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Goal-line stand helps Cardinals top 49ers

Nov 11, 2008 - 7:06 AM GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- Kurt Warner continued to state his case for the Most Valuable Player award, but it was a goal-line stand that kept the Arizona Cardinals flying high atop the NFC West.

Warner threw his third touchdown pass with over four minutes remaining and the Cardinals defense made a key stop as time expired to preserve at 29-24 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday.

The win moved Arizona (6-3) four games ahead of San Francisco (2-7), the Seattle Seahawks (2-7) and St. Louis Rams (2-7). The Cardinals have not won a division title since 1975.

"In this league, wins are hard to come by and there really are no givens," Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "I am really proud of our defense especially with that goal-line stand. The team fought back and never got down. These are games that you look back on that make huge difference for your football team."

San Francisco had a chance to win the game on the final possession as Shaun Hill drove the team 41 yards down to the Arizona 2-yard line with 20 seconds left. The 49ers wasted 20 seconds at the line of scrimmage before spiking the ball to stop the clock.

"I think we could have done a lot better job," San Francisco interim coach Mike Singletary said. "We weren't quite set for whatever reason. It looked like Shaun was taking all day but we have to have guys aligned right or it is a penalty. So we had to wait on guys before we could spike it. We lost about 10 or 12 seconds and that was ridiculous."

On first down, Frank Gore rushed to the left side, falling down as he made the corner and eventually reaching the end zone. But the officials ruled that he was down by contact at the 2-yard line, keeping the clock running.

Following a replay review, which showed Cardinals linebacker Chike Okeafor did touch Gore before he fell, there were four seconds remaining. As the clock started on the whistle, the 49ers tried a run up the middle with Michael Robinson, who was stopped well short of the end zone to give Arizona the win.

"Knowing that we were mentally and more physically tougher than that team it is a great feeling," Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said. "The defense just refused to let them run the ball in from the 2-yard line. If you want to pass, that's cool, but we weren't going to let you run it. We said that and we backed it up."

The Cardinals trailed, 24-23, when Hill was intercepted by linebacker Karlos Dansby, who returned the ball 34 yards to the 49ers 5-yard line with 5:06 remaining.

Two plays later, Warner hit Anquan Boldin with a quick pass to the right and the receiver lunged into the end zone for the touchdown to give the Cardinals a 29-24 lead with 4:16 left to play.

"It gives us confidence," said Warner, who completed his first 10 passes in the second half as the team went into a no-huddle offense. "When we get into those packages and we have success early we feel like we're invincible and can't be stopped."

Warner completed 32-of-42 passes for 328 yards and tossed two of his scores to Boldin, who leads the league with 10 touchdown receptions this season.

The exciting finish rivaled what happened at the start of the game.

Allen Rossum raced 104 yards untouched on the opening kickoff to give San Francisco a 7-0 lead 12 seconds into the contest, momentarily silencing the electric Arizona crowd.

"The opening kick affected us a little bit, but nobody got down, nobody panicked," Whisenhunt said. "We knew we could move the ball on them and potentially score points. We trailed the whole game until right there in the end, and that is a sign that we made progress and we are mentally tougher."

The Cardinals only managed a first-quarter field goal and the 49ers took a 14-3 lead with 14:19 left in the second quarter when Hill connected with Josh Morgan on a perfect 31-yard touchdown down the right sideline.

Arizona cut the deficit to one before tight end Vernon Davis, who was benched in San Francisco's last game, hauled in an 18-yard score to give the 49ers a 21-13 lead right before the half.

Hill completed 19-of-40 passes for 217 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Gore rushed for 99 yards on 23 carries for San Francisco, which has lost six straight games.

"We have a vision that we believe in thoroughly, but that vision did not get carried out tonight," Singletary said. "Part of that is ball control. We played as a team but we did not finish. It's simple as we did not finish."