CardinalLaw
Registered User
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2004
- Posts
- 1,926
- Reaction score
- 0
New life in the desert
Cardinals revived by Mexico City fiesta By Dan Arkush ([email protected])
Oct. 4, 2005
Quicker than you can say “olé,” the Arizona Cardinals are back in business in the NFC West.
Which is a lot more than you could have said before their sloppy but stirring 31-14 victory over the San Francisco Niners last Sunday night in Mexico City’s monstrous Azteca Stadium before 103,467 genuinely responsive football aficionados — the largest crowd ever for an NFL regular-season game.
Heading into the NFL’s first-ever regular-season venture on foreign soil, Dennis Green’s troops would have gotten numerous votes as the NFL’s biggest disappointment three weeks into the 2005 season. In three lackluster losses, an offense that was supposed to be a lot livelier had managed just one touchdown, while a defense that was supposed to have top-10 potential spent most of its time toppling over like dominoes every time the opposition ran the ball.
Making matters worse in the minds of many was the team’s decision to sacrifice a home game at Sun Devil Stadium that would have increased its chances for success. Instead, the Cardinals traveled south of the border to play in a game that would serve as a testing ground for the league’s international expansion plans.
No matter that the Cardinals had lost 22 of their last 23 games away from home. The trade-off of prime-time exposure for the first time in eons was more than enough reason for the Redbirds to go global.
One play into last Sunday night’s game, it looked like the Cardinals would be a major turn-off after Niners DE Bryant Young broke through the Cardinals’ shaky offensive line like a freight train and forced a Josh McCown fumble that was eventually recovered in the endzone by ILB Derek Smith for a 49ers touchdown.
Except for the masterful field-goal kicking of Neil Rackers, who savored Mexico City’s high altitude like a fine wine, the Cardinals’ offense continued to shoot blanks until all but six seconds remained in the first half.
But after Larry Fitzgerald reached the endzone just before halftime on a nifty 17-yard catch, the Cardinals actually started to resemble a legitimate NFL team, even though their opponents from San Francisco obviously left a great deal to be desired on both sides of the ball.
But after reeling on the road for so long, the Cardinals rebounded right back into contention in their woeful division, bringing back memories of their victory over the Saints in Week Four last year after also starting the season 0-3.
For those of you who might have forgotten, the Cardinals actually showed a pulse after downing the Saints and started to make their presence felt in a division where finishing .500 could actually still get you in the playoffs (believe it or not, the NFC North looks like it could be even more pathetic).
Don’t look now, but the same thing might be possible again this season. The Rams had a chance to be 3-1 after playing three of their first four games on the road, but a rash of turnovers and the same kind of leaky defense that brought them down last season were instrumental in dropping them to .500 following a 44-24 loss to the Giants in the Meadowlands.
The Seahawks, meanwhile, put forth a much stronger effort on the road against the Redskins, but their defense couldn’t keep Washington’s normally tame offense off the field, enabling the Redskins to convert one 3rd-and-long after another in their 20-17 overtime victory.
This weekend the Cardinals have a chance to gain on at least one of these division rivals as they beat up on one another in St. Louis. The Cardinals will be entertaining a Carolina team coming off a short week — in the often-sweltering Arizona heat.
After throwing for a career-high 385 yards against the Niners, McCown is back in the offense’s driver’s seat while Kurt Warner rests his tender groin on the sideline. RB Marcel Shipp is running with some authority, and WRs Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin comprise as good a receiving one-two punch as there is in the league.
Believe it or not, the Cardinals suddenly have a fighting chance again.
Olé!
http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFL/NFC/NFC+West/Arizona/Features/2005/arkush100305.htm
Cardinals revived by Mexico City fiesta By Dan Arkush ([email protected])
Oct. 4, 2005
Quicker than you can say “olé,” the Arizona Cardinals are back in business in the NFC West.
Which is a lot more than you could have said before their sloppy but stirring 31-14 victory over the San Francisco Niners last Sunday night in Mexico City’s monstrous Azteca Stadium before 103,467 genuinely responsive football aficionados — the largest crowd ever for an NFL regular-season game.
Heading into the NFL’s first-ever regular-season venture on foreign soil, Dennis Green’s troops would have gotten numerous votes as the NFL’s biggest disappointment three weeks into the 2005 season. In three lackluster losses, an offense that was supposed to be a lot livelier had managed just one touchdown, while a defense that was supposed to have top-10 potential spent most of its time toppling over like dominoes every time the opposition ran the ball.
Making matters worse in the minds of many was the team’s decision to sacrifice a home game at Sun Devil Stadium that would have increased its chances for success. Instead, the Cardinals traveled south of the border to play in a game that would serve as a testing ground for the league’s international expansion plans.
No matter that the Cardinals had lost 22 of their last 23 games away from home. The trade-off of prime-time exposure for the first time in eons was more than enough reason for the Redbirds to go global.
One play into last Sunday night’s game, it looked like the Cardinals would be a major turn-off after Niners DE Bryant Young broke through the Cardinals’ shaky offensive line like a freight train and forced a Josh McCown fumble that was eventually recovered in the endzone by ILB Derek Smith for a 49ers touchdown.
Except for the masterful field-goal kicking of Neil Rackers, who savored Mexico City’s high altitude like a fine wine, the Cardinals’ offense continued to shoot blanks until all but six seconds remained in the first half.
But after Larry Fitzgerald reached the endzone just before halftime on a nifty 17-yard catch, the Cardinals actually started to resemble a legitimate NFL team, even though their opponents from San Francisco obviously left a great deal to be desired on both sides of the ball.
But after reeling on the road for so long, the Cardinals rebounded right back into contention in their woeful division, bringing back memories of their victory over the Saints in Week Four last year after also starting the season 0-3.
For those of you who might have forgotten, the Cardinals actually showed a pulse after downing the Saints and started to make their presence felt in a division where finishing .500 could actually still get you in the playoffs (believe it or not, the NFC North looks like it could be even more pathetic).
Don’t look now, but the same thing might be possible again this season. The Rams had a chance to be 3-1 after playing three of their first four games on the road, but a rash of turnovers and the same kind of leaky defense that brought them down last season were instrumental in dropping them to .500 following a 44-24 loss to the Giants in the Meadowlands.
The Seahawks, meanwhile, put forth a much stronger effort on the road against the Redskins, but their defense couldn’t keep Washington’s normally tame offense off the field, enabling the Redskins to convert one 3rd-and-long after another in their 20-17 overtime victory.
This weekend the Cardinals have a chance to gain on at least one of these division rivals as they beat up on one another in St. Louis. The Cardinals will be entertaining a Carolina team coming off a short week — in the often-sweltering Arizona heat.
After throwing for a career-high 385 yards against the Niners, McCown is back in the offense’s driver’s seat while Kurt Warner rests his tender groin on the sideline. RB Marcel Shipp is running with some authority, and WRs Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin comprise as good a receiving one-two punch as there is in the league.
Believe it or not, the Cardinals suddenly have a fighting chance again.
Olé!
http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFL/NFC/NFC+West/Arizona/Features/2005/arkush100305.htm
