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Buccaneers hold off Cardinals to continue home success

Nov 5, 2007 - 12:06 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took advantage of some home cooking to snap a two-game losing streak.

Earnest Graham led an effective ground attack as the Buccaneers defeated the Arizona Cardinals, 17-10, on Sunday to move back over .500.

Graham rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown on 34 carries, helping Tampa Bay (5-4) improve to 4-1 at home this season.

"We felt at halftime we have to run the football and we said, 'Earnest, you got to do it,'" Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden said. "And do it, he did. He made some great traffic runs, he didn't fumble, he had a couple of really good receptions. He's exhausted."

The Buccaneers dominated time of possession, holding the ball for more than 43 minutes. They rushed for 162 yards while holding Arizona to just 23 yards on the ground.

"That's a lot (of minutes), heck, that's the way you have to play in the NFL," Graham said. "The ground game got in there and took time off the clock - let the defense stay fresh and you usually get a victory when you do that.

"With 43 minutes, it's hard not to win."

Tampa Bay's Jeff Garcia completed 18-of-28 passes for 196 yards, including a 37-yard touchdown pass to Joey Galloway that gave the Buccaneers a 7-3 lead with 5:56 left in the first quarter.

"It felt very important just to get our momentum turned around, to get it headed back in a positive direction," Garcia said. "It was a tough game, but a grat way to finish off this little stretch right before the bye."

Leading, 10-3, at halftime, Tampa Bay took the first possession of the second half and drove 64 yards for a touchdown. The big play of the drive was Garcia's 28-yard completion to Graham that set up Graham's 2-yard TD run.

The Cardinals (3-5) scored on the game's opening possesion, taking a 3-0 lead on Neil Rackers' 47-yard field goal with 12:17 left in the first quarter.

After Arizona's initial 59-yard drive, the Cardinals had only 51 yards of offense for the next 2 1/2 quarters before driving 80 yards in the fourth quarter for their only TD on Edgerrin James' 3-yard run.

Larry Fitzgerald had four catches for 95 yards for Arizona, but James was limited to just 15 yards on nine carries.

"It goes without saying, very disappointed, especially coming off a bye wekk that we didn't play better than that," Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "We just didn't get it done today."

Kurt Warner completed just 10-of-30 passes for 172 yards with two interceptions for Arizona.

"I'm disgusted, I'm embarrassed," Warner said. "I mean, I'm way too good of a football player to be a part of something that we just did out there on the field.

I hope we have a bunch of other guys that feel the same way, because that was ridiculous the way we played offensively."

The Cardinals had a possession in the final three minutes with a chance to send the contest into overtime, but Warner was intercepted at the Cardinals' 46-yard line

"We made it a little interesting," Gruden said. "I'm very pleased with the way our team stepped up. It's a big win to be in the (division) race."