Cards Get Late Wake Up Call, Defeat Stingy Hawks 31-20
By Scott Allen
Arizona Cardinals 31, Seattle Seahawks 20.
That’s what the final score says, but it hardly tells the whole story.
Whatever it is, the home crowd, a feeling of too much comfort at home, it is hard to explain why the Cardinals come out with slow starts at University of Phoenix stadium. For the fourth time in five home games, the Cards allowed an opponent to come out early and take control of a game, eventually taking a lead into halftime.
Today started no different, except the Cardinals didn’t wait until halftime to wake up. Oh, they were late no doubt, but at least they showed signs of life heading to the locker room. After sporting the Seattle Seahawks a 14-0 lead in the second quarter, the Cardinals finally scored with about 5 minutes left in first half. The Seahawks took a 17-7 lead with a field goal and the Cards matched that with a late first half field goal to go half trailing 17-10.
This was truly a tale of two halves. After trailing 14-0, the Cards outscored the Hawks 31-6. Seattle, in my mind, appeared to have the game well in hand. I can only imagine what was said at halftime or what changed towards the end of the second quarter. Whatever it was it led to the following:
Cards running back Beanie Wells had his biggest day yet in the NFL, rushing for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
Cards quarterback Kurt Warner threw for 340 yards and 2 touchdowns and no interceptions – although he initially had one in the first half, only to be overturned by replay.
Two huge fourth quarter interceptions, including one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen from Adrian Wilson. A shovel pass by Matt Hasselbeck was intercepted by Wilson behind the line of scrimmage. I can’t remember ever seeing a shovel pass intercepted. It was a thing of beauty.
You know what else is beautiful? The Cards are now 6-3, two games up on the second-place San Francisco 49’ers. Also, with the Dallas Cowboys loss to Green Bay today, they are now also tied currently for the third seed in the playoffs, but still two back of the Minnesota Vikings for the second seed. The last seven weeks should be a lot of fun! Up next, the St. Louis Rams in St. Louis.