Cardinals Avoid Another "They WERE Who We THOUGHT THEY WERE!!!" Moment

Whew! Dodged a bullet there! Sometimes teams just plain get lucky. Good teams also are teams who can win games where they play badly. After seeing tonight's sloppy 29-24 win by the Cardinals over the hapless 49ers, this might be the game from this season that fits my previous description. Some thoughts:

• Coach Whisenhunt needs to institute team fines to every player who gets a false start, offside, or personal foul penatly. They have gone beyond ridiculous this season and nearly cost the Cardinals the game tonight.
• I'm VERY glad that Frank Gore doesn't play for a better team. He kills the Cardinals every time the Cards face him. He doesn't do diddly poo (Jim Mora reference) against the rest of the league, but against the Cardinals, he's Walter Payton.
• Antrel Rolle is awesome. If you include the two interceptions that were called back by penalties -- one of which last year was declared an incorrect call by the league -- he would have 6 INT returns for a TD. That's downright scary. Oh yeah, and had the officials not screwed up that penalty call in last year's Bengals game, Rolle would be the sole holder of the record for most INTs returned for a TD in a game -- 3. As it is, he's tied with a few other bubbas who have 2.
• Kurt Warner just threw for 300 yards or more in a game for the 46th time. Did I mention he's 37? If he's not the leading candidate for MVP this year then something is seriously wrong.
• Anquan Boldin is Mr. Automatic in the Red Zone.
• Larry Fitzgerald & Anquan Boldin are the best receiving duo on one team since Jerry Rice & John Taylor. And I heard Steve Young -- Rice & Taylor's former teammate in San Francisco -- say that Fitz & Q are better than Rice & Taylor. It sounds like I'm describing law firms, here.
• I am now calling the Cards' duo Fitz & Q. Forevermore. There ya go. And I claim it as mine. If you use it without giving credit to me, world, then I'll get you for plagiarism. Bill Simmons has my permission to use it whenever he wants. And since he's such a good guy, I know he'll give me credit. Fitz & Q. You heard it here first.

Now the Cardinals have a four game lead in the division and can really put a stranglehold on it with a win next week in Seattle. This has been some season, hasn't it?