Lighting It Up: Cards rout Bills in desert

Team of the Week: Arizona Cardinals

After a six-turnover performance against the Jets, Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner got in some extra practice time leading up to the Cardinals’ game with the undefeated Bills. Not at the Cardinals’ practice facility — at home with the kids.

In a ball-protection training technique straight out of Pop Warner, the Cardinal quarterback carried the ball around the house all week. No word on whether he slept with it, as fumble-prone running backs have been known to do.

“I was actually chasing my kids around, and I had two hands on the football,” said Warner, who had lost three fumbles against the Jets. “Or they were chasing me around trying to simulate the Buffalo Bills.”

The fact that Warner’s kids, tough as they may be, did a suitable job simulating the Bills defense can’t fill Buffalo fans with a lot of confidence. Whatever the case, the technique worked. The Cardinals played turnover-free football while forcing four Bills turnovers in handing Buffalo its first loss, a 41–17 shellacking at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

“We’re a tough team to beat when we don’t turn the ball over,” said Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt, whose team moved to 3–2 despite missing the services of top receiver Anquan Boldin.

In Boldin’s absence, Warner dissected the Buffalo defense with short passes, hitting nine different receivers on his way to completing 33-of-42 passes for 250 yards and no interceptions. The Cardinals added 123 yards on the ground and allowed no sacks in amassing 373 yards against what had been one of the league’s tougher defenses.

One of the many telling stats in this game: Buffalo entered the contest leading the league in third-down defense, allowing successful conversions only 19 percent of the time. Arizona converted 9-of-13 third downs, including 6-of-6 in the Cardinals’ decisive 24-point first half.

As strong as the Cardinal offense was, it was Arizona’s defense that set the tone for the game on the first series. Strong safety Adrian Wilson, questionable all week with a sore hamstring, knocked Buffalo quarterback Trent Edwards out of the game on the third play from scrimmage with a brutal hit that left Edwards lying motionless on the field with a concussion. Two plays later, backup quarterback J.P. Losman and running back Marshawn Lynch bungled a handoff, putting the Cardinals in business at the Buffalo 38 and leading to Warner’s two-yard TD pass to Larry Fitzgerald. The Cardinals never looked back in dropping the Bills to 4–1, leaving the Tennessee Titans as the AFC’s lone unbeaten.

Bills coach Dick Jauron put a positive spin on the defeat. “I’d much rather go into the bye week 5–0 than 4–1, but I’m willing to bet there’s not a lot of people in this room that thought we’d be 4–1,” Jauron said.

Not many people thought that Arizona would be a playoff contender this season, either. The Cardinals sit atop the woeful NFC West and have transformed University of Phoenix Stadium into a tough place to visit. The Cards have gone 8–2 at home under Whisenhunt, including a 2–0 home ledger this season during which the Cardinals have outscored the Dolphins and Bills by a 72–17 margin, leaving the Cardinals as the early masters of two divisions — the AFC East as well as the NFC West. 

As good as the Bills have been, a truer test comes this week, when the Cardinals welcome the Dallas Cowboys to the desert. It may take more than Warner’s kids to prepare him for that one.

The NFL's team of the week is selected each Monday in the Lighting It Up section presented by Lithonia Lighting. Previous winners: Giants, Dophins, Chiefs.