Arizona Cardinals return specialist Ted Ginn Jr. hasn’t made it everywhere; he’s on his third team in three seasons and his fourth in his seven-year career. But something just clicks for him when it comes to playing games in the New York City area.
Ginn scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 71-yard punt return early in the fourth quarter as the Arizona Cardinals, playing without injured starting quarterback Carson Palmer, defeated the New York Giants 25-14 and now are in sole possession of first place in the NFC West. For Ginn, the score was his seventh career touchdown on either a kick or punt return, with three of those coming at The Meadowlands. He returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in a game against the New York Jets in 2009 as a member of the Miami Dolphins.
“I guess I love New York,” Ginn said when asked if there’s any specific reason why he’s had success in games in the New York/New Jersey area. “I just go out and I just play to play. It seems like in this city, in this state, good things happen for me, so it’s kind of like a good luck charm, I guess.”
The next game-changing play also came on special teams, immediately after Ginn’s score that gave Arizona a 19-14 advantage. Giants return man Quentin Demps fumbled on the ensuing kickoff, and after Arizona recovered at New York’s 21, Chandler Catanzaro nailed a 32-yard field goal to give the Cardinals a 22-14 lead.
Drew Stanton, starting because of a shoulder injury to Carson Palmer, led the Cardinals on a touchdown drive to begin the game, and that came about with the help of two Giants penalties, including an unnecessary roughness on linebacker Jameel McClain on a third-and-17, as he hit a defenseless Stanton just after the Cardinals committed a delay of game penalty. Stanton only completed 14 of his 29 passes, for 167 yards, but did not turn the ball over and put the Cardinals defense in position to make enough plays to win the game without an explosive offensive attack.
Speaking of offensive attacks, the Giants performed better this week with the ball compared to the disaster in Detroit last Monday night, but were still beset by mistakes which don’t seem will come to an end anytime soon. The four turnovers obviously are concerning, but the most surprising follies committed by Big Blue today were the five drops from their receiving corps, including a couple from Pro Bowler Victor Cruz. In particular, his drop on a third-and-6 from the Giants’ own 26 in the fourth quarter arguably was the first domino falling in New York’s fourth-quarter meltdown, as the subsequent punt by Steve Weatherford was the one that Ginn returned to the house to give the Cardinals the lead for good. Even after the Cardinals went up by eight, the Giants drove down deep into Arizona territory and had a chance to tie the game and save face. From Arizona’s 17 with 4:42 remaining, running back Rashad Jennings caught a pass out of the backfield, but fumbled the ball away after stumbling onto the turf. He lost the ball upon impact with the ground, but was yet to be touched by a Cardinal defender when the ball popped free. Arizona safety Rashad Johnson recovered the ball to effectively seal the game.
All of the mistakes left Giants head coach Tom Coughlin almost fuming as he explained where his team goes from this already crucial point in the season.
“You work your ass off,” an exasperated Coughlin exclaimed, before reining in his emotions a little immediately afterward. “You work as hard as you can. Bear down. You run around like a crazy man. You get your coaches to apply themselves even harder, the players to apply themselves harder. I look out there and, hey, they’re all men. Stop feeling sorry for ourselves. We had an opportunity. We let it slip. We have no one to blame but ourselves.”
Arizona, dating back to last season, has won nine of its last 11 games. Even more impressive is the fact that they’ve won four of their last five road games, a pretty fine accomplishment for a team and a franchise that has had a severe case of road woes and road weariness.
“On the road, it’s huge,” said first-year Cardinal linebacker and 13-year NFL veteran Larry Foote, someone used to winning road games on a regular basis as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. “I told the boys I do not care who we play. It could be the Bad News Bears. A win on the road is big time.”
[Cover photo (Ted Ginn Jr.) courtesy of Robert Deutsch/USA Today Sports]
