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Stover's field goal lifts Ravens past Cardinals

Sep 23, 2007 - 10:59 PM BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Matt Stover's 46-yard field goal as time expired lifted the Baltimore Ravens to a 26-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

Stover's kick, his 416th overall and the 13th game-winner of his career, allowed the Ravens to survive a furious fourth-quarter rally by the Cardinals.

Backup quarterback Kyle Boller led the winning drive, hitting tight end Todd Heap with a 12-yard pass that turned into a huge gain when Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson was flagged for 15 yards for a helmet-to-helmet hit that moved the ball to Arizona's 39-yard line.

Four plays later, Stover converted his fourth field goal of the game, moving him past John Carney into third place on the all-time list for career kicks.

"It's a lot of kicking," Stover said. "It means I'm old. I hit three other field goals and it got me in a rhythm. I just felt like the team really had faith in me and you wouldn't believe what that does for you."

The Cardinals (1-2) scored 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter behind quarterback Kurt Warner, who replaced an ineffective Matt Leinart.

A former NFL Most Valuable Player, Warner finished 15-of-20 for 258 yards and two touchdown passes to Anquan Boldin, who caught a career-high 14 passes for 181 yards. It was the second-most catches made against the Ravens in their history.

"Kurt Warner is a special quarter," Ravens cornerback Chris McAlister said. "He has a Super Bowl ring under his belt and he knows how to get things done. (He brought) a tempo that caught us off-guard at the beginning. ... We made the adjustments in the end and got things done."

Baltimore starting quarterback Steve McNair, who sat out last week's game against the New York Jets with a groin injury, showed a huge improvement over his turnover-riddled effort in the season opener against Cincinnati.

McNair was 20-of-27 for 198 yards and a touchdown before leaving early in the fourth quarter for what was termed a coach's decision.

Knowing he was going to come in for McNair ahead of time, Boller was prepared for anything.

"I love that situation," said Boller about the two-minute drive. "We want to go out there and try to execute. I like the pressure. You have to go out there like it's practice and find some open guys."

With Leinart struggling early, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt made a surprise move by inserting veteran Warner in place of his second-year quarterback with just under seven minutes left in the half.

"Matt is still our starter," Whisenhunt said. "We had one section for Kurt this week in the no-huddle, which he was good at. We decided to use it as part of our package and it was effective today."

Baltimore held what seemed to be a comfortable 23-6 lead after Stover's third field goal with just under five minutes left in the third quarter.

Warner entered shortly thereafter and led a seven-play, 71-yard scoring drive, capped with a 5-yard scoring pass to Bolden. Warner was 6-of-6 on the march.

On the next possession, the Cardinals needed just two plays to score, with Warner hitting Bolden from 32 yards out to slice the deficit to 23-20 with 10:19 still to play.

"I still feel I can play at a very high level," Warner said. "I think there are a lot of teams I could start for. You know your window is only so big. You want to play as much as you possibly can. I would love to be out there playing but this is where I'm at."

The Cardinals eventually tied it on a 41-yard field goal by Neil Rackers, but the Ravens regrouped to win it at the end.

Baltimore coach Brian Billick was more than happy with the team's second straight home win.

"I love the way the team responded," Billick said. "The offense responded when the defense didn't. The defense responded when the offense didn't. And between the two, special teams as well. It was a great win."

Warner hit his first two pass attempts after subbing for Leinart in the first half, covering 50 yards, to set up Rackers' 48-yard field goal to cut the lead to 6-3 with 5:14 left in the half.

Baltimore answered by scoring a pair of touchdowns in exactly one minute late in the half to take a commanding 20-3 lead into the locker room.

McNair capped an eight-play, 60-yard drive by hitting Derrick Mason with a 13-yard pass for a 13-3 lead with 1:55 to play in the half.

After Leinart returned and the Cardinals went three-and-out again, rookie Yamon Figurs returned a punt 75 yards for his first NFL touchdown to balloon the margin to 20-3 with 55 seconds remaining.

"It was just a little cutback where I got open," said Figurs, who has replaced the injured returner B.J. Sams.

The quarterback comparison reflected the score in the opening 30 minutes. McNair finished 17-of-21 for 164 yards and a TD. Leinart, meanwhile, was a mere 5-of-13 for 32 yards.