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Cardinals come up short in loss to Giants
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THAT KIND OF DAY: Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, right, tries to pick up a botched snap during Sunday's 37-29 loss to the New York Giants.
Ralph Freso, Tribune
Once a season, perhaps, a team has to play a near-perfect game to nail down a win.
That's what happens when you're playing the game's best team.
Cards restrict Giants' running game
Bordow: Cards shouldnt be discouraged by loss
Special-teams miscues prove costly
Cardinals surprised by Giants passing game
SLIDESHOW: Cardinals vs. Giants
Even a flirtation with perfection, though, might not have been enough on Sunday against the defending champion - and this year's favorite to repeat - New York Giants.
The Cardinals (7-3) played reasonably well, but didn't have quite enough against the champs in dropping a 37-29 decision.
The Giants (10-1) used the Cardinals' own medicine, a prolific short-passing game, against them in carving them up.
Eli Manning was 26-for-33 passing and didn't suffer a turnover. Along the way, he and the Giants may have surprised the Cardinals.
"Our mind frame going into the game was they would try to run the ball," defensive end Antonio Smith said. "They totally changed it up."
"He was able to hang back there and dink and dunk the ball," safety Adrian Wilson said. "They really didn't have any deep passes. He was able to get the ball out pretty quick."
The Cardinals also had to fight the Giants, who were making their first trip to Arizona since the Super Bowl in February, on short fields, the result of giving up long returns to the Giants' Domenik Hixon.
"Hixon's kickoff returns probably were the difference," Giants coach Tom Couglin said.
"We can't give them the short field to score points," Cardinals defensive end Bertrand Berry said. "Good teams will take advantage of that. That's what they did.
"There's no mystery about why they're 10-1."
The Cardinals had a couple other problems, as well: a lost fumble and an interception by Kurt Warner; a running game that produced only 23 yards; and an inability to put much heat on Manning.
The highlight for the Cardinals was holding the Giants' NFL-best rushing attack to a mere 87 yards.
In this regard, "We dominated them," defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said.
"We got after 'em. We did our job on that end. In the back end (pass coverage), we got to pick it up ... "
Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt praised the Giants, saying, "That is a well-coached team with a tremendous amount of depth that doesn't make many mistakes.
"That was the key: We just made too many mistakes ...
"We just cannot give up the big plays on our kickoff coverage."
The loss snapped the Cardinals' seven-game home winning streak.
The Cardinals can still clinch the NFC West for their first division title since 1975 with a win in Philadelphia on Thursday.
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