Cards' loss shows team's weaknesses

 The Cardinals had been stripped bare in front of a national television audience and now, in the privacy of their locker room, all they could cover themselves with was cliches.

We won’t point fingers.

Super Bowls aren’t won in September.

It’s a long season.

Their voices were monotone, the answers dull and listless. Sort of like their performance in Sunday’s 31-10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

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“They kicked our butt,” safety Antrel Rolle said. “There is nothing you can say about that.”

Actually, that’s not true.

Remember the Cardinals team that stole your heart and went to the Super Bowl last February? It’s dead.

In its place is a troubled, uncertain football team that already has as many losses at University of Phoenix Stadium as it had all last season.

“We haven’t lived up to our bargain with our fans,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “All I can tell you is that we’re going to do that. We will get that fixed.”

Well, then they’re going to have to play a heck of a lot better than they did Sunday.

The Colts were coming off a physically taxing game in Miami on Monday night then had to travel across the country to play Arizona.

Advantage Cardinals, or so you thought.

Instead, the Colts looked like the fresher team and the sharper team. They were definitely the better team. If the Cardinals were a prime-time series, NBC would have cancelled them after one episode.

“People are going to try to tear us apart,” wide receiver Anquan Boldin said.

Why shouldn’t they?

Arizona is 1-2. After the Oct. 11 home game against Houston, three of its next four contests are on the road. Super Bowls may not be won in September, but playoff appearances can be lost by October.

If the Cardinals don’t get their act straight soon, this season will be one long, ornery hangover.

“We know what we’re capable of doing,” quarterback Kurt Warner said. “We’re just not doing it now.”

Warner was talking about the offense, but his comment could cut a swath through the entire locker room.

The Cardinals were embarrassed Sunday.

Indianapolis had 505 total yards. Arizona rushed for 24 yards.

Peyton Manning wasn’t sacked once on his way to throwing for 379 yards and four touchdowns. Warner was sacked four times and hit on 12 passes.

He was the mechanical rabbit, Indy defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis the hungry greyhounds.

At least the Cardinals are spreading their misery around. Last week, Beanie Wells fumbled inside the opponents’ 5-yard line. Sunday, Tim Hightower coughed up the ball at the Colts’ 7 earlly in the second quarter. Instead of Arizona having a 10-0 lead and the sellout crowd in full roar, Manning led his team on a 95-yard scoring drive to take a 7-3 advantage.

“That was a key part of the game,” Hightower said. “It’s a big play. It changed the momentum.”

OK, but that doesn’t explain all the other head-scratchers.

Why didn’t Warner throw the ball away instead of forcing it to Larry Fitzgerald with 20 seconds left in the first half? The ball was tipped and Colts’ safety Antoine Bethea came down with the interception in the end zone.

Why didn’t Whisenhunt give tackle Mike Gandy more help on Freeney by keeping a back or tight end in to block?

“A lot of plays we had guys open but we weren’t able to get them the ball,” Whisenhunt said.

Well, then?

Why has cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, so impressive as rookie, regressed this season? He allowed two touchdown passes Sunday, one on a play the Cardinals worked on in practice last Friday.

“It just felt like we made too many mistakes across the board,” Warner said. “There were times that it felt good and we were making plays and had the momentum and we could do some things, but there always seemed to be something that stopped us from getting that full momentum, whether it was turnovers or penalties or missed assignments or missed plays.”

See, that’s the thing. The Cardinals can’t point to one facet of the game and say, “If we fix that, everything will be fine.”

It’s the offensive line’s inability to protect Warner. It’s the defensive line’s inability to get a consistent pass rush. It’s young players like Rodgers-Cromartie making assignment errors and veterans like Adrian Wilson taking a bad route, turning a simple screen pass to Donald Brown into a 72-yard gain.

It’s also committing two red-zone turnovers in three games after having just three all last year.

Yes, the season is young. Yes, the Cardinals still have the talent to win the NFC West.

But doesn’t it feel like the magic is gone?

And Arizona won’t be able to get it back?