense scored three touchdowns and stole a 24-23 win before 63,977 at University of Phoenix Stadium this evening in front of a national television audience on Monday Night Football.
The Cardinal defense successfully shut down the Bears’ high-scoring offense, limiting the now 5-0 Bears to just 168 yards offense, nine first downs, and just 55 plays. Quarterback Rex Grossman, whom some had been considering a possible MVP candidate for this play to this point in the season, was throttled by the Card defense to just 14 completions in 37 attempts for 148 yards, four interceptions, and a passer rating of juts 10.7. But two fumble returns for touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters by his defensive teammates, and an 83-yard punt return with 2:58 to play, spelled defeat the Cardinals, who dropped to 1-5 on the season.
“We just didn’t make the plays we needed to make,” said a disappointed Cardinal head coach Dennis Green afterwards.” At one point, the Cards took a 20-0 lead into the locker room at halftime, only to have the three returns come back to haunt them.
Cardinal Pro Bowl receiver Anquan Boldin near-single handedly kept the Cards in the game with 12 pass receptions for 136 yards and a score as Edgerrin James carried the ball an amazing 36 times but managed just 55 yards. Defensively, linebacker Gerald Hayes posted seven tackles and an interception with two pass deflections, sacks came from Adrian Wilson and Bertrand Berry, and cornerback Eric Green laid several fierce hits on Chicago receivers to jar the ball loose for incompletions.
After the Cardinals forced a punt on Chicago’s opening possession, Leinart took the Cards 77 yards in 12 plays, an impressive drive capped by a 11-yard scoring toss to Bryant Johnson with 7:06 left in the period. In the drive, Leinart was a perfect 5-for-5 for 46 yards and James rushed seven times for 31 yards as Arizona’s offensive line opened creases for James runs of 5, 6, and 6 yards on consecutive plays to set up the scoring pass—an audible at the line—and 7-0 lead.
Arizona caught an early break when an interception by Chicago’s Nate Vasher was overturned by replay review, and Scott Player’s ensuing 51-yard punt gave the Bears the ball on their own 19-yard line with 3:59 left in the opening period.
After both Green and Antrel Rolle earlier in the game dropped sure interceptions, Cardinals nickel-back Aaron Francisco picked off a deep Grossman pass intended for Muhsin Muhammad and returned the ball 44 yards to the 25-yard line. Then on a third-and-11 from the 26, Leinart rifled a laser over the middle to Boldin, who caught the ball at the nine, shook off a defender, and scooted the final 15 yards into the end zone for a 14-0 Arizona lead with under a minute left in the first quarter.
Leinart, who finished the game 24-42-232 yards with two touchdowns, acquitted of himself well before on the national stage.
“Matt did some good things,” Green offered. “They played hard on offense, but just not so smart at times.”
After the Cards took the commanding 14-0 lead, Arizona again intercepted Grossman early in the second quarter, this time by Hayes near midfield, who returned the ball 24 yards to the Chicago 29-yard line. But a pair of false starts pushed the ball back to the 34-yard line, and Neil Rackers’ 52-yard try sailed just wide left.
Then with 8:13 left in the half, Card defensive end Bertrand Berry came up with his first sack of the season, in the process stripping Grossman of the ball and making the recovery—Arizona’s third takeaway of the game—at the 33-yard line. Seven plays later, Rackers added a 41-yard field goal to push Arizona’s lead to 17-0 with 4:15 to play in the opening half.
Four plays into the Bears’ next possession, Adrian Wilson came hard off the edge and stripped Grossman on another sack, with Darnell Dockett falling on the ball at the 32-yard line to give the Cards another scoring chance with 2:10 left. Unable to move the ball, the Cards ran the clock down to two seconds, and Rackers made his second field goal of the game, this one from 28 yards, for a surprising 20-0 Arizona lead at halftime.
Chicago finally got on the scoreboard at the 7:22 mark of the third quarter with a 13-play, 64-yard drive, capped by a Robbie Gould 23-yard field goal after the Card defense stiffened heroically after the Bears had a first-and-goal at the two-yard line as the defense dropped fullback Jason McKie for a two-yard loss and Grossman threw a pair of incompletions under heavy pressure.
Fate smiled on the Cards again when Gould’s kickoff sailed out of bounds, giving Arizona the ball at the 40-yard line. Leinart then took the Cars 49 yards in 13 plays for another Rackers field goal, from 29 yards, to advance the lead to 23-3 with 1:47 remaining in the third stanza. More importantly, however, the drive consumed 5:35 of the clock.
The Bear defense woke up on the Cards’ next possession when defensive end Mark Anderson roared in untouched, stripped Leinart, as Mike Brown picked up the ball at the three-yard line and trotted into the end zone to cut Arizona’s lead to 23-10 with two seconds left in the period.
“They have excellent special teams, and an excellent defense,” Green said of the Bears. “They were exactly what we thought they would be.”
At the ten-minute mark of the fourth quarter, Devin Hester gave Chicago good field position with a 21-yard punt return to the Cardinal 43-yard line.
Chicago turned the ball again on their next possession, as defensive Dockett plucked a batted ball on fourth and 10 at the 27-yard line and rambled down the left sideline, but replay ruled him down by contact at the 26-yard line, giving the Cards the ball with 9:18 left.
Arizona was not to be denied, and after a punt, safety Robert Griffith picked off Grossman at the 34-yard line to give the Cards possession at the 41-yard line with 5:40 left.
But fate has a strange sense of humor, and Bear linebacker Brian Urlacher stripped James of the ball at the 40-yard line, and though his forward progress was stopped, Chicago’s Charles Tillman returned the ball 40 yards for a score to bring the Bears within 23-17 with five minutes left.
Hester again came through, this time when he took a Player punt at his own 18-yard line, broke up the middle, then raced down the sideline for an 82-yard touchdown, giving Chicago it’s first lead of the game at 24-23 with 2:58 to play.
Green was noticeably distraught over the defensive touchdowns by Chicago. “None of those plays should ever happen over the course of the season, let alone in a single game.”
Arizona got one last chance for redemption. After a 30-yard kickoff return by J.J. Arrington put the ball at the 38-yard line, Leinart hit bolding for 5 yards, James for 7 more, then on a third-and four, found Femi Ayanbadejo alone in the right flat for 13 yards and a first down at the 31-yard line.
Then on a fourth and 1 at the 22-yard line, Rackers missed wide left from 40 yards with 52 ticks left on the clock and the Bears ran out the final seconds for the 24-23 final.
Green summed up the game thusly. “They (Chicago) were exactly what we thought they were, and we let them off the hook.”
http://www.azcardinals.com/news/detail.php?PRKey=1259
The Cardinal defense successfully shut down the Bears’ high-scoring offense, limiting the now 5-0 Bears to just 168 yards offense, nine first downs, and just 55 plays. Quarterback Rex Grossman, whom some had been considering a possible MVP candidate for this play to this point in the season, was throttled by the Card defense to just 14 completions in 37 attempts for 148 yards, four interceptions, and a passer rating of juts 10.7. But two fumble returns for touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters by his defensive teammates, and an 83-yard punt return with 2:58 to play, spelled defeat the Cardinals, who dropped to 1-5 on the season.
“We just didn’t make the plays we needed to make,” said a disappointed Cardinal head coach Dennis Green afterwards.” At one point, the Cards took a 20-0 lead into the locker room at halftime, only to have the three returns come back to haunt them.
Cardinal Pro Bowl receiver Anquan Boldin near-single handedly kept the Cards in the game with 12 pass receptions for 136 yards and a score as Edgerrin James carried the ball an amazing 36 times but managed just 55 yards. Defensively, linebacker Gerald Hayes posted seven tackles and an interception with two pass deflections, sacks came from Adrian Wilson and Bertrand Berry, and cornerback Eric Green laid several fierce hits on Chicago receivers to jar the ball loose for incompletions.
After the Cardinals forced a punt on Chicago’s opening possession, Leinart took the Cards 77 yards in 12 plays, an impressive drive capped by a 11-yard scoring toss to Bryant Johnson with 7:06 left in the period. In the drive, Leinart was a perfect 5-for-5 for 46 yards and James rushed seven times for 31 yards as Arizona’s offensive line opened creases for James runs of 5, 6, and 6 yards on consecutive plays to set up the scoring pass—an audible at the line—and 7-0 lead.
Arizona caught an early break when an interception by Chicago’s Nate Vasher was overturned by replay review, and Scott Player’s ensuing 51-yard punt gave the Bears the ball on their own 19-yard line with 3:59 left in the opening period.
After both Green and Antrel Rolle earlier in the game dropped sure interceptions, Cardinals nickel-back Aaron Francisco picked off a deep Grossman pass intended for Muhsin Muhammad and returned the ball 44 yards to the 25-yard line. Then on a third-and-11 from the 26, Leinart rifled a laser over the middle to Boldin, who caught the ball at the nine, shook off a defender, and scooted the final 15 yards into the end zone for a 14-0 Arizona lead with under a minute left in the first quarter.
Leinart, who finished the game 24-42-232 yards with two touchdowns, acquitted of himself well before on the national stage.
“Matt did some good things,” Green offered. “They played hard on offense, but just not so smart at times.”
After the Cards took the commanding 14-0 lead, Arizona again intercepted Grossman early in the second quarter, this time by Hayes near midfield, who returned the ball 24 yards to the Chicago 29-yard line. But a pair of false starts pushed the ball back to the 34-yard line, and Neil Rackers’ 52-yard try sailed just wide left.
Then with 8:13 left in the half, Card defensive end Bertrand Berry came up with his first sack of the season, in the process stripping Grossman of the ball and making the recovery—Arizona’s third takeaway of the game—at the 33-yard line. Seven plays later, Rackers added a 41-yard field goal to push Arizona’s lead to 17-0 with 4:15 to play in the opening half.
Four plays into the Bears’ next possession, Adrian Wilson came hard off the edge and stripped Grossman on another sack, with Darnell Dockett falling on the ball at the 32-yard line to give the Cards another scoring chance with 2:10 left. Unable to move the ball, the Cards ran the clock down to two seconds, and Rackers made his second field goal of the game, this one from 28 yards, for a surprising 20-0 Arizona lead at halftime.
Chicago finally got on the scoreboard at the 7:22 mark of the third quarter with a 13-play, 64-yard drive, capped by a Robbie Gould 23-yard field goal after the Card defense stiffened heroically after the Bears had a first-and-goal at the two-yard line as the defense dropped fullback Jason McKie for a two-yard loss and Grossman threw a pair of incompletions under heavy pressure.
Fate smiled on the Cards again when Gould’s kickoff sailed out of bounds, giving Arizona the ball at the 40-yard line. Leinart then took the Cars 49 yards in 13 plays for another Rackers field goal, from 29 yards, to advance the lead to 23-3 with 1:47 remaining in the third stanza. More importantly, however, the drive consumed 5:35 of the clock.
The Bear defense woke up on the Cards’ next possession when defensive end Mark Anderson roared in untouched, stripped Leinart, as Mike Brown picked up the ball at the three-yard line and trotted into the end zone to cut Arizona’s lead to 23-10 with two seconds left in the period.
“They have excellent special teams, and an excellent defense,” Green said of the Bears. “They were exactly what we thought they would be.”
At the ten-minute mark of the fourth quarter, Devin Hester gave Chicago good field position with a 21-yard punt return to the Cardinal 43-yard line.
Chicago turned the ball again on their next possession, as defensive Dockett plucked a batted ball on fourth and 10 at the 27-yard line and rambled down the left sideline, but replay ruled him down by contact at the 26-yard line, giving the Cards the ball with 9:18 left.
Arizona was not to be denied, and after a punt, safety Robert Griffith picked off Grossman at the 34-yard line to give the Cards possession at the 41-yard line with 5:40 left.
But fate has a strange sense of humor, and Bear linebacker Brian Urlacher stripped James of the ball at the 40-yard line, and though his forward progress was stopped, Chicago’s Charles Tillman returned the ball 40 yards for a score to bring the Bears within 23-17 with five minutes left.
Hester again came through, this time when he took a Player punt at his own 18-yard line, broke up the middle, then raced down the sideline for an 82-yard touchdown, giving Chicago it’s first lead of the game at 24-23 with 2:58 to play.
Green was noticeably distraught over the defensive touchdowns by Chicago. “None of those plays should ever happen over the course of the season, let alone in a single game.”
Arizona got one last chance for redemption. After a 30-yard kickoff return by J.J. Arrington put the ball at the 38-yard line, Leinart hit bolding for 5 yards, James for 7 more, then on a third-and four, found Femi Ayanbadejo alone in the right flat for 13 yards and a first down at the 31-yard line.
Then on a fourth and 1 at the 22-yard line, Rackers missed wide left from 40 yards with 52 ticks left on the clock and the Bears ran out the final seconds for the 24-23 final.
Green summed up the game thusly. “They (Chicago) were exactly what we thought they were, and we let them off the hook.”
http://www.azcardinals.com/news/detail.php?PRKey=1259
