The Cardinals agreed to terms on a two-year contract with former Steelers cornerback William Gay, the club announced on Sunday.

Gay fills a vacancy created when Richard Marshall, who played with Arizona last season, signed with the Dolphins.

A five-year veteran, Gay has appeared in 80 NFL games, starting 37 of them. He started every game but one last season for the Steelers. Gay, 5-feet-10-inches and 190 pounds, played at Louisville and was drafted by the Steelers in the fifth round in 2007.

Marshall played a valuable role for the Cardinals last season as a part-time starter and as a cornerback and safety in nickel packages.

Gay could make similar contributions and should challenge for a starting spot opposite Patrick Peterson.

That position is open. Greg Toler and A.J. Jefferson are among other contenders.

The Cardinals released veteran right guard Rex Hadnot and wide receiver Chansi Stuckey on Monday, clearing a little more than $3 million in salary-cap space in the process.

Hadnot, 30, started all 16 games for the team last season, but he became expendable when Arizona signed 49ers guard/tackle Adam Snyder to a five-year contract on Wednesday.

Stuckey, 29, didn’t see much action last season. He caught 40 passes for 346 yards in 2010 for the Browns, but was held to just four receptions for 39 yards and no touchdowns in 2011 with the Cardinals.

Meanwhile, two free-agent defensive backs were scheduled to visit the club on Monday – Jarrett Bush of the Packers and William Gay of the Steelers. The Cardinals need to add some depth in the secondary and on special teams after losing free agent Richard Marshall to the Dolphins.

Associated Press

Updated 7:04 AM Monday, December 19, 2011

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) Another stumbling start. Another fantastic finish.

The Arizona Cardinals followed a familiar script and, as a result, are .500
for the first time since the second week of the season.

Big plays by Patrick Peterson and Larry Fitzgerald set up Jay Feely’s 22-yard
field goal that gave the Cardinals a 20-17 overtime victory over the
Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

After a six-game losing streak, Arizona (7-7) has won six of seven – three in
overtime – and still has a shot at the playoffs. All seven victories came
after the team trailed in the second half.

“Yeah, it’s pretty stressful,” said coach Ken Whisenhunt, who became the
winningest coach in franchise history with his 43rd victory. “I wish we
could find a way to do better than that, but I’ll take every one of them.”

Both teams were without their starting quarterbacks because of concussions.
John Skelton stepped in for Kevin Kolb and completed 28 of 46 for 313 yards
and a touchdown with an interception.

Skelton’s 32-yard pass to Larry Fitzgerald, which followed Peterson’s 32-yard
punt return, led to Feely’s chip-shot field goal to win the game.

“It wouldn’t be a win if we didn’t do it that way,” Skelton said about the
Cardinals’ knack for playing sloppy early, then pulling it out at the end.
“It’s a fun and exciting game, but it shouldn’t have to come down to that.”

The Browns (4-10) blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead en route to their fourth
loss in a row and seventh in eight games.

The theme was the same – playing close but coming up short.

“It always happens,” Cleveland cornerback Joe Haden said. “We just have to
figure out a way to get it fixed.”

Quarterback Colt McCoy didn’t even make the trip to Arizona after sustaining a
concussion on a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit from the Steelers’ James
Harrison. McCoy, as has been well documented, returned to the game a short
time later after no concussion test was administered. Later, he began
showing symptoms and didn’t practice last week.

Seneca Wallace stepped in for his first start of the season and promptly drove
the team downfield for a touchdown after the opening kickoff. He had
Cleveland up 10-0 until the final 19 seconds of the first half. When he
connected with Greg Little for a 76-yard touchdown – the Browns’ longest
play in four seasons – Cleveland led 17-7 with 3:01 left in the third
quarter.

Wallace was 18 of 31 for 226 yards.

“We had them on their heels and when it gets to that point, it is about not
making mistakes,” Wallace said, “not turning the ball over and giving them
some easy points, and making plays. They played well on defense and made
some plays. I need to help us out a lot more and make some more plays for
our team.”

Coach Pat Shurmer was asked if he would stay with Wallace, regardless of
McCoy’s status.

“It’s too early to tell,” Shurmer said. “That decision is made when you’ve got
both guys healthy.”

Arizona became the ninth team in NFL history to win three overtime games in a
season and just the second to win all three at home.

“We have a flair for dramatics,” Fitzgerald said. “Today was kind of typical
Cardinals fashion.”

Little caught five passes for a career-best 131 yards for the Browns. A
healthy Peyton Hillis gained a season-high 99 yards on 26 carries for
Cleveland.

Arizona scored the final 13 points.

Skelton was 5 of 7 for 82 yards in the 11-play, 87-yard drive that culminated
in Beanie Wells’ 1-yard touchdown run that cut it to 17-14 with 8:33
remaining in regulation.

A holding penalty on Cleveland’s subsequent kickoff return pinned the Browns
at the 10, and O’Brien Schofield got Arizona’s first sack of the day on the
elusive Wallace to push Cleveland back to the 5. Schofield got through on
the next play as well, grabbing Wallace by an ankle and spinning him to the
ground as the quarterback lost the ball.

Initially, Wallace was ruled down on the play, but Whisenhunt challenged and
the call was reversed. Replays showed the ball coming loose well before
Wallace fell backward onto the turf. The Cardinals took over at the 5,
needing only to punch it in to take the lead.

But Jabaal Sheard got his second sack, and Cleveland’s fourth of the game and
Arizona settled for Feely’s 33-yard field goal that tied it at 17 with 5:40
to play.

Cleveland won the coin toss to get the ball first in overtime, but the Browns
managed only one first down before having to punt. Brad Maynard had artfully
kicked the ball away from Peterson, the spectacular rookie whose four punt
returns for scores have tied an NFL record.

“I thought we did a very nice job, even on that last punt,” Shurmer said. “We
had a guy down in his face and you know we were trying to kick the ball out
of bounds or try to pin him down there and the guy in his face thought he
saw the fair catch.”

He doesn’t know Peterson very well, then. The rookie disdains the fair catch,
especially with the game on the line.

He fielded it near his left sideline and ran across the field before making a
run for it near the right sideline. He took it to the Cleveland 40 and, two
plays later, Skelton found Fitzgerald, more open than he’d been all day, far
downfield.

Both teams play on Saturday, Arizona at Cincinnati, and Cleveland at Baltimore.

Notes: Little’s TD catch was his 55th reception of the season, surpassing Eric
Metcalf for second-most by a Browns rookie. Kevin Johnson has the team’s
rookie record with 66 in 1999. … Cleveland lost three players – LB Titus
Brown (knee), WR Jordan Norwood (concussion) and LB Ben Jacobs (concussion).

Updated December 19, 2011

A difficult week came to a frustrating end for the Cleveland Browns, and a bad season got worse.

The Browns blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and were beaten in overtime by the Arizona Cardinals 20-17 on Sunday.

Cleveland (4-10) has lost four straight and seven out of eight.

The theme was the same — playing close but coming up short.

“It always happens,” Cleveland cornerback Joe Haden said. “We just have to figure out a way to get it fixed.”

Colt McCoy didn’t even make the trip to Arizona after sustaining a concussion on a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit from the Steelers’ James Harrison. McCoy, as has been well documented, returned to the game a short time later after no concussion test was administered.

Later, he began showing symptoms and didn’t practice last week.

Seneca Wallace stepped in for his first start of the season and promptly drove the team downfield for a touchdown after the opening kickoff.

He had Cleveland up 10-0 until the final 19 seconds of the first half.

When he connected with Greg Little for a 76-yard touchdown — the Browns’ longest play in four seasons — Cleveland led 17-7 with 3:01 left in the third quarter.

Wallace was 18 of 31 for 226 yards.

“We had them on their heels and when it gets to that point, it is about not making mistakes,” Wallace said, “not turning the ball over and giving them some easy points, and making plays. They played well on defense and made some plays. I need to help us out a lot more and make some more plays for our team.”

Coach Pat Shurmur was asked if he would stay with Wallace, regardless of McCoy’s status.

“It’s too early to tell,” Shurmur said. “That decision is made when you’ve got both guys healthy.”

Arizona (7-7) became the ninth team in NFL history to win three overtime games in a season and just the second to win all three at home.

“We have a flair for dramatics,” Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald said. “Today was kind of typical Cardinals fashion.”

Little caught five passes for a career-best 131 yards for Cleveland.

A healthy Peyton Hillis gained a season-high 99 yards on 26 carries for Cleveland.

Arizona’s offense, so slow to start even through the team’s recent success, scored the final 13 points of the game.

John Skelton completed 5 of 7 for 82 yards in the 11-play, 87-yard drive that culminated in Beanie Wells’ 1-yard touchdown run that cut the lead to 17-14 with 8:33 remaining in regulation.

A holding penalty on Cleveland’s subsequent kickoff return pinned the Browns at their 10 and O’Brien Schofield got Arizona’s first sack of the day on the elusive Wallace to push Cleveland back to its 5.

Schofield got through on the next play as well, grabbing Wallace by an ankle and spinning him to the ground as the quarterback lost the ball.

Initially, Wallace was ruled down on the play, but coach Ken Whisenhunt challenged and the call was reversed.

Replays showed the ball coming loose well before Wallace fell backward onto the turf. The Cardinals took over at the Cleveland 5 needing only to punch it in to take the lead.

But Jabaal Sheard got his second sack, and Cleveland’s fourth of the game and Arizona settled for Jay Feely’s 33-yard field goal that tied it at 17 with 5:40 to play.

Cleveland won the coin toss to get the ball first in overtime, but the Browns managed only one first down before having to punt. Brad Maynard had artfully kicked the ball away from Patrick Peterson, the spectacular rookie whose four punt returns for scores have tied an NFL record.

“I thought we did a very nice job, even on that last punt,” Shurmur said. “We had a guy down in his face and you know we were trying to kick the ball out of bounds or try to pin him down there and the guy in his face thought he saw the fair catch.”

He doesn’t know Peterson very well, then. The rookie disdains the fair catch, especially with the game on the line.

He fielded it near his left sideline and ran across the field before making a run for it near the right sideline. He took it to the Cleveland 40 and, two plays later, Skelton found Fitzgerald, more open than he’d been all day, far downfield.

Notes: Little’s TD catch was his 55th reception of the season, surpassing Eric Metcalf for second-most by a Browns rookie. Kevin Johnson has the team’s rookie record with 66 in 1999. … Cleveland lost three players — LB Titus Brown (knee), WR Jordan Norwood (concussion) and LB Ben Jacobs (concussion).

Ken Whisenhunt has fixed the defense. Now he should rehire Todd Haley and we all can make playoff plans for next season.

“Todd’s a great friend,” Whisenhunt said of the former Chiefs coach who was fired Monday. “I’m sure he’ll have some options.”

For the most part, Whisenhunt was coy about Haley’s dismissal. For now, it’s enough to rejoice in the quality of defense on display in Arizona under first-year defensive coordinator Ray Horton. For years, we’ve heard about the blueprint for a Pittsburgh West. Now the Cardinals actually look like the Steelers.

They’ve yielded six touchdowns in their past six games, the third-lowest total in the NFL during that span. They rank third in third-down defense behind the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets, a stunning turnaround for veteran birdwatchers. For the second consecutive week, they amassed five sacks from five players.

That creates a powerful force inside the locker room.

“I think what it does is give credence to what we’re trying to build here all along,” Horton said. “And that’s confusion on the offense as far as who is coming.”

The change is remarkable. Until Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers had set the standard for stout defense in the NFC West. Then the reigning division champions ran only one play in Cardinals’ territory in the second half, and only 10 of their 20 plays went for positive yardage.

Thirteen weeks into the season, Horton’s vision finally is coming to fruition.

“We are finally now to the point where I trust us, and the players understand the system enough to where we can put the whole package in,” Horton said. “Right now you have to account for everybody on the field. Earlier in the season, you didn’t have to account for everybody, probably just 51 (Paris Lenon), and that was it. Now you have to account for all 11. Every position on the team has a sack.”

Horton is a great story. He never had been a coordinator. Before leaving for his new job, he gave his car to a cafeteria cook in Pittsburgh. He said all the right things. And then his schemes proved too foreign for his new students.

Horton was forced to scale back his defense. Critics wondered if the Cardinals had miscalculated once again, trying to run the right defense with the wrong pieces. It was a humbling time for all.

“We weren’t comfortable enough to run what I wanted to run,” Horton said. “The only word I use is trust. I didn’t trust them to run my defense. And they didn’t trust me in terms of knowing what I’m doing.”

Horton is candid and eloquent, and during the 1-6 start, he never wavered. He said things began to change after the Cardinals lost to the Steelers, when his players saw Pittsburgh’s vaunted defense on display in real time.

“Then after that game, some of their players talked to our players,” Horton said. “They said, ‘Be patient. Ray knows what he’s doing. Just trust him, and you guys will get there.’ That gives you a little bit of credibility, and it gave them something to hope for.”

Now the Cardinals defense has serious momentum. In 77 drives by the opponent over the past six games, 47 totaled five plays or fewer. That’s big-time stuff, triggering one of the stranger seasons on memory.

Over the years, we’ve seen the dark depths of dog-breath football in Arizona, and we’ve felt the euphoria of a winning program. Rarely do you get both in the course of one season, but that’s the story of the 2011 Cardinals.

“It’s just like the punt return, and how everybody now believes that Patrick (Peterson) is going to take everything back,” Horton said. “They block longer. They try harder. That’s what’s happening on defense. Now guys trust me a little more.”

They should. And if Whisenhunt can convince Haley to rejoin his staff next season, maybe the offense gets fixed, too.

After all, you don’t want to be a one-trick pony in the NFL, the same advice Haley once gave a young Larry Fitzgerald. And we all know how that turned out.

Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him at twitter.com/danbickley. Listen to “Bickley and MJ” weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on KGME-AM (910).

When Kurt Warner still was with the Cardinals and they were slinging the ball downfield more than 60 percent of the time, their offensive line regularly would moan about it.

They wanted to run the ball more so they could be more offensive themselves. It not only gave them the edge coming off the snap, but it allowed the linemen a release for some pent-up aggression.

“That’s the way it is with any offensive line,” center Lyle Sendlein said. “You ask any offensive lineman in the NFL, and they’ll tell you they want to run the ball 90 percent of the time.

“When we had success in the past with this offense and Kurt was doing his thing, throwing the ball, we all half-heartedly complained about it. But we were happy because we were successful.”

This season, the Cardinals have had little success on offense, and nobody is happy.

There was hope with a new starting quarterback, Kevin Kolb, and what looked to be an improved running back, Beanie Wells. But Kolb stumbled out of the blocks and has missed the past three games because of a right-foot injury.

Wells, looking bigger and bolder, started the season strong. He was averaging 103 yards (including 138 against the Giants) after the Cardinals’ first three games.

But after missing a game at Seattle because of a hamstring problem and then suffering an injury to his right knee against the Steelers, the threat of a running game is almost nonexistent.

In Wells’ past six games, he has just 300 rushing yards, an average of 50 per game. Complicating matters is that the knee won’t allow Wells to play full games or even complete series from one to the next.

“Not having Beanie 100 percent and being able to go all the time definitely hurts our offense,” said quarterback John Skelton, who was intercepted three times in a 23-7 loss to the 49ers on Sunday. “I know Beanie’s a competitor and he wants to be out there, but we’ve just got to be able to make up for it, one way or another.”

There is no real reliable backup behind Wells, so that has forced coach Ken Whisenhunt and offensive coordinator Mike Miller to switch the game plan and insert different packages when Wells has to come to the sideline for rest. That can disrupt flow of the offense. It also eliminates the Cardinals’ flexibility on play calling.

“We’re fortunate that we’re able to have Beanie at all after what happened and thinking he might be gone for the year,” Whisenhunt said Monday. “He can’t go more than a certain number of reps at a time during the course of a game, so you have to make sure that you watch that and he comes out.

“There have been a few times where we wanted him in there and we’ve had to put another back in there. To have him available at all is what’s important going forward.”

Wells’ injury isn’t likely to get better without full time off, and that’s something the Cardinals can’t afford. Especially because they don’t have Ryan Williams, the second-round draft pick who suffered torn knee ligaments in the preseason.

And be it Kolb or Skelton at quarterback, teams will continue to stack the line and dare the Cardinals to throw.

“It’s difficult to run the football when you’re seeing some of those fronts where they’re always bringing the extra safety in the box,” Whisenhunt said. “That’s when you’ve got to be able to win some in the pass game.”

Skelton couldn’t do it against the 49ers. There are no guarantees that Kolb will be ready or able to return this week, so Skelton might get the chance to redeem himself. Run game or not, he vows to play better if he makes another start.

“I’m positive I’ll play better. I’m positive,” said Skelton, who completed 6 of 19 attempts for 99 yards before being benched in favor of Rich Bartel. “A game like that happens only so often, and I know I’m a better quarterback than that.”

BALTIMORE (AP)—The Baltimore Ravens got the bounce-back victory they needed, in record-breaking fashion.

After rallying to defeat the Arizona Cardinals 30-27 on Sunday, Baltimore hopes to ride the momentum of its big second half into next week’s AFC North showdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Down by 21 points in the second quarter against Arizona, the Ravens (5-2) staged the biggest comeback in franchise history and won the game on Billy Cundiff’s 25-yard field goal as time expired.

The victory eased the sting of their 12-7 defeat at Jacksonville on Monday night and set up Baltimore for its duel on Sunday night in Pittsburgh.

“We still have the Steelers in front of us next week,” coach John Harbaugh said. “We have to get ready for that now. That’s the challenge.”

If the Ravens are to beat Pittsburgh on the road, they can’t afford to fall 21 points behind. Overcoming that kind of deficit at home against Arizona (1-6) is one thing; doing it at Heinz Field is quite another.

On Sunday, however, Baltimore found that one great half of football was good enough for an important win.

“I think we just turned our level up just a little bit,” said linebacker Ray Lewis(notes), who missed a few plays in the first quarter with a right shoulder injury but returned the next series.

Outscored 24-3 in the second half, the Cardinals (1-6) lost their sixth straight. Four of those defeats have been by four points or fewer.

“It’s hard right now,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “Our guys are very disappointed after today’s game because it was an opportunity to do something nobody thought we could do. But our guys believe in what we’re doing. If you look at what we did the first half, it shows that if we do it the right way, we can be a good football team.”

In the second half, the Cardinals made only six first downs and were penalized nine times for 87 yards.

The Ravens, on the other hand, played to form.

“Those guys came out in the second half with a different approach,” said Arizona’s Patrick Peterson(notes), who returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown but was flagged for pass interference prior to the second of Ray Rice’s three touchdown runs.

“They just made more plays than we did in the second half,” Peterson said. “We definitely thought there was a couple of bad calls in the second half, but that’s how the game goes.”

Using a fumble by Joe Flacco and Peterson’s sensational punt return, Arizona scored three touchdowns during a five-minute span of the second quarter to take a 24-3 lead.

Baltimore answered with a 24-point run and moved in front 27-24 when Rice scored on the opening play of the fourth quarter.

Arizona pulled even with a 45-yard field goal by Jay Feely with 8:55 left, but the Ravens won it with a 37-yard, beat-the-clock drive in the final minute.

After the Cardinals were forced to punt from deep in their own territory, Baltimore took over at the Arizona 44 with 52 seconds left. A 36-yard completion from Flacco to rookie Torrey Smith moved the ball to the 5, setting the stage for Cundiff’s game-winner.

The Ravens’ previous biggest comeback was from 19 points down against Tennessee in 2006.

“We woke up, plain and simple,” said former Arizona star Anquan Boldin(notes), who caught seven passes for 145 yards and was a key contributor in the rally.

Flacco went 31 for 51 for 336 yards, and Rice ran for 63 yards on 18 carries. Against Jacksonville, Rice was limited to 28 yards on eight carries.

“We had to get over Monday,” Rice said.

Kevin Kolb threw for 153 yards and a touchdown, and Peterson became the eighth player in Cardinals history to have at least two punt returns for touchdowns in a single season. The last one to do it was Vai Sikahema in 1986.

Down 24-6, the Ravens began the second half with an 80-yard drive in which Flacco went 5 for 5, including a 37-yarder to Boldin that set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Rice to make it 24-13.

“I felt like the way we came out at halftime is what turned it around,” Baltimore linebacker Jameel McClain(notes).

Late in the third quarter, Boldin caught passes 21, 23, 27 and 9 yards during an 88-yard march that ended with another 1-yard TD run by Rice.

The momentum turned even further in Baltimore’s direction immediately after the ensuing kickoff. On first down, Kolb was hit by Terrell Suggs while throwing a pass that was intercepted by McClain and taken 8 yards to the Arizona 22. Three plays later, Rice ran in from the 3.

Two holding penalties against the Ravens extended the Cardinals’ drive that ended with a field goal that tied it at 27.

Mistakes by Baltimore also played a big part in Arizona’s big second quarter. But the Cardinals couldn’t hold on.

Asked to assess the mood at halftime, running back Beanie Wells said, “We just didn’t want to let up. We wanted to keep on fighting. We wanted to go out there and prove that we’re a good football team. We came up short, unfortunately.”

Notes: The Cardinals placed TE Todd Heap (hamstring) on the inactive list. Heap played 10 seasons in Baltimore before signing with Arizona as a free agent this year. … It was McClain’s first career INT. … The loss dropped Arizona into a last-place tie with St. Louis in the NFC West.

BALTIMORE (AP)—The Baltimore Ravens got the bounce-back victory they
needed, in record-breaking fashion.

After rallying to defeat the Arizona Cardinals 30-27 on Sunday, Baltimore
hopes to ride the momentum of its big second half into next week’s AFC North
showdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Down by 21 points in the second quarter against Arizona, the Ravens (5-2)
staged the biggest comeback in franchise history and won the game on Billy
Cundiff’s(notes) 25-yard field goal as time expired.

The victory eased the sting of their 12-7 defeat at Jacksonville on Monday
night and set up Baltimore for its duel on Sunday night in Pittsburgh.

“We still have the Steelers in front of us next week,” coach John Harbaugh
said. “We have to get ready for that now. That’s the challenge.”

If the Ravens are to beat Pittsburgh on the road, they can’t afford to fall
21 points behind. Overcoming that kind of deficit at home against Arizona (1-6)
is one thing; doing it at Heinz Field is quite another.

On Sunday, however, Baltimore found that one great half of football was good
enough for an important win.

“I think we just turned our level up just a little bit,” said linebacker
Ray Lewis(notes), who missed a few plays in the first quarter with a right shoulder
injury but returned the next series.

Outscored 24-3 in the second half, the Cardinals (1-6) lost their sixth
straight. Four of those defeats have been by four points or fewer.

“It’s hard right now,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “Our guys are very
disappointed after today’s game because it was an opportunity to do something
nobody thought we could do. But our guys believe in what we’re doing. If you
look at what we did the first half, it shows that if we do it the right way, we
can be a good football team.”

In the second half, the Cardinals made only six first downs and were
penalized nine times for 87 yards.

The Ravens, on the other hand, played to form.

“Those guys came out in the second half with a different approach,” said
Arizona’s Patrick Peterson(notes), who returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown but was
flagged for pass interference prior to the second of Ray Rice’s(notes) three touchdown
runs.

“They just made more plays than we did in the second half,” Peterson said.
“We definitely thought there was a couple of bad calls in the second half, but
that’s how the game goes.”

Using a fumble by Joe Flacco(notes) and Peterson’s sensational punt return, Arizona
scored three touchdowns during a five-minute span of the second quarter to take
a 24-3 lead.

Baltimore answered with a 24-point run and moved in front 27-24 when Rice
scored on the opening play of the fourth quarter.

Arizona pulled even with a 45-yard field goal by Jay Feely(notes) with 8:55 left,
but the Ravens won it with a 37-yard, beat-the-clock drive in the final minute.

After the Cardinals were forced to punt from deep in their own territory,
Baltimore took over at the Arizona 44 with 52 seconds left. A 36-yard completion
from Flacco to rookie Torrey Smith(notes) moved the ball to the 5, setting the stage
for Cundiff’s game-winner.

The Ravens’ previous biggest comeback was from 19 points down against
Tennessee in 2006.

“We woke up, plain and simple,” said former Arizona star Anquan Boldin(notes),
who caught seven passes for 145 yards and was a key contributor in the rally.

Flacco went 31 for 51 for 336 yards, and Rice ran for 63 yards on 18
carries. Against Jacksonville, Rice was limited to 28 yards on eight carries.

“We had to get over Monday,” Rice said.

Kevin Kolb(notes) threw for 153 yards and a touchdown, and Peterson became the
eighth player in Cardinals history to have at least two punt returns for
touchdowns in a single season. The last one to do it was Vai Sikahema in 1986.

Down 24-6, the Ravens began the second half with an 80-yard drive in which
Flacco went 5 for 5, including a 37-yarder to Boldin that set up a 1-yard
touchdown run by Rice to make it 24-13.

“I felt like the way we came out at halftime is what turned it around,”
Baltimore linebacker Jameel McClain(notes).

Late in the third quarter, Boldin caught passes 21, 23, 27 and 9 yards
during an 88-yard march that ended with another 1-yard TD run by Rice.

The momentum turned even further in Baltimore’s direction immediately after
the ensuing kickoff. On first down, Kolb was hit by Terrell Suggs(notes) while throwing
a pass that was intercepted by McClain and taken 8 yards to the Arizona 22.
Three plays later, Rice ran in from the 3.

Two holding penalties against the Ravens extended the Cardinals’ drive that
ended with a field goal that tied it at 27.

Mistakes by Baltimore also played a big part in Arizona’s big second
quarter. But the Cardinals couldn’t hold on.

Asked to assess the mood at halftime, running back Beanie Wells(notes) said, “We
just didn’t want to let up. We wanted to keep on fighting. We wanted to go out
there and prove that we’re a good football team. We came up short,
unfortunately.”

Notes: The Cardinals placed TE Todd Heap(notes) (hamstring) on the inactive list.
Heap played 10 seasons in Baltimore before signing with Arizona as a free agent
this year. … It was McClain’s first career INT. … The loss dropped Arizona
into a last-place tie with St. Louis in the NFC West.

The Cardinals entered the season with the same starting four linebackers as last year, but with three reserves now assuming larger roles, that could change in the coming weeks.

Stewart Bradley, O’Brien Schofield and Sam Acho played more snaps last week against the Steelers than in any previous game this year.

That trend likely will continue Sunday against the Ravens.

Acho, a fourth-round pick this year, could start in place of Joey Porter, who missed practice this week with a knee injury. Schofield probably will play at each outside position against the Ravens, and Bradley, an inside linebacker, likely will be used as an edge rusher in pass situations, as was the case last week.

“You have to find a way to get pressure on the quarterback,” defensive coordinator Ray Horton said, “and we’re looking at all options in personnel and making sure no stone is unturned. We have to find a way to make the quarterback not happy back there.”

The Cardinals have 13 sacks, which is about in the middle of the NFL when pass attempts are figured into the equation. But their four-man rush isn’t producing much, and Horton has to call blitzes to apply pressure.

That’s the reason Bradley played outside in some passing situations.

He hit Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger once and had a tackle for loss in a limited amount of plays.

“I’m glad to be on the field, you know?” Bradley said. “It’s different than what I’ve done in football but I really enjoyed it.”

As a free agent, Bradley signed a five-year, $30 million deal before the season. But he struggled to make the adjustment from the 4-3 scheme, which he was in for four years with the Eagles, to the 3-4 base defense the Cardinals use.

Paris Lenon has held on to the starting job at inside linebacker.

On the outside, Porter and Clark Haggans kept their jobs, even though Schofield and Acho were expected to push them.

Porter and Haggans are each 34, and Porter took a $4.25 million pay cut this year after finishing with five sacks in 2010.

Schofield made too many mental mistakes in the preseason to contend for Porter’s job, and Acho wasn’t quite ready.

Last week, however, each played about 25 snaps. Acho recorded the first sack of his career. Schofield had no tackles but he hit Roethlisberger once.

“In football, you need a rhythm,” Schofield said. “It’s hard when you come in for one play, or three plays and you don’t play again for two quarters.

“It is the NFL, you’ve got to be ready, but as a pass rusher, you can’t be out there one play and think you’re going to get a sack, because it doesn’t happen that way. You have to set guys up. You have to go out there and kind of feel out what they’re doing to you.”

Acho learned the defense quickly for a rookie who, like all the players, did not have the benefit of an off-season. Like Schofield, Acho played defensive end in college and was more accustomed to lining up in a three-point stance than as a stand-up linebacker.

“He’s getting more (snaps) every week and doing a nice job,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “He’s a very smart young man. From where he’s come from, a guy with his hand in the dirt, to being an outside linebacker, he’s really done a great job. The next test is when he gets more extended (time), how he handles that.”

Injury update

Running back Beanie Wells’ participation in practice increased on Friday, and his availability to play against the Ravens will be determined on Sunday morning.

Wells suffered a knee sprain against the Steelers last week and didn’t practice on Wednesday. He participated on a limited basis the next two days.

Tight end Todd Heap (hamstring) and Porter (knee) also will be game-day decisions. For the Ravens, starting guard Ben Grubbs (toe) has been ruled out, as have receiver Lee Evans (ankle), running back Anthony Allen (thigh) and linebacker Dannell Ellerbe (thigh).

Safety Ed Reed (stinger) is probable.

It’s becoming burdensome to think of fresh, diplomatic ways to
say the Arizona Cardinals stink.

Last Sunday was a routine showing. Bad penalties, a Beanie Wells
injury, a quarterback so concerned with pressure that he took an
intentional grounding safety, a defense with a knack for giving up
the big play-in this case only the longest pass play in the
Steelers’ long and storied history, so … congrats?-to the delight
of what seemed like half the “home” crowd, and, of course, a
loss.

As usual with the Cardinals, even after a 12-point home loss,
they left you feeling like, had things broke accordingly, they
could have pulled it out. If Kolb doesn’t miss those wide open
receivers for easy scores … if they had just not given up that
Wallace bomb … if Wells doesn’t get hurt … if Peterson doesn’t
take another dumb pass interference call … et al. It’s the most
frustrating thing about this team, and it so was never so apparent
than during this Super Bowl rematch of three years ago that has
since witnessed the vaunted Steelers remain steadily on course
while the Cardinals wander around in no man’s land.

As if it couldn’t get worse, this week the Cardinals travel to
Baltimore to face the Ravens, who have become one of the AFC’s
elite, and who are coming off a bad loss. It’s hard to find more of
a lock on the schedule this weekend than a Cardinals loss. All of
their familiar Achilles Heels will be on display, but an east coast
road game against an opportunistic and aggressive defense should be
more than enough to drop this team to 1-6. Wells will be unable to
go — it won’t be very long now before this franchise tires of
Wells being unable to go — the offense becomes even more
one-dimensional, if that’s even possible. That dimension, Larry
Fitzgerald, will be covered twice, as usual. So … good luck.
My pick: Cardinals, 7, RAVENS, 31.

What fans and media know about Beanie Wells’ injured right knee fits in a medium-sized paragraph.

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Wells suffered the injury against the Steelers last Sunday and has swelling. The knee is “stable”, according to coach Ken Whisenhunt, and Wells won’t knee surgery.

The unknown, however, takes several paragraphs to explore. We don’t know what part of the knee is injured. We don’t know what made the knee keep “locking up” on Sunday. Wells said it’s not related to the knee surgery he underwent last season. And we don’t know if it’s related to the allergic reaction he had later to an injection. We don’t know when Wells will return, so his availability for Sunday’s game in Baltimore is in question. The “don’t knows” go on and on.

I talked to Dr. Orr Limpisvasti, an othorpedic surgeon at Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, on Monday. Here’s what Dr. Limpisvasti had to say about Wells’ knee problem.

“Some of the locking symptoms people talk about could mean something inside the knee is loose or misplaced: a meniscus tear or a loose piece of cartilage or bone, or an injury to the joint cartilage, if it’s a big enough piece. That’s some of the most common things if there is “true” locking.”

In Dr. Limpisvasti’s experience, athletes often describe a “locking” sensation when a knee doesn’t actual lock up. A variety of things can cause that problem.

“Those are the big, broad things. Inflammation of the joint lining, a little bit of fluid, arthritis in the knee. The patient athlete may say, ‘it just kind of kind of locked up,’ but they mean it more in the lay sense. If an MRI reveal no cartilage or mensicus tear, it may be one of those things.”

And while the Cardinals say Wells’ injury doesn’t require surgery, that might mean no surgery at this time. Sometimes athleies play through “minor” problems that can be repaired later. And, as Dr. Limpisvasti pointed out, the problem sometimes worsens and has to be addressed later.

Plagued by defensive breakdowns, another so-so performance by Kevin Kolb and inopportune penalties, Arizona pushed its losing streak to five games with a 32-20 home loss to the Steelers on Sunday.

Climb back in the NFC West race? The Cardinals are hoping to just win a game, any game.

With that in mind, coach Ken Whisenhunt said Monday that he and the coaching staff are looking at possible changes to get the Cardinals out of this funk. And not just a player here or there. The team at 1-5, they’re going to look at everyone.

“We have to find somebody to make plays,” Whisenhunt said. “If we have to make changes across the board for the different positions in order to do that, that’s what we’re going to do. One-and-five, five straight losses is certainly frustrating. It’s certainly not from lack of effort — we’re working our tails off to try to win — but we’ve got to look at every position and if they’re not getting it done, we have to make changes.”

The easy finger pointing, at least from the outside, would be at Kolb.

He started his first season in the desert at a bit of a disadvantage when the lockout limited the time he had to learn a new offense.

Still, six games into the season, the Cardinals would like to see him progress a touch faster.

Kolb did take some good steps against the Steelers. He took control of the huddle better, was smoother calling plays, hit some big throws, including a short dump-off to LaRod Stephens-Howling that turned into a 73-yard touchdown.

What held Kolb — and the Cardinals back — were the mistakes he made, ones that the Steelers took advantage of seemingly every time.

The first came on Arizona’s opening drive, when Kolb threw a pass that bounded off tight end Rob Housler’s helmet — he hadn’t fully turned around yet — and Pittsburgh’s Ryan Clark picked it off, setting up Pittsburgh’s first touchdown. Kolb also missed Housler on what should have been a sure touchdown in the second quarter that would have tied the score at 7-all and was later called for intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety.

“You just have to be mentally tough,” Kolb said. “That’s all you can do. You have to know that you’re doing it right and get a little extra inch. What choice do you have? There is no simple answer. All you can do is put your head down and grind and know that you definitely don’t want to move back.”

Footwork might be the key to Kolb moving forward.

Whisenhunt said some of Kolb’s problems this season have come from poor footwork in the pocket, in part because of his unfamiliarity with the offense — he spends most of the week working on the schemes against the upcoming opponent instead of dialing in his footwork.

Kolb’s feet let him down a couple of times against the Steelers, including the missed throw to Housler and the safety.

“He’s getting his body in bad position because of his footwork,” Whisenhunt said. “A lot of those plays where he’s running out of the pocket is because of his footwork and we’ve got to get that corrected. He’s got to step up in the pocket on some of those throws, avoid the rush to the left or the right and make those throws. And he can do that, he’s shown he can do that.”

Of course, it’s not just Kolb. A five-game losing streak can’t be pegged to just one of 53 players.

Arizona’s defense couldn’t get stops when it needed to, allowing Pittsburgh to score right after its first touchdown and run down the clock with a string of first downs in the closing minutes. The Cardinals also had several penalties that gave the Steelers first downs and the safety was set up by a penalty on a kick off that backed them up.

The best news coming out of Sunday’s game was that running back Beanie Wells did not suffer a significant knee injury.

Whisenhunt had feared Wells might be lost for the season after he didn’t return from a right knee injury in the second quarter, but the team learned Monday he won’t need surgery.

Still, when the best news of the day is that someone’s injury isn’t as serious as first thought, it’s probably not a sign that the team is headed in the right direction.

“It’s tough, I’m not going to lie,” center Lyle Sendlein said. “But the worst thing you can do is let one game beat you twice. We’re on five in a row, but after today we put it behind us and go on to the next one.”

That next one is Sunday against Baltimore, kicking off a stretch of four out of five games on the road. Fail to get their mistakes ironed out and an already-long season could get a whole lot longer for the Cardinals.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

GLENDALE, Ariz. —
Make it five straight losses for the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals fell behind early and could never quite catch up in a 32-20 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

Arizona’s Kevin Kolb had another uneven performance at quarterback, although he insists things are getting better as the team faces a rough part of the schedule that has the Cards playing four of their next five on the road, beginning at Baltimore next Sunday.

The Cardinals have lost 10 road games in a row dating to last season’s opener at St. Louis.

“We are moving in the right direction. We believe, in the future, we are going to be something special,” Kolb said. “That future can be one week, that future can be one year. Whatever it is, we feel like we have a lot of key components here to do some special things.”

That optimism may be warranted, but it didn’t jibe with much of what was on display against the Steelers.

Ben Roethlisberger threw for 361 yards and three touchdowns, including a 95-yarder to Mike Wallace, the longest pass play in Steelers history.

“You know he can run by you,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said, “but he still finds a way to do it.”

Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt had studied tape of Wallace outracing one defender after another.

“We knew that was coming,” he said. “We did everything we could to prevent that.”

To no avail.

“You put it out there for a guy like that and you start smiling,” Roethlisberger said, “because you know he is not going to get caught.”

Roethlisberger, 26 of 39 for 361 yards, also had TD passes of 12 yards to Heath Miller and

4 yards to Emmanuel Sanders in the first game between the teams since Pittsburgh’s 27-23 thriller over the Cardinals in the 2009 Super Bowl.

Kolb threw a pair of touchdown passes for Arizona (1-5), his first in three games, but missed several open receivers and, with a blitzing LaMarr Woodley in his face, drew an intentional grounding call in the Cardinals’ end zone for a safety.

“When you lose five in a row, it’s tough,” Whisenhunt said. “Everybody wants to point to one thing but we have had chances to make plays to change games, and we are not getting that done. Whether it’s a missed tackle, a missed assignment, a lot of things are going on, but we did fight. We did have a chance in the second half.”

Pittsburgh (5-2) won its third straight and improved to 2-2 on the road.

Shaun Suisham kicked field goals of 41, 42 and 39 yards for the Steelers.

The big play from Roethlisberger to Wallace, cheered on by a crowd that included a generous and boisterous bunch of Steelers fans, came in the second quarter after an Arizona drive stalled at the Steelers 39 and Dave Zastudil’s 30-yard punt pinned Pittsburgh on its 9-yard line. A false start pushed it back to the Steelers 5.

On the next play, Roethlisberger dropped back into the Pittsburgh end zone and lofted a pass down the sideline toward Wallace, who had beaten cornerback Richard Marshall.

Wallace caught the ball in stride, breaking free of a pair of would-be tacklers along the way, and raced to the end zone for the score that made it 14-0 with 8:09 left in the half.

He said he was not the No. 1 receiver on the play, but was trying to clear things out for Miller underneath.

“Their guy jumped outside and let me get inside,” he said. “The safety was in the middle of the field so I just threw my hand up.”

And the ball landed perfectly in his fingertips.

“A play like that kind of deflates them I would hope. I hope it takes a lot of out them, but they kept playing,” Wallace said.

The previous longest pass play was 90 yards, first set by Terry Bradshaw to Mark Malone against Seattle in 1981, then matched by Bubby Brister to Dwight Stone against Denver in 1990 and Kordell Stewart to Bobby Shaw against Baltimore in 2001.

It was the second-longest play from scrimmage for the Pittsburgh franchise. Only Bobby Gage’s 97-yard run against Chicago in 1949 was longer.

Down 17-7 at the half, the Cardinals cut the lead to 17-14 with 9:26 left in the third quarter when Kolb threw short over the middle to LaRod Stephens-Howling and the 5-foot-7 back outran defenders on a 73-yard touchdown play.

Pittsburgh scored the next 15 points.

The Steelers rolled for 445 yards in a successful warmup to next Sunday’s home showdown against New England.

The Cardinals have lost 10 straight road games, their past win at St. Louis in the 2010 season opener.

Arizona was coming off a bye week and Kolb had talked about how good the practices had been.

“I feel from a personal standpoint, in and out of the huddle, the plays, it all came a lot smoother to me today,” he said. “Obviously there were a couple of throws that I would like to have back. Those plays need to be made. That’s me, too.”

Against the Steelers, Kolb was 18 of 34 for 272 yards and two scores, with one interception.

The pick came after Arizona took the opening kickoff.

On first down from the Cardinals 27, Kolb threw to rookie tight end Rob Housler. The ball bounced off Housler’s helmet into the arms of the Steelers’ Ryan Clark, who returned the interception 10 yards to the Arizona 31.

Five plays later, Roethlisberger threw 12 yards to a wide open Miller for the touchdown.

Arizona running back Beanie Wells rushed for 42 yards before leaving the game in the second quarter with a sprained right knee. Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward was carted off in the second half with an ankle injury.