azdad1978
Championship!!!!
Cardinals blow 16-point lead, fall in OT
Kent Somers
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 11, 2004 12:00 AM
SAN FRANCISCO - The next two weeks could have been all sunshine and beaches for the Cardinals as they enjoyed their week off basking in the glow of national attention attracted by a stunning success story.
Instead, it will be darkness and misery after a stunning collapse Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals blew a 16-point lead in the final eight minutes, allowing San Francisco to score two touchdowns and two two-point conversions to force overtime.
When Todd Peterson's 32-yard field goal won the game 31-28 in overtime, a few fans serenaded the Cardinals by telling them they had choked.
As if they didn't already know.
"I'd rather take the five turnovers and get blown out than have something like we had today," running back Emmitt Smith said.
Everyone was culpable. The defense for letting 49ers quarterback Tim Rattay complete 16 of 25 for 167 yards and two touchdowns after the third quarter. The offense for not gaining a first down that could have put the game away. And the special teams, which gave up a punt return for a touchdown early in the second half.
What was especially painful was that so much was at stake. A chance to break a 15-game road losing streak. An opportunity to be 2-3 with two weeks to prepare for NFC West leader Seattle. A realistic shot at finishing .500 for the season.
Instead, the Cardinals (1-4) lost to a previously 0-4 team that was missing a handful of defensive starters and that lost another, linebacker Julian Peterson, to a torn Achilles' in the first quarter.
The game provided evidence to those who believe these are the same old Cardinals.
"That's got nothing to do with me," coach Dennis Green said when reminded of the team's history. "I just got here this year. I've coached for 30 years, and this ranks as one of the worst losses. You have a chance to put a team away and you don't. That's as far as I'll take it."
The collapse was stunning in its completeness, and not many of the 62,836 who attended hung around to see it.
Until the eight-minute mark, the defense was playing well and hadn't allowed a touchdown in the previous 13 quarters. The offense appeared to make progress, with quarterback Josh McCown throwing three touchdown passes, his first of the season.
It would be simplistic to say the wheels came off. The engine also threw a rod. The transmission froze. The radiator overheated. You name it, it broke down.
The 49ers closed to within eight when Rattay took them 80 yards in 15 plays for the touchdown and then scrambled for the two-point conversion.
The Cardinals went three-and-out, and the 49ers then went 72 yards in eight plays, with the touchdown coming on a 23-yard pass to receiver Brandon Lloyd with 1:07 left.
As the 49ers came to the line before that play, Rattay nodded to Lloyd, who took cornerback David Macklin deep and made a diving catch for the touchdown.
Lloyd picked on Macklin again for the conversion.
"They just made a play, I didn't," Macklin said about the touchdown.
And on the conversion?
"They just made a play," Macklin said.
They made more in overtime. The 49ers won the coin toss and appeared to stall when Rattay threw incomplete three times. On the third incompletion, defensive tackle Darnell Dockett was penalized for roughing the passer, giving the 49ers a first down.
Green didn't like the call.
"He barely had gotten rid of the ball," he said.
The 49ers then shredded the Cardinals defense, setting up Peterson's game winner.
"I don't have words for you right now," said fullback Obafemi Ayanbadejo.
Afterward, the Cardinals had plenty of words, most of them clichés and most of them appropriate. They didn't play the full 60 minutes. They didn't make plays.
Smith even took a shot at the media for the tone of stories that haven't even been written.
"You have two weeks to pick, nag, scratch, claw, do everything you can to try and attack the fiber of this ballclub," he said. "You have two weeks of what I consider just a bunch of B.S. That part is not fair."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cardinals/articles/1011cards1011.html
Kent Somers
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 11, 2004 12:00 AM
SAN FRANCISCO - The next two weeks could have been all sunshine and beaches for the Cardinals as they enjoyed their week off basking in the glow of national attention attracted by a stunning success story.
Instead, it will be darkness and misery after a stunning collapse Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals blew a 16-point lead in the final eight minutes, allowing San Francisco to score two touchdowns and two two-point conversions to force overtime.
When Todd Peterson's 32-yard field goal won the game 31-28 in overtime, a few fans serenaded the Cardinals by telling them they had choked.
As if they didn't already know.
"I'd rather take the five turnovers and get blown out than have something like we had today," running back Emmitt Smith said.
Everyone was culpable. The defense for letting 49ers quarterback Tim Rattay complete 16 of 25 for 167 yards and two touchdowns after the third quarter. The offense for not gaining a first down that could have put the game away. And the special teams, which gave up a punt return for a touchdown early in the second half.
What was especially painful was that so much was at stake. A chance to break a 15-game road losing streak. An opportunity to be 2-3 with two weeks to prepare for NFC West leader Seattle. A realistic shot at finishing .500 for the season.
Instead, the Cardinals (1-4) lost to a previously 0-4 team that was missing a handful of defensive starters and that lost another, linebacker Julian Peterson, to a torn Achilles' in the first quarter.
The game provided evidence to those who believe these are the same old Cardinals.
"That's got nothing to do with me," coach Dennis Green said when reminded of the team's history. "I just got here this year. I've coached for 30 years, and this ranks as one of the worst losses. You have a chance to put a team away and you don't. That's as far as I'll take it."
The collapse was stunning in its completeness, and not many of the 62,836 who attended hung around to see it.
Until the eight-minute mark, the defense was playing well and hadn't allowed a touchdown in the previous 13 quarters. The offense appeared to make progress, with quarterback Josh McCown throwing three touchdown passes, his first of the season.
It would be simplistic to say the wheels came off. The engine also threw a rod. The transmission froze. The radiator overheated. You name it, it broke down.
The 49ers closed to within eight when Rattay took them 80 yards in 15 plays for the touchdown and then scrambled for the two-point conversion.
The Cardinals went three-and-out, and the 49ers then went 72 yards in eight plays, with the touchdown coming on a 23-yard pass to receiver Brandon Lloyd with 1:07 left.
As the 49ers came to the line before that play, Rattay nodded to Lloyd, who took cornerback David Macklin deep and made a diving catch for the touchdown.
Lloyd picked on Macklin again for the conversion.
"They just made a play, I didn't," Macklin said about the touchdown.
And on the conversion?
"They just made a play," Macklin said.
They made more in overtime. The 49ers won the coin toss and appeared to stall when Rattay threw incomplete three times. On the third incompletion, defensive tackle Darnell Dockett was penalized for roughing the passer, giving the 49ers a first down.
Green didn't like the call.
"He barely had gotten rid of the ball," he said.
The 49ers then shredded the Cardinals defense, setting up Peterson's game winner.
"I don't have words for you right now," said fullback Obafemi Ayanbadejo.
Afterward, the Cardinals had plenty of words, most of them clichés and most of them appropriate. They didn't play the full 60 minutes. They didn't make plays.
Smith even took a shot at the media for the tone of stories that haven't even been written.
"You have two weeks to pick, nag, scratch, claw, do everything you can to try and attack the fiber of this ballclub," he said. "You have two weeks of what I consider just a bunch of B.S. That part is not fair."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cardinals/articles/1011cards1011.html
