Cardinals seek answers after another home loss

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP)—For much of their history the Arizona Cardinals haven’t had to deal with success.

Even after reaching the Super Bowl, they’re still figuring it out.

The Cardinals (4-3) followed one of their more memorable victories—a nationally televised road win over the New York Giants—with a mistake-filled 34-21 loss to the Carolina Panthers (3-4). One day later, coach Ken Whisenhunt struggled to explain what had happened to a team that had looked so formidable on national TV seven days earlier.

“You always are crossing bridges or facing obstacles as a football team in this league,” Whisenhunt said Monday. “Obviously, one for us is being able to play consistently after we’ve had some success.”

Whisenhunt said he planned to address the issue with the players on Monday. In the locker room, there was a mix of puzzlement and frustration.

Strong safety Adrian Wilson(notes), normally a go-to guy for the media, shook his head when approached by reporters.

“I ain’t got nothing polite to say, so I’d rather not say anything at all,” Wilson said.

Wide receiver Anquan Boldin(notes) said the Cardinals “let one go yesterday.”

“There’s no excuse for it,” he said. “Good teams win games that they’re supposed to win.”

Boldin re-aggravated a right ankle sprain against Carolina but said he hopes to play this week at Chicago.

From the Cardinals’ vantage point, the only good news coming out of Sunday was San Francisco’s loss at Indianapolis. That kept the Cardinals one game ahead of the 49ers in the feeble NFC West, where the four clubs are a combined 5-14 outside the division.

Otherwise, it was mostly bad news.

Start with six turnovers—all charged to quarterback Kurt Warner(notes), who had five interceptions, matching a career high, and also lost a fumble.

Whisenhunt gave the Panthers’ defense credit for making big plays, but he indicated the offense also deserved blame for the miscues.

“Regardless of what they were, six turnovers in a game is certainly unacceptable,” he said.

The loss left the Cardinals at 1-3 at University of Phoenix Stadium, where they went 8-2 a year ago, including two playoff victories.

The Cardinals thought they had established a true home-field advantage in their sparkling stadium in Glendale, west of Phoenix, but it hasn’t looked that way this year, with boo-birds occasionally greeting the Redbirds.

Even Arizona’s lone home win was shaky; the Cardinals blew a 21-point lead against Houston and had to repel the Texans three times at the 1-yard line in the final minute to preserve a 28-21 victory on Oct. 11.

“All the games that we’ve played here, I felt like we should’ve played a lot better,” Boldin said. “But we can’t do anything about it now. Just move on and play better the upcoming weeks at home.”

Whisenhunt has no explanation for his team’s poor play at home.

“I’m surprised and disappointed, I think more so for our fans because of the great support they have given us,” he said. “We haven’t lived up to our end of the deal.”

Given their struggles at home, the Cardinals may be relieved to visit Chicago this week. The Cardinals are 3-0 on the road, with victories at Jacksonville, Seattle and the New York Giants.

The Cardinals have four home games left—against Seattle, Minnesota, St. Louis and Green Bay. After Sunday’s clunker, the Cardinals aren’t likely to take any of those games for granted.

The loss to the Panthers evoked memories of a 35-14 home drubbing by Minnesota last season. Many chalked it up to a letdown because the Cardinals had clinched the division title a week earlier.

Sunday’s loss seemed more puzzling, because it came after three straight victories. The Cardinals fell behind 28-7 at halftime and couldn’t pull closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Whisenhunt dismissed a suggestion that the Cardinals need to play with more emotion, although he conceded that “our team plays better when we have a chip on our shoulder.”

Whisenhunt said it’s natural for teams to play with varying degrees of emotion during a 16-game grind. But he said technique and discipline should be consistent.

“I think we have made progress here with that,” he said. “Obviously, we are not there yet.”