Cardinals Rout Jacksonville

NFL News - September 20th, 2009 - Written by John

Kurt Warner was a near-flawless 24 of 26 passing and the Arizona Cardinals bounced back in a big way Sunday.

After falling to San Francisco in the home opener, the Cardinals looked crisper on both offense and defense, routing the Jacksonville Jaguars, 31-17, on the road.

Warner completed his first 15 passes of the game and finished the day with 243 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile Jacksonville struggled in front of a half-empty house and didn't look like the physical team head coach Jack Del Rio had built them up to be in recent years.

It was over early when Arizona took a 17-3 lead on Antrel Rolle's 83-yard touchdown on a field goal block. Calais Campbell leaped in the air to deflect Josh Scobee's attempt and it bounced into Rolle's hand. Nobody even laid a finger on him as he dashed into the end zone high-stepping like Deion Sanders.

It wasn't a flawless game, however. There were five fumbles in the first half alone and Arizona had five of them. But the team made up for it with great play on the line, allowing no sacks and very little pressure on Warner. He was able to sit in the pocket and connect with Jason Wright for a five-yard score in the first half, then hit Fitzgerald for 22 yards make it 31-3.

Jacksonville mounted somewhat of a comeback in the fourth quarter with Warner out of the game. Back-up Matt Leinart struggled, going 3-for-6 and David Garrard finally started to find his rhythm. The veteran hit Marcedes Lewis in the third  quarter for a touchdown, then lofted a ball to Mike Sims-Walker to make it 31-17. But with Warner warming back up on the sidelines in case of an emergency,

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