Kurt Warner leads Cards past Philly and into first ever Superbowl

The Arizona Cardinals will play in the Superbowl for the first time in franchise history after defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 32-25 in Tempe, AZ on Sunday.  Veteran QB Kurt Warner threw four TD passes for the Cardinals, while their defense forced 3 turnovers.  The Cardinals will play the AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers in the Superbowl two weeks from Sunday in Tampa, Florida.

Warner got the Cards on the board quickly, as he hit Larry Fitzgerald for a 9 yard TD pass just over five minutes into the game.  The Eagles would cut the margin to 7-3 on a 45 yard David Akers FG later in the period.  The second quarter was all Arizona, starting with Warner’s second TD pass of the day—this one a long strike again to Fitzgerald for 62 yards.  Akers added another FG a few minutes later to make the score 14-6, but Warner would hook up with Fitzgerald again on a short TD pass with three minutes left in the half to stake the Cardinals to a 21-6 advantage.  Neil Rackers would kick a 49 yard FG as time expired to send Arizona to the locker room with a 24-6 lead.

The Eagles came roaring back in the second half—Donovan McNabb would find Brent Celek twice in the third quarter for TD strikes of 6 and 31 yards to cut the Cards lead to 24-19 entering the final period.  Early in the fourth, McNabb connected with DeSean Jackson for a 63 yard TD play to give the Eagles their first lead of the day at 25-24.  Arizona would answer, however, with Warner throwing a 8 yard TD pass to Tim Hightower for the game winning score.  The subsequent two point conversion capped the scoring for the day.

Wide receiver Fitzgerald reached superstar status this season, and had nothing but praise for his teammates’ response to Philadelphia’s final TD:

"The demeanor in the huddle didn't change at all. The guys were focused and ready to go. You could see the look in guys' eyes. Nobody wanted to be the guy who let this team down. Everybody did their job when we needed them to do it."

Warner thank his teammates for their dedication:

"I want to say thanks to all of you guys. When nobody else believed in us, when nobody else believed in me, you guys did and we're going to the Super Bowl."

Though Arizona has never been to a Superbowl, they have won an NFL championship in the pre-merger days—that was 61 years ago, representing the second longest championship drought in professional sports behind the long suffering Chicago Cubs.  The Cards are the first team to reach the Superbowl with nine or fewer wins since the 1979 Los Angeles Rams.