Arizona Cardinals’ tale of success and failure (Part II)
Continued from part I...
Against New York Giants
Following an unsuccessful road trip, Cardinals came back home and hosted New York Giants.
Cardinals did not prove to be easy opponents, but were forced to surrender against Giants’ quarterback, Eli Manning, who has a knack of playing well under pressure and leading final-quarter comebacks.
Besides, Kolb continued to struggle, as a result of which, Cardinals’ lost their first home game of the season. He threw one interception in the game.
After falling four points behind in the first half, Cardinals scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to take the score to 20-10.
Running back, Beanie Wells, who had scored both the touchdowns in the third quarter, registered another one in the final.
Cardinals were 10 points ahead with just around five minutes left on the clock. However, Manning initiated two quick drives and both of them resulted in a touchdown, which took Giants ahead of the hosts.
The final score settled at, 31-27.
At Minnesota
Cardinals had lost three straight games, but the actual display of their pathetic form came against Minnesota Vikings, which was yet to win its first game in the season.
All the previous failures came after a hard-fought battle and the margin of defeat did not even reach five points, but at Minnesota, the story was different altogether.
On one hand, Kolb was finding it difficult to get back in form. On the other, the defence was also regressing with each game.
Vikings managed four touchdowns to get 28 points in the first quarter, while Cardinals kept on fighting to gain the ball possession.
Cardinals scored a field goal in the second quarter and a touchdown in the third, but those did not even provide consolation.
Vikings won the game, 34-10.
Kolb completed 21 passes of 42 attempts for 232 yards and threw two interceptions before being replaced by Richard Bartel, who did no good and threw another interception.
Against Pittsburgh Steelers
Time was running fast for Cardinals and at this time it was believed that they would not be able to come up from the slump.
A few expected Cardinals to break the shackles when they hosted Pittsburgh Steelers, as the latter had only lost two games in the season and were playing remarkably well in terms of offence.
While living up to their reputation, the Steelers did allow some scoring moves, but their offence completely overpowered Cardinals’ defence.
Cardinals scored a touchdown in second, third and fourth quarter respectively while Steelers managed two scoring moves in each of the three quarters and won the game, 32-20.
At Baltimore
After losing five straight games, Cardinals came very close to snapping their losing streak, but failed to do so yet again.
However, they did give a tough time to Ravens, and their offensive unit was performing efficiently, but Kolb remained a cause of worry.
Cardinals scored a field goal to take the lead in the first quarter and then managed three touchdowns in the next quarter, ending it at 24-6.
Beanie Wells rushed for a touchdown while Peterson had an 82-yard punt return for a touchdown.
The second half, however, was virtually dominated by Ravens.
Ravens scored three touchdowns and a field goal while Cardinals could only managed a field goal in that half to give away the lead.
Ravens won the game, 30-27, and Cardinals were handed their sixth straight defeat.
To be continued...
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