azdad1978
Championship!!!!
The Arizona Cardinals bid farewell to Sun Devil Stadium Sunday afternoon with a 27-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, ending a string of 18 seasons the club played its home games on the Arizona State University campus field since moving to the Valley in 1988. Next August, the team will begin play in a state-of-the-art Cardinals Stadium in Glendale.
“We feel good about our last game here at Sun Devil Stadium,” offered Cardinal Head Coach Dennis Green as the club improved to 5-10 in front of 44,723 fans. “It was a game that kind of went the way we like them to go. We’ve been in a lot of close games where, defensively we had a lot of effect.”
Card passer Josh McCown, in his first starting role in eight weeks, played extremely well as he connected on 27 of 38 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns for a 100.1 passer rating. Several of his long, accurate passes were remindful of the injured Kurt Warner, whom he replaces for the final two contests of the season.
“Driving to the stadium this morning I called my dad and he was saying ‘just go have fun,’ the fourth-passer said afterwards. “This was one of the funnest games I’ve been part of.”
As has been the case all year, the Card passer’s favorite targets were Anquan Boldin (nine receptions, 81 yards, 1 TD) and Larry Fitzgerald (five receptions, 93 yards, 1 TD), and the offensive line did a solid job combating the Eagles’ pressure defense. “We were slow getting started, and that’s what you have to expect playing Philly,” said McCown. I was pleased with how we played the game and called the game offensively because we were patient.”
The game began in a ragged, rather disjointed manner as the Eagles stumbled through eight three-and-out possessions and the teams had combined for just one third down conversion in 16 first-half attempts.
But credit is due the Cardinal defense, led by Adrian Wilson’s five tackles and two sacks, with two more sacks by defensive end Chike Okeafor and an interception return for touchdown by linebacker Karlos Dansby. Overall Arizona held the Eagles to 189 total yards, just 43 yards and two first downs rushing, 11 total first downs, and allowed just two third-down conversions in 14 attempts.
“Defensively we were flying around,” Green added. “We were making a lot of plays.”
Wilson, perhaps feeling he had something to prove after being snubbed in the Pro Bowl voting earlier in the week, set the tone for the game early when he ran down Eagle tailback Ryan Moats for a one-yard loss on Philadelphia’s fourth-and-one attempt near midfield with just over five minutes gone in the first quarter. The Cards drove inside the Eagle 20-yard line, but had to settle for a 32-yard field goal by Neil Rackers for a 3-0 lead.
Following the Eagles’ second punt of the game, the Cards took over at their 38-yard line with just over five minutes in the period. On the first play of the drive, McCown handed off to Marcel Shipp, who flipped the ball back as McCown found Fitzgerald down the right sideline for a 45-yard gain to the Eagle 16-yard line. Once again, however, Arizona was unable to move the ball and Rackers again came to the rescue with another 32-yard field goal and a 6-0 Arizona advantage—the first time in 2005 the Cardinals scored more than three points in the opening stanza.
Dansby, frequently playing as a down lineman, pushed the Arizona lead to 13-0 when he tipped a pass by Eagle quarterback Mike McMahon, gathered in the ball and raced 11 yards to the end zone. Coupled with an earlier interception return for a score this year, Dansby becomes the first linebacker in Cardinal history to return two interceptions for touchdowns in the same season.
“That felt great,” said Dansby afterwards. “I just tried to play between the quarterback and receiver, sort of like basketball. Once I was the tight end come behind the line of scrimmage, I knew the linebacker was going to have trying to get back to him, so I just tried to get between them and buy the (linebackers) a little time.”
The Eagles dented the scoreboard with 6:38 left in the first half when quarterback Mike McMahon knifed over from the three-yard line, one play after a 19-yard passing connection with Darien McCants and just two plays after a fake field goal on fourth down gave Philadelphia a first down at the Cardinal 20-yard line.
Arizona got one another scoring chance late in the first half but Rackers’ 54-yard field goal drifted left and the Cards settled for a 13-7 lead into the halftime locker room.
With the second half kickoff, the Cardinals got a first down at midfield on a pass interference penalty, and after Boldin’s catch over the middle converted a third and four, McCown arced a beautiful scoring toss to Fitzgerald in the left end zone, and the Cardinals were up 20-7 with 10:36 left in the third quarter. McCown was 5-5 for 51 yards on the drive.
“Those guys are special, special guys,” McCown added of Fitzgerald and Boldin. “What they do is constantly go out there and play ball and be professionals.”
Midway through the third period, the Cardinals got their first rushing first down of the game when Marcel Shipp popped over left end for 14 yards, but on the next play McCown’s pass intended for Boldin was picked off by Eagle defensive back Sheldon Brown at the Philadelphia 42-yard line.
McMahon, who had been battered all afternoon, was finally forced from the game on a vise-like sack by Card defenders Darnell Dockett and Chike Okeafor, and replaced briefly by Koy Detmer with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.
After forcing the Eagles to punt, Arizona took possession at their own three-yard line late in the period. A 12-yard pass to Bryant Johnson converted a third-and-nine situation, and a 20-yard pass to tight end Adam Bergen moved the ball to the Eagle 45. Another toss to Johnson for 11 moved the ball to the Eagle 38, and it was Bergan again with a 15-yard gain to convert another third down situation. McCown recorded his second passing touchdown of the game with a pin-point looping toss to Boldin in the end zone to cap a 13-play, 97-yard drive and give Arizona a 27-7 lead with 11:25 to play.
“That’s a good one,” Green said of the drive. “I think the guys really feel strongly about playing. We could go play eight or nine more weeks.”
“We saw it on film,” Boldin said of his ability to get behind coverage for the score. “They like to heat it up a lot which means they play man coverage and we picked our spots. That call was 971 which gave me a fade route. Josh put the ball inside so I could keep the guy in the back ov me and I went up and made a play on it.”
Philadelphia lost no time in cutting into the lead with a three-play, 58-yard scoring drive, capped by a Billy McMullen 21-yard touchdown catch to pull within 27-14 with 10:21 left.
Boldin kept a drive alive with an amazing one-handed grab to convert a third and five, then Shipp pounded for eight and two yards and another first down at the Card 47-yard line with 7:39 left. The Cards seemingly salted away the game when McCown found Bryant Johnson for a 49-yard touchdown, but an illegal shift negated the play and Arizona was forced to punt with 5:19 remaining.
The Eagles gave the Sun Devil Stadium faithful one final gulp before the celebration could begin. With the ball at midfield and 1:45 left, Philadelphia drove 49 yards in six plays and 79 seconds, aided by a 30-yard pass interference call on Wilson which put the ball at the one-yard line. McMahon dove in for the score, and David Akers’ conversion cut the Cardinal lead to 27-21. On the ensuing onsides kick, Card cornerback Eric Green recovered the ball and McCown knelt down for the final clock-killing play.
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“We feel good about our last game here at Sun Devil Stadium,” offered Cardinal Head Coach Dennis Green as the club improved to 5-10 in front of 44,723 fans. “It was a game that kind of went the way we like them to go. We’ve been in a lot of close games where, defensively we had a lot of effect.”
Card passer Josh McCown, in his first starting role in eight weeks, played extremely well as he connected on 27 of 38 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns for a 100.1 passer rating. Several of his long, accurate passes were remindful of the injured Kurt Warner, whom he replaces for the final two contests of the season.
“Driving to the stadium this morning I called my dad and he was saying ‘just go have fun,’ the fourth-passer said afterwards. “This was one of the funnest games I’ve been part of.”
As has been the case all year, the Card passer’s favorite targets were Anquan Boldin (nine receptions, 81 yards, 1 TD) and Larry Fitzgerald (five receptions, 93 yards, 1 TD), and the offensive line did a solid job combating the Eagles’ pressure defense. “We were slow getting started, and that’s what you have to expect playing Philly,” said McCown. I was pleased with how we played the game and called the game offensively because we were patient.”
The game began in a ragged, rather disjointed manner as the Eagles stumbled through eight three-and-out possessions and the teams had combined for just one third down conversion in 16 first-half attempts.
But credit is due the Cardinal defense, led by Adrian Wilson’s five tackles and two sacks, with two more sacks by defensive end Chike Okeafor and an interception return for touchdown by linebacker Karlos Dansby. Overall Arizona held the Eagles to 189 total yards, just 43 yards and two first downs rushing, 11 total first downs, and allowed just two third-down conversions in 14 attempts.
“Defensively we were flying around,” Green added. “We were making a lot of plays.”
Wilson, perhaps feeling he had something to prove after being snubbed in the Pro Bowl voting earlier in the week, set the tone for the game early when he ran down Eagle tailback Ryan Moats for a one-yard loss on Philadelphia’s fourth-and-one attempt near midfield with just over five minutes gone in the first quarter. The Cards drove inside the Eagle 20-yard line, but had to settle for a 32-yard field goal by Neil Rackers for a 3-0 lead.
Following the Eagles’ second punt of the game, the Cards took over at their 38-yard line with just over five minutes in the period. On the first play of the drive, McCown handed off to Marcel Shipp, who flipped the ball back as McCown found Fitzgerald down the right sideline for a 45-yard gain to the Eagle 16-yard line. Once again, however, Arizona was unable to move the ball and Rackers again came to the rescue with another 32-yard field goal and a 6-0 Arizona advantage—the first time in 2005 the Cardinals scored more than three points in the opening stanza.
Dansby, frequently playing as a down lineman, pushed the Arizona lead to 13-0 when he tipped a pass by Eagle quarterback Mike McMahon, gathered in the ball and raced 11 yards to the end zone. Coupled with an earlier interception return for a score this year, Dansby becomes the first linebacker in Cardinal history to return two interceptions for touchdowns in the same season.
“That felt great,” said Dansby afterwards. “I just tried to play between the quarterback and receiver, sort of like basketball. Once I was the tight end come behind the line of scrimmage, I knew the linebacker was going to have trying to get back to him, so I just tried to get between them and buy the (linebackers) a little time.”
The Eagles dented the scoreboard with 6:38 left in the first half when quarterback Mike McMahon knifed over from the three-yard line, one play after a 19-yard passing connection with Darien McCants and just two plays after a fake field goal on fourth down gave Philadelphia a first down at the Cardinal 20-yard line.
Arizona got one another scoring chance late in the first half but Rackers’ 54-yard field goal drifted left and the Cards settled for a 13-7 lead into the halftime locker room.
With the second half kickoff, the Cardinals got a first down at midfield on a pass interference penalty, and after Boldin’s catch over the middle converted a third and four, McCown arced a beautiful scoring toss to Fitzgerald in the left end zone, and the Cardinals were up 20-7 with 10:36 left in the third quarter. McCown was 5-5 for 51 yards on the drive.
“Those guys are special, special guys,” McCown added of Fitzgerald and Boldin. “What they do is constantly go out there and play ball and be professionals.”
Midway through the third period, the Cardinals got their first rushing first down of the game when Marcel Shipp popped over left end for 14 yards, but on the next play McCown’s pass intended for Boldin was picked off by Eagle defensive back Sheldon Brown at the Philadelphia 42-yard line.
McMahon, who had been battered all afternoon, was finally forced from the game on a vise-like sack by Card defenders Darnell Dockett and Chike Okeafor, and replaced briefly by Koy Detmer with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.
After forcing the Eagles to punt, Arizona took possession at their own three-yard line late in the period. A 12-yard pass to Bryant Johnson converted a third-and-nine situation, and a 20-yard pass to tight end Adam Bergen moved the ball to the Eagle 45. Another toss to Johnson for 11 moved the ball to the Eagle 38, and it was Bergan again with a 15-yard gain to convert another third down situation. McCown recorded his second passing touchdown of the game with a pin-point looping toss to Boldin in the end zone to cap a 13-play, 97-yard drive and give Arizona a 27-7 lead with 11:25 to play.
“That’s a good one,” Green said of the drive. “I think the guys really feel strongly about playing. We could go play eight or nine more weeks.”
“We saw it on film,” Boldin said of his ability to get behind coverage for the score. “They like to heat it up a lot which means they play man coverage and we picked our spots. That call was 971 which gave me a fade route. Josh put the ball inside so I could keep the guy in the back ov me and I went up and made a play on it.”
Philadelphia lost no time in cutting into the lead with a three-play, 58-yard scoring drive, capped by a Billy McMullen 21-yard touchdown catch to pull within 27-14 with 10:21 left.
Boldin kept a drive alive with an amazing one-handed grab to convert a third and five, then Shipp pounded for eight and two yards and another first down at the Card 47-yard line with 7:39 left. The Cards seemingly salted away the game when McCown found Bryant Johnson for a 49-yard touchdown, but an illegal shift negated the play and Arizona was forced to punt with 5:19 remaining.
The Eagles gave the Sun Devil Stadium faithful one final gulp before the celebration could begin. With the ball at midfield and 1:45 left, Philadelphia drove 49 yards in six plays and 79 seconds, aided by a 30-yard pass interference call on Wilson which put the ball at the one-yard line. McMahon dove in for the score, and David Akers’ conversion cut the Cardinal lead to 27-21. On the ensuing onsides kick, Card cornerback Eric Green recovered the ball and McCown knelt down for the final clock-killing play.
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