Win isn't perfect, but Cards will take it

If you want to pick at the Arizona Cardinals for their 28-21 victory over the Houston Texans Sunday, feel free.

The Cardinals turned a 21-0 halftime lead into a heart attack, and a loud celebration into a muted sigh of relief.

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“Obviously you’re always excited to get a win because they’re not easy to come by,” quarterback Kurt Warner said. “But I’m a little bit frustrated that the game turned out like it did … We’re not happy with the way we played.”

Good.

The Cardinals should be angry about their second-half performance. They’re supposed to be too mature and too talented to blow 21-point leads, especially at home. They shouldn’t need a goal-line stand and a 49-yard interception return for a touchdown by cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to steer clear of disaster.

But consider the alternative.

If the Cardinals had lost Sunday, the season was over. They would have been 1-3, all three losses coming at home. And up ahead: A four-week stretch that includes three road games: At Seattle, the New York Giants and Chicago.

Forget the Super Bowl. The Cardinals were headed to 6-10 or worse.

That’s why Arizona didn’t beat itself up too much. A win is a win is a win and all that.

“In the second half it was just like we were sitting on a stool with a rope around our necks about to hang ourselves,” linebacker Clark Haggans said … “Fortunately, we are 2-2 right now.”

Fortunately is right.

Arizona couldn’t have played a better first half Sunday. Warner was 20 of 23 for 262 yards and two touchdowns. The defense held Houston to 130 total yards. And the lead could have been 28-0 had Anquan Boldin not lost a fumble at the Texans’ 7-yard line.

It was by far the best 30 minutes of football the Cardinals have played this season.

Then the second half started.

Arizona stopped moving the ball. Houston quarterback Matt Schaub started completing passes. When Texans’ wideout Andre Johnson caught a 17-yard touchdown pass with 6:59 left to tie the game, 21-21, the cheers of the first half had turned into angry boos.

What went wrong?

Well, for one thing, Arizona didn’t shorten the game by running the ball and working the clock. The Cardinals’ first nine plays of the second half were passes. None of their first three possessions lasted longer than 3:05.

Coach Ken Whisenhunt said the Texans brought an extra defender to the line of scrimmage to stop the run, and Warner correctly audibled to pass plays. Still, if you won’t run the ball with a 21-0 lead, when will you run it?

And how does a team with a three-touchdown lead have a 38-16 pass-run ratio?

The Cardinals ran the ball just 4 times in the second half.

“Obviously, we feel like if they are going to try and take away the run … our strength is throwing the football and we can operate doing that,” Whisenhunt said.

Part of the problem – if you can call it that – is the confidence Warner has in Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. Warner often has a run or pass option when he gets to the line of scrimmage, and if he sees them getting one-on-one coverage, he’s going to chuck it.

“I’ll never pass up an opportunity to go to 81 (Boldin) or 11 (Fitzgerald) in those situations,” Warner said. “I expect us to be just as efficient in making the plays and keeping the clock going.”

OK, but there are times when the head coach needs to pull back the reins and the third quarter was one of those times. At least try to run the ball. If it doesn’t work for a possession or two, then air it out.

But don’t play like you’re down by 21.

Fortunately – there’s that word again – the defense saved the day with DRC’s interception return and the final minute, goal-line stand when Houston couldn’t score on three chances from Arizona’s 1-yard line.

“We definitely showed a lot of manhood on that stand,” tackle Alan Branch said. “To be able to hold the whole offensive line back like that and keep them out of the end zone, it’s a big deal.”

In the end, everything worked out just fine. The Cardinals won, the San Francisco 49ers lost, and Arizona is just a half-game back in the NFC West heading into Sunday’s game at Seattle.

It just shouldn’t have been so hard.