Arizona Cardinals: 5 Players Who Performed Best in Week 2 vs the Redskins

For the Arizona Cardinals, the 21-22 loss to the Washington Redskins is simply heartbreaking. The Cardinals were in control for the majority of the game, only to come up short when it counted at the end.

The loss is cushioned somewhat by the knowledge that thus far two of Arizona’s rival teams in the NFC West have also lost this weekend, although we won’t know about the St. Louis Rams until tonight.

Despite the loss, there are some positives that we can take away from the game. In this slideshow, we will discuss five players whose Week 2 performances are worthy of commendation.

Although he was a presence throughout the game defensively, strong safety Adrian Wilson’s biggest moment came relatively early.

After an unnecessary roughness penalty against Arizona gave the Redskins the ball on the 10-yard line with a fresh set of downs, the Cardinals' defense needed a big play to swing the momentum. Adrian Wilson was the man who stepped up.

On 3rd-and-goal, he intercepted Rex Grossman in the end zone to keep the Redskins off the scoreboard on the first drive of the game.

During Arizona’s anemic defensive performance, big plays were hard to come by.

Safety Kerry Rhodes may have been the cause of the unnecessary roughness penalty from which Adrian Wilson rescued the team, but he redeemed himself with a consistent presence on the field for the remainder of the game.

Notably, Rhodes was the only player on the Arizona defense who was able to bring down Rex Grossman—he came up with the team’s only sack of the day.

Offensively, running back Beanie Wells is steadily demonstrating why the Cardinals were willing to let Tim Hightower walk away during this year’s free agency period.

Despite a lack of viable backup, Wells gave his all in the game.

He didn’t have any contributions to the passing game, but his numbers on the ground were excellent: He pounded down 93 yards of rushing (an average of 6.6 yards per carry), and ran in a touchdown.

When considering Arizona’s wide receivers, Jeff King’s name is not one of the first few that most come up with.

Despite some penalties, King made a valuable contribution to this week’s game by hooking up with Kevin Kolb for a 21-yard touchdown that put the Cardinals on the board in the first quarter.

Saving the best for last, it’s time to commend wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald for his all-around excellent game.

His longest catch of the day was a 73-yard touchdown that gave the Cardinals a 9-point lead in the fourth quarter, but his contributions until that point were numerous.

He finished the day with a commanding performance, reeling in seven receptions for a total of 133 yards in addition to the touchdown.