Arizona's Defense Comes Through In 28-21 Win Over Houston

NFL News - October 12th, 2009 - Written by John

After heading into halftime leading the Houston Texans 21-0, the Arizona Cardinals held off a strong offensive performance from the Texans in the second half and escaped with a 28-21 win. Houston quarterback Matt Shaub had his way with the Cardinals defense in the second half. Arizona finally came through when it needed and stopped the Texans with under a minute left in the game three times from their own 1 yard line. Houston coach Gary Kubiak was not pleased with their inability to punch it in to tie the game from 1 yard out.

"When we got to the 1 we should have scored on the second play. We should have scored on the pass and on the last run," Kubiak said. "We have to be good enough to make a yard in the National Football League when it counts and we didn't."

Arizona Cardinals got their first touchdown of the game on a 1 yard run from Tim Hightower. The second quarter belonged to Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. With under 2 minutes remaining in the first half, Fitzgerald caught 2 touchdown passes to give the Cardinals a 21-0 lead heading into intermission.

The second half is when Shaub and the Texans offense would begin to come to life. The Cardinals held their 21-0 lead until late in the third quarter when Chris Brown scored on a 1 yard run to cut their lead to 21-7. To begin the fourth quarter, Shaub would find Andre Johnson from 11 yards out to bring the Texans within a touchdown. This would last about 5 minutes as Shaub hit Johnson again on a 17 yard touchdown pass to tie the score at 21. Shaub's only blemish in the game would come with 2:20 remaining. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie returned a interception by Shaub 49 yards for a touchdown to give the Cardinals a 28-21 lead. Andre Davis would then take the Cardinals kickoff 60 yards to help the Texans on their last drive. Eventually, this drive would halt as the Cardinals defense stayed strong with their backs against the wall on their own 1 yard line.

Warner and the Cardinals (2-2) were completely shutout in the second half. He passed for 302 yards and 2 touchdowns for the game, but 262 of these yards came in the first half. Warner was not completely satisfied with the team's performance, but is just glad to get the win.

"Guys stepped up and made plays at the end. You leave with a good feeling in your mouth," Warner said. "But it shouldn't have been that close. We had too many opportunities that we left out there that kind of leaves me a little frustrated that that game ended the way it did, even though you're happy to walk out of here and have it go in your favor."

“The season doesn’t wind down. It just comes to a crashing halt,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona told reporters after the game. “You go into the top of the inning excited because you think you’re going to keep playing. Half an inning later, you’re going home. So it’s disappointing.”

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