GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Virtually no one was immune from the plague of mistakes that infected the Arizona Cardinals’ 24-23 victory over the Oakland Raiders.
Sebastian Janikowski saved his worst for last.
The Oakland kicker has made 90 percent of his field goal attempts from inside 40 yards (74 of 82) in his 10-plus NFL seasons. When he lined up for the game-winning try from 32 yards on Sunday, a Raiders’ victory seemed a foregone conclusion.
But the man who hadn’t missed one this short in four years shanked it wide left, and the Cardinals escaped.
“A win is a win but I don’t necessarily feel like we outplayed them,” Arizona outside linebacker Joey Porter said.
The two-time reigning NFC West champion Cardinals are 2-1, but the wins have been shaky and the loss was a rout.
“We obviously have a lot of work to do to get the puzzle that our team is together,” Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt said.
Janikowski, who left without talking to reporters, missed two other field goals: a 41-yarder and a 58-yarder. Both were wide right. He made kicks from 22, 54 and 23 yards. His shot at the final field goal came when Cardinals cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie drew a 39-yard pass interference penalty.
“As I told our team, I don’t feel like the game was won or lost on the last play right there,” Raiders coach Tom Cable said. “It certainly could have been won, but we had a lot of opportunities in the second half to put some exclamation points out there and we couldn’t do it.”
LaRod Stephens-Howling returned the opening kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown for Arizona and Derek Anderson threw two touchdown passes, including an 8-yarder to Larry Fitzgerald with 1:01 left in the third quarter that proved to be the game winner.
Oakland (1-2) committed 11 penalties for 123 yards, Arizona seven for 104.
“In realistically assessing our football team, when you have the number of changes that we have, we understand that we’re going to have to go through a process like this,” Whisenhunt said. “If we can eke out wins, I’ll take as many of them as I can get.”
New Raiders starting quarterback Bruce Gradkowski was 17 of 34 for 255 yards and a touchdown with one interception. He threw 12 yards to Darrius Heyward-Bey on fourth-and-10 from his own 36 to keep the final drive alive. But he also was the culprit in a delay-of-game penalty after another pass interference call – this one against Arizona’s Greg Toler – gave the Raiders the ball on first-and-goal at the Arizona 1-yard line midway through the fourth quarter.
The penalty pushed the ball back to the 6 and Arizona’s defense held, forcing Oakland to settle for Janikowski’s 23-yard field goal that cut the lead to 24-23 with 7:59 to play. Gradkowski got the start after coach Tom Cable benched Jason Campbell at halftime of last week’s 16-14 victory over St. Louis.
“We had a lot of opportunities, but that one goal-line stand is right now killing me,” Gradkowski said. “I take responsibility. I should have called a time out, but my competitiveness said, `We can pull this off.’ I saw the clock and knew I wanted the ball and QB sneak and get in there. I have to be better than that – call a time out, regroup and put it in the end zone.”
Cable said Gradkowski was “up and down” in his play
“His leadership was great,” the Raiders coach said. “When we needed to make a play, it seemed like on third down he was pretty sharp that way. But again I think he would be the first to tell you that we had four or five opportunities in the red zone and only scored one touchdown.”
Two of Oakland’s field goals came after Raiders punts bounced off the legs of an Arizona player – first Matt Ware, then Rodgers-Cromartie.
Oakland’s Darren McFadden gained 105 yards in 25 attempts, giving him 345 yards rushing in the first three games of the season.
Anderson completed just 12 of 26 passes for 122 yards and was intercepted once, but was 3 for 3 for 41 yards on the drive to the deciding touchdown. Beanie Wells, in his first game of the season after sitting out two games following arthroscopic knee surgery, gained 24 yards on his first carry and finished with 75 yards and 14 attempts. Teammate Tim Hightower had 40 in 11 carries, including a 13-yarder in the final touchdown drive.
“I know it’s getting old,” Anderson said, “but I feel like we are a better football team than we played again today.”
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