Cardinals pay Bills in full with impressive rout

Someday, a football scientist may be able to explain why the Cardinals soar at home and stink on the road.

 SLIDESHOW: Cardinals vs Buffalo Bills

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For now, though, the Cardinals will try to milk their home-field advantage for all its worth, just as they did in Sunday's impressive 41-17 rout of the Buffalo Bills.

The result: The Cardinals find themselves in first place in the NFC West at 3-2.

The Seattle Seahawks, the division's longtime king, sit two games back at 1-4.

The Cardinals now are 2-0 at home this season, 8-2 in the Ken Whisenhunt era; They're just 1-2 on the road this season, 3-8 under Whisenhunt.

The Cardinals hope the huge advantage will hold up for one more week, when they host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. Then they take a bye, so they won't have to wonder again about their road struggles until month's end.

The Cardinals also may have figured out an offensive identity Sunday against the Bills, who entered the game 4-0.

They used an extremely sharp short passing game while using the run mostly as a change of pace.

Kurt Warner threw 42 times, completing 33, for 250 yards and two touchdowns and a 107.3 passer rating.

Notably, he didn't fumble or throw an interception.

"We're a tough team to beat when we don't turn the ball over," said Whisenhunt, who praised the noisy home crowd for supporting his team after "two tough weeks on the road."

He said his players were "upset" after the losses at Washington and the New York Jets but responded in a spirited week of practice.

He pointed to a particularly productive "walk-through" practice on Saturday, saying, "There were a number of signs that we would play well, but you never know until you actually do it."

They put together drives of 14, 12 and 13 plays, all ending in touchdowns.

The Cardinals filled in for the injured Anquan Boldin with a host of receivers.

Steve Breaston led the way with seven catches for 77 yards, while Larry Fitzgerald caught seven for 52 yards and two touchdowns.

Early Doucet made his NFL debut with six catches for 42 yards.

The Cardinals' defense also played well, though they were helped by the fact that the Bills lost starting quarterback Trent Edwards on a hard hit by safety Adrian Wilson as Edwards was releasing a pass on the third play of the game.

His replacement, J.P. Losman, completed 15 of 21 for 220 yards. But he threw an interception and lost two fumbles.

The Cardinals sealed the game when Bills tight end Robert Royal fumbled the ball away late in the third quarter, with the Cards leading 31-17, and when Cardinals nose tackle Gabe Watson forced a Losman fumble early in the fourth quarter.

Now, all the Cardinals need to do is repeat this sort of performance away from home.

Warner said, "It's got to be the next step in growing up: To figure out a way to bottle some of the energy and excitement up ... and take it with us on the road.

"We just have to figure it out somehow."