Saturday, August 12, 2006

They lost!!!

They Lost their first game! How could that have happened? Ben Roethlisberger's appearance to open the extravagant new home of the Arizona Cardinals was as brief as it was fruitless. Then Kurt Warner christened the place with a touchdown drive, and stayed awhile longer.Warner threw for two first-half scores and the Cardinals celebrated the long-awaited unveiling of their $465 million stadium with a 21-13 preseason victory over the Super Bowl champs in front of a capacity crowd of 63,400. Roethlisberger, who lobbied his way into the starting lineup two months after sustaining serious head and facial injuries in a motorcycle crash, played one series. He completed 3 of 4 passes for 29 yards, the longest an 11-yard screen pass to Verron Haynes.Warner played most of the first half, going 9-for-13 for 118 yards. The 35-year-old former NFL and Super Bowl MVP even ran for five yards.Roethlisberger drove the Steelers to the Arizona 26 but was sacked by Bertrand Berry on third down, and Jeff Reed's 54-yard field goal try was wide left.Then the Cardinals drove for a touchdown on their first possession in their new home.Warner was 5-of-6 for 59 yards, capped by a five-yard touchdown pass to Bryant Johnson. Four of the completions came on third down, including a 20-yarder to Larry Fitzgerald on third-and-13 to the Pittsburgh 7.After Reed's 48-yard field goal, Warner directed an 11-play, 71-yard touchdown drive. Johnson's one-handed grab of a 20-yard pass highlighted the drive. The catch came on third-and-nine at the Arizona 46.Fullback Obafemi Ayanbadejo took a short pass from Warner and rambled 15 yards for a touchdown to put the Cardinals up 14-3 with 3:31 left in the half.The arrival of star free agent acquisition Edgerrin James had no immediate impact on what has been a woeful Arizona running game. James carried twice, once for a two-yard loss and once for no gain.With rookie Matt Leinart still unsigned, Arizona backup John Navarre was intercepted twice - both by rookie Anthony Smith.On the first, Navarre was hit as he threw and Smith picked it off at the Cardinals 35. Third-string quarterback Shane Boyd threw 13 yards to Quincy Morgan to set up rookie Mark Brubaker's 24-yard field goal that cut the lead to 14-6 as the half ended.Diamond Ferri ran five yards for Arizona's third touchdown with 9:41 to play. Omar Jacobs threw a 1-yard pass to fellow rookie Isaac Smolko for the Steelers' lone touchdown, with 1:25 to play. The Cardinals recovered the subsequent onside kick and ran out the clock. Next week, the Steelers return to Heinz Field to take on the Minnesota Vikings at 8 p.m.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home