The Cardinals had an up and down victory against the Niners yesterday. It was an impressive win against a team fighting for a playoff spot. The Cards surprisingly finished with the best division record in the NFC West with that win which brings up some more what-ifs but we shouldn’t get into that now.

The offensive line was solid again and Edgerrin James had yet another 100+ yard game in the second half of the season. It looked like the Niners would make a run though once Leinart was sacked and went down on his shoulder, an injury that finished his rookie season, but Kurt Warner came in and played pretty well (9-13 passing). The Cards were outscored by eight in the 2nd half but held on for a 26-20 win. The trio of receivers was spectacular. Even though each one of the three only had 4 receptions, they made the best of it combining for 210 yards. The defense also did a fine job of putting pressure on the quarterback and they ended up with 4 sacks.

Players of the Game: Monty Beisel  and Karlos Dansby 
Even though Larry Fitzgerald put up the nice receiving numbers, it was Beisel and Dansby who came up big. Frank Gore has been having a spectacular season and was expected to run over and torch the Cardinals defense with over 100 yards easily, especially with Arizona’s MLB Gerald Hayes out of the game with a rib injury. That wasn’t the case though. Beisel took Hayes’ spot and the Cardinals didn’t miss a beat. He got 8 tackles. Dansby had 7 tackles and a sack and both were a big reason why Gore only managed to gain 51 yards.

It was a great performance overall by the Cardinals. It’s unfortunate that all three parts of their team (offense, defense and special teams) couldn’t have shown up earlier like they have been recently. Again we can ask, what if…

If you look at any website, blog, or forum regarding the Cardinals recent win streak you see the same comments over and over.  Its the “Yea the Cardinals are winning but at what cost” comment.  The cost they are refering to is two fold.  First it is the draft pick position that with each win we are knocking ourselves further out of a top pick.  The second “cost” is that Denny Green may keep his job at the helm.  It is my contention that our problem is not the draft pick or Denny Green (nor was it Joe Bugel, Buddy Ryan, Vince Tobin or Dave McGinnis) but the inherent “we are losers” feel that is a product of not only the players but the fans as well.  I had the displeasure of sitting through the Cardinals first Monday night football game and all I heard from the begining of the second half on was “there is too much time left.”  No killer instinct, no go for broke attitude, just the fear of impending doom.  And what happened?  We lost.  We are losers because we tolerate losing.  We think we dont because every three years we hire a new coach but that is just a facade for the real problems.  The real problem is this “oh well” attitude we have for losing not just by the Cardinals but in all professional Arizona sports.  Maybe its because we are a culture of implants, most of us moving from colder weather where odds are we had another team to cheer for (for the record I was born and raised in AZ).  Going to the games is just another place to be scene or something to talk about.  Do you think any other stadium in the country allows another teams fans to be louder then they are?  Well it is a common practice here in AZ.  If you stand up at a Diamondbacks game odds are you are going to be tapped on the back and asked to sit down because some lady attending her third game on her third marriage cant see.  But I digress.  The bottom line is it is not possible for Denny Green or some draft pick to light a flame that has never been lit.  Its up to every player, every coach, and everyone who considers themselves a Cardinals fan to no longer tolerate losing and abolish the attitude of acceptance towards it.