Cardinals Changed After Bolden Injury!
By: Larry Fitzgerald
PHOENIX, ARIZONA
Originally posted 12/05/2009
Vikings legendary quarterback Brett Favre was named the NFL Offensive Player of the Month for November. Favre has led the Vikings to a 10-2 record and is the top-rated quarterback in the league.
Last week, the defending NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals (7-4) hosted the red-hot Vikings in prime time on NBC's Sunday Night Football at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals beat the Vikings 30-17.
Favre said the Cardinals changed after the facial fracture injury to Pro Bowl star receiver Anquan Bolden last year. I covered that game in New York last year when Favre was playing for the New York Jets. It was a match-up of veteran star quarterbacks, Farve vs. Kurt Warner.
Favre has started 283 consecutive games, the longest in NFL history, and has won more games than any quarterback in league history, 179. Favre said, “I think when Bolden got hurt in that game and was out, I think the Cardinals changed. Maybe they did not know what they had in Larry Fitzgerald. But it all changed for them when they started getting the ball deeper down the field to Larry.”
Since 2007, Favre's last season in Green Bay, he is playing for his third different team — the Packers, the Jets, and now the Vikings. But on that Sunday at the Meadowlands, I may have witnessed his best game. Farve was sensational: He was 24-34 for 289 yards and threw a career-best six touchdown passes in the Jets' 56-35 win.
After that loss, the Cardinals hardly looked like a championship team. “If you had asked me after that game if the Cardinals would reach the Super Bowl,” Favre said, “I would have said you're nuts. They got better after that game, no question.”
Warner was outstanding also in that game; he was 40 of 57 for 472 yards with two touchdowns and three INTs. Favre last weekend attempted to do what I don't think has ever been done — beat a team like the Cardinals for the third straight time with a third different team (Green Bay, New York and Minnesota). He failed.
In 2006, Favre led the Packers to a 31-14 win over the Cardinals at Lambeau Field. Favre is a three-time NFL MVP. He and Peyton Manning are the only quarterbacks to achieve that feat. Matching up against Warner was a marquee match-up. Both quarterbacks are headed to the Hall of Fame, and both have won Super Bowls and been MVP.
Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:20 am, and on WDGY-AM 740 Monday & Saturday mornings at 7:50 am and Fridays at 3:50 pm; he also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). Larry welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com , or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com .
