Red Zone Blues For The Cardinals 'O', But Many Happy Returns

Red Zone Blues Waste Premium Debut of Stephens-Howling

Scott Z Brady

In the Cardinals triumphant return to University of Phoenix following last January's NFC Title Game, the fans didn't look much different than they did that fateful Sunday just eight months ago. Of course, there was no explosion of red and white confetti and no tears running down the cheeks of long suffering fans. But this was a loud, boisterous crowd that welcomed home their football hero's with relentless adulation.

This crowd that is fast becoming one of the NFL's most advantageous of home field advantages.

And as any Cardinals fan that watched former kickoff return man JJ Arringtion's opening touchdown trot against the hated Dallas Cowboys last season can attest, few things can rile an already explosive crowd like a jubilant jaunt through an opposing team's defense as they are just settling into their seats.

Cardinals RB/KO return guy de' jure LaRod Stephens-Howling, a 7th round draft pick that happened to go basically unnoticed and overlooked as more than 200 college players went off the board in April. But he ignited the faithful when he took the opening boot up the middle, got kind of lost in a pile of relative behemoths to his 5'7" frame, then popped back out and scampered down the sideline for an 89 yard return to the San Diego Chargers 7 yard line.

After rave reviews from Flagstaff of this kid's potential were expressed by the coaching staff, it was showtime. And LaRod Stephens-Howling, the 2nd straight hyphenated rookie to poke his head out of the Cards nest, right into the spotlight, certainly put on a show. But he wasn't done.

Early in the 2nd quarter, Stephens-Howling took another return back 63 yards, setting the Big Red offense up for yet another easy scoring opportunity. The fans were delirious! Well, ok.. they were happy, but somewhat stunned by the lack of production from the offense, be they first or second string.

Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Tim Hightower and company were only able to move the ball a few yards before the Cards settled for a Neil Rackers FG with less than a minute off the clock. Stephens-Howling's 2nd return ended up being an intercepted pass by Brian St Pierre in the 2nd quarter.

St Pierre threw a beautiful, perfectly placed 28 yd pass to TE Leonard Pope to the SD 4 yard line just before he tossed it to SD safety Clinton Hart at the goalline, killing another promising scoring opportunity. It was the Cards 2nd pick of the half. And the sad realization that LaRod Stephens-Howling's over 150 yards in 2 returns resulted in a measly 3 points, set in.

After struggling on his first 2 drives, Warner guided the team to its most (only?) productive drive of an otherwise dismal evening. It was a 10 play, 67 yard drive that ended when Warner tried to chuck an 11 yard pass to Larry Fitzgerald, only to have the other hyphenated Cardinal's cousin, Antonio Cromartie step in front of Fitz and take the ball back 38 yards. The drive, however, was highlighted by a couple nice runs, including a 19 yarder, by Hightower.

There's no reason for panic, of course. But there IS reason for concern when a team that averaged 30 points last season, has been only able to muster a single TD in 2 games in the dawn of 2009.