‘On the same page’
Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald hugs quarterback Josh Rosen after Rosen threw the game-winning touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth quarter on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.
In his 15 NFL seasons, Larry Fitzgerald has caught 1,268 passes, gained 15,902 yards and scored 112 touchdowns. He's done about everything with a football that a receiver can do.
That changed on Sunday.
After catching a pass for a two-point conversion in
the final minutes, Fitzgerald wound up and spiked a football for the first time in his life.
It was as much a release of frustration as it was a moment of celebration, and it showed what an 18-15 victory over the 49ers meant to a downtrodden team on the edge of fracturing.
But to hear Fitzgerald tell it, the reason for the spike was strictly personal. His oldest son, Devin, decided to attend the state fair rather than see his dad and two 1-6 teams play at State Farm Stadium.
It was a sound decision by the young man, but it put his father in a bad mood.
“I was carrying that around all day,” Fitzgerald said, “so when I get in there, I kind of let it out. So all the kids that were watching, I’m sorry, I set a bad example today.”
Fitzgerald smiled and laughed as he said this, something he hasn’t been able to do much after games this season. The Cardinals are 2-6, with both victories coming against the 1-7 49ers.
It won’t go down as a win for the ages. Those don’t come when you’re 1-6.
But in a season full of disappointments, the Cardinals' comeback victory over the 49ers on Sunday at least provided hope that something could be salvaged this season.
The Cardinals, who trailed by nine at the end of three quarters, scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to win 18-15.
They did it by blending the old, the 35-year-old Fitzgerald, and the new, 21year-old quarterback Josh Rosen.
Fitzgerald caught the first touchdown pass of the quarter to bring the Cardinals within five. And he made two huge receptions on a 12-play, 73-yard touchdown drive in the final minutes.
The first catch was an 11-yard gain on third-and-10. The second was a 20-yard reception that Fitzgerald made despite having his legs knocked out from under him.
Cardinals fans among the 61,923 in attendance chanted “Lar-ry, Lar-ry!,” and they were joined by some of Fitzgerald’s teammates.
“Every time they’re chanting ‘Larry!’ I’m chanting ‘Larry,’ as well,” safety Budda Baker said.
“Every time I hear a Larry chant, I’m in on it,” tackle D.J. Humphries added. "That’s my boy, but I’m a fan, straight up.”
There haven’t been many of those moments this season for Fitzgerald, who caught 26 passes for 255 yards and one touchdown in the first seven games. Last week, he was asked about needing only 135 receiving yards to move past Terrell Owens into second place in NFL history.
Fitzgerald joked that given the way the Cardinals offense was struggling, he might not reach the milestone until Week 16 or so.
It was dark humor befitting a team in contention for being the worst in the NFL.
The first half of the season was rough for the Cardinals, and the last week or so was the worst.
They were blown out by Denver in prime time last Thursday. Coach Steve Wilks fired offensive coordinator Mike McCoy the next day and replaced him with quarterbacks coach Byron Leftwich. On Monday, news broke that cornerback Patrick Peterson had asked to be traded, Peterson didn’t deny it when he met with reporters two days later.
Small fissures appeared to be turning into large cracks, but Fitzgerald is one reason the Cardinals haven't crumbled yet.
On Thursday, he helped create a light mood in the locker room by teasing Peterson about a "one-day holdout" on Tuesday, a day off. Everyone laughed.
More importantly, Fitzgerald, the oldest position player on the team, always works as hard as anyone in practice. That sets a tone for everyone else.
And on Sunday, Fitzgerald did Fitzgerald things. It ignited a crowd that had been numbed by 2 1⁄2 hours or so of bad offensive football. It boosted the spirit of a team wondering if anything good was going to happen again this season.
“We all know what he is,” Wilks said, “a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”
All the caveats should be applied to the Cardinals' victory. The 49ers aren’t very good. The Cardinals' offense looked anemic, again, for most of the afternoon. And the second-half schedule is littered with potential blowouts: at the Chiefs, at the Chargers, at Green Bay, at Atlanta, home against the Rams, etc.
But at least the Cardinals didn’t lose to the 49ers. And Devin Fitzgerald probably had a good time at the fair, even if he missed the old man putting on a pretty good show in Glendale.