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Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Andre Roberts (12) celebrates his touchdown against the Miami Dolphins during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012, in Glendale, Ariz. The Cardinals won 24-21 in overtime. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The Arizona Cardinals blew a game they had no business winning Sunday in Glendale.

Outplayed for the majority of the game, Arizona had a chance to possibly put things away with less than 7 minutes left. Up one with the ball at the Miami two yard line, the Cardinals faced a second and goal.

Quarterback Kevin Kolb, who only a series before led the Cardinals to the go-ahead touchdown with two excellent passes, rolled to his right and tried to hit Larry Fitzgerald.

Problem is, Fitz was standing out of bounds and there was a defender in between the receiver and quarterback.

That lede no longer applies.

A Daryl Washington sack led to a Vonnie Holliday fumble recovery, which then led to Kolb throwing a 15-yard touchdown strike to Andre Roberts to tie the game with less than 30 seconds left.

A Kerry Rhodes interception in overtime led to a 46-yard Jay Feely field goal, and the Cardinals remained perfect on the season.

"If anybody said ‘you want to be 4-0 to start the season,'" Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said after the game. "I don't care how you do it, it doesn't matter.

"If you can find a way to win that's what's important."

Indeed it is, and the Cardinals keep finding ways to win. Since the midway point of the 2011 season it seems as if they are always able to come up with a big play when it's absolutely necessary.

Be it a Patrick Peterson punt return, a defensive touchdown, a blocked field goal or, as was the case against the Dolphins, a timely turnover and some clutch passes, this team has consistently found ways to win.

"That's what it's all about," Peterson said after the win. "When those plays present themselves to us we've got to go make it, and that's what we did [Sunday]."

It's what they did Sunday; it's what they've done for the last 13 games, of which they've won 11.

"I think it says a lot for our team and our approach that we have been that successful," Whisenhunt said when asked about the comfort level in overtime games. "It's not luck, I will tell you that.

"It can't be luck with as many times as we have been successful with that."

Tough to argue there.

That the Cardinals are so confident and comfortable in such games is just another reason why this team will be tough to deal with the rest of the way.

Are they perfect? No.

The Cardinals allowed 480 net yards of offense to a team led by a rookie quarterback. Miami receiver Brian Hartline torched the Cardinals' secondary for 253 yards and a touchdown on 12 receptions. Arizona fumbled the ball four times -- recovering each time -- and saw Kolb get picked off twice. Both interceptions led to Miami points.

"I'm going to tell you honestly, he can't make some of those throws that he made," Whisenhunt said of his QB, adding that there has been improvement on being more careful with the ball.

The coach followed that up with what may be the most important note of all:

"He responded big on that drive."

As my colleague Vince Marotta wrote, the Dolphins probably should have left Glendale with a win.

But they didn't.

"We have to look at this as a stepping stone," Peterson said. "We have to look at this as a game that can definitely can kind of give us an identity to how this football team wants to be.

"Although we didn't have our best game, we made the plays that we needed to."

It's the Cardinals' way. At least, it's these Cardinals' way.

"If we would've been in that situation in the past we would have seen guys hanging their heads, the atmosphere on the sideline would've been different," Fitzgerald said when asked about the team's belief late in games. "But now there's not a guy on the sideline who didn't believe we could go out there and win this ballgame."

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    OpinionH8d wrote...
    Replacement refs were better
    Two reviewed plays in a row were blown. The PP fumble recovery and return should have been reversed. The Miami receiver didn't control the ball and make a football move. Then the INT in the end zone, first of all should have been offensive PI, but second of all, anyone who's not blind reviewing that play could see one of his hands came off the ball as it was hitting the ground. Not too long before that Hartline obviously pushed off and they called the Cards for PI. Pathetic.
  • Abuse
    OpinionH8d wrote...
    Correction
    The INT in the end zone should have been PI on Miami, not offensive.
  • Abuse
    poli-toons wrote...
    ignoring terrible O line play
    It appears we are going to ignore 8 sacks and 21 hurries of Kolb. It appears Kolb, the receivers and running backs have 1.75 seconds to develop plays before the O line folds like a paper airplane. Why the Cardinals management don't have tryouts scheduled for right and left tackles 12 hours a day until its fixed is the 9 million dollar below the cap, mystery
  • Abuse
    poli-toons wrote...
    Kolb plays handicapped
    Racehorses get extra weights for little jockeys, kevin Kolb gets weighted with his o line. Any future opposing team knows our O line cant block and we can't run the ball because of it. I'm amazed Kolb has done as well as he has, since he has absolutely no time to let his receivers get more than 3 yards away before he is running for his life as the O line folds.
  • Abuse
    Bench Rider wrote...
    o line....
    everyone seems to forget that cameron wake is a great pass rusher and there isnt very many probowlers that can stop him...massie never really got help..and its easy to pas rush when the defence knows ur not running the ball. @opinion, dude that was a fumble he got both feet down, shed a tackler, and took two steps.
  • Abuse
    mesa mad man wrote...
    @Bench Rider
    I agree - i think the Dolphins game planned for us perfectly. They attacked our two weaknesses we have shown so far this season (pressure the QB on defense, throw quick short routes before the pressure comes on offense). What will make the Cards a good team is obviously getting better in these two areas. Its exactly what we did to the pats - attacked their weakness and squeaked out a win. The more the Cards win, the more the target will be on their back and teams will gameplan hard for them. Its a lot easier to win when teams are overlooking you
  • Abuse
    hugUhbear wrote...
    Bench Rider your statement sums up
    the problem. Massie was continually left on an island to deal with Wake. Except for the couple drives we had in the beginning of the 3rd and 4th qtr.s. Why MMiller could not be bothered to give help to Massie is the question. When he did, Kolb had time to throw; the majority of the time he didn't and Miller put Kolbs health at risk and he Knew it. There was two series where we put together about 4-5 Kolb sacks in a row and I blame our O-coordinator for not knowing how to do his job. Listen to his podcast interview with D&Wolf - he sounds like a boob and admits he isn't a stats guy.
  • Abuse
    FitzIsMyHero wrote...
    regarding using the TE to protect
    The best passing offenses and QBs religously pass to their TEs. Gronkowski, Hernandez, Graham, Pettigrew, Daniels, Finley, Gonzales etc... My point is, you need your TE to release and make plays too. The only problem with this offense is they dont have a run game to keep the D honest. So its pretty much readable when AZ has a TE. If he releases, we can get to the AZ QB quicker. If he stays and blocks, one of the other linemen will breakdown and we'll still hurry AZ's QB. Until they figure out the Run Game and Pass Protection, AZ's TEs are pretty much moot.
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