Arizona Cardinals have a knack for making plays

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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