ARIZONA CARDINALS

Cardinals fall short where they have often succeeded

Oct 5, 2015, 4:08 PM

Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson (31) can't make the catch on fourth down as St. Louis ...

Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson (31) can't make the catch on fourth down as St. Louis Rams cornerback Janoris Jenkins (21) defends the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz. The Rams won 24-22. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

TEMPE, Ariz. — In a game full of disappointing developments, perhaps the one that tops the list is the most obvious one of them all: the Arizona Cardinals did not win.

No, the Cardinals fell to the St. Louis Rams Sunday at University of Phoenix Stadium by a score of 24-22. It’s not that the Cardinals necessarily deserved to win the game, mind you, just that it seems like under head coach Bruce Arians, the team has always found a way to win close games at home.

In a way, it seemed like despite all the self-inflicted wounds and mistakes Sunday, the Cardinals had the Rams exactly where they wanted them. With less than two minutes remaining, they had the ball at the St. Louis 43 yard line facing a second and two. A game-winning field goal attempt — at worst — seemed like a foregone conclusion.

Then Carson Palmer’s swing pass to David Johnson was batted down by the Rams’ Robert Quinn, Palmer missed an open Jaron Brown down the field and, on fourth down, Palmer again threw incomplete while looking for Johnson.

Arizona’s offense never touched the ball again.

“Those type of games we’ve won for two years — it’s the first one that we’ve lost like that and it’s hard to swallow because of the fact that we have won so many in the fourth quarter here the last two years,” the coach said Monday. “I think we just anticipated we’d make the play to win this one and we didn’t get it done.”

Arizona entered the game with a 15-3 record at UofP Stadium under Arians, with many of those victories requiring some late-game magic. Last season, the Cardinals needed fourth quarter rallies to beat the San Diego Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles and St. Louis Rams.

So even though they never led in the game, when the Cardinals had the ball in the final minutes down by just two, there was no doubt on the home sideline that they would take the lead and, maybe, steal a game they didn’t deserve.

“I thought we felt we would win the game the entire game, even after we turned it over on downs on the last drive,” QB Carson Palmer said. “There is a lot of belief in that locker room, a lot of trust in each other. We don’t ever feel that we are out of it.”

Palmer went on to say that sometimes games like this can be a “blessing in disguise,” as it will give them a chance to respond to the kind of adversity that was bound to present itself at some point this year. While this loss puts a damper on the early part of their season, at 3-1 there is still plenty of football left to be played.

And chances are there will come another time, be it in Glendale or elsewhere, where the Cardinals are in need of some late-game heroics in order to come away with a victory. Like Sunday, when it ultimately did not work out, they’ll have confidence that they will be able to get the job done.

As center Lyle Sendlein said, they’re going to have to.

“One-hundred percent, we always believe it,” he said. “I think that’s the first time in a game like that we haven’t pulled it out.

“So that’s something we’ll all just have to have a little more belief that we can do it. I think everyone at that time did believe we were going to. Sometimes that’s half the battle.”

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Cardinals fall short where they have often succeeded