Blowout Turns Exciting in 4th, Cards Lose 44-37
By Scott Allen
Whew.
That may have been the longest last two minutes of an NFL football game, preseason or not, that I have ever experienced.
Just when you thought the Cardinals were out of it, down 38-10 at halftime, the Cards ended up getting to within 1 at 38-37 with 45 seconds left. They decided to go for the two-point conversion to win the game instead of going for overtime. In the preseason – it’s the right call, most definitely. A great time to work on those things. The Cardinals failed in converting, but still got a chance after a failed onside kick was returned for a Green Bay Packers touchdown. That move, however, gave the Cardinals 33 seconds and 80 yards to tie. They made it 23 yards down the field before coming up short 44-37.
Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart had a superb second half in relief of starter Kurt Warner, who had a tough night. Leinart threw for 360 yards in the second half alone. I really liked Leinart toughness and ability to step up in the pocket.
The Cards looked resolved to being somewhere else in the first half. They had no passion. It was a completely different story in the second half.
Stars of the game:
- Matt Leinart – 360 yards passing, 2 TD’s
- Reggie Walker – a couple of big stops late
- Beanie Wells – 7 carries, 46 yds, 2 TD’s in first game
- Jason Wright –strong runs, hard to tackle, one TD
Guys who will find themselves on the bubble:
- Early Doucet – He dropped some important passes. The game announcers, who were by the way, not very impressive, made it sound like he was a star. Don’t let them fool you though, Onrea Jones did more for his job than Doucet did tonight.
One more week of preseason left. Then it’s on to the season opener in two weeks against San Francisco.
Scott Allen