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| Sunday, September 21, 2003 - 3 pm at Sun Devil Stadium |
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
| Packers |
0 |
10 |
0 |
3 |
13 |
| Cardinals |
7 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
20 |
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Packers Player Of The Game
Brett Favre can be excused his final interception -- the one black mark on an otherwise solid day. Favre completed 23 of 33 passes -- including 10 in a row to start the game -- for 245 yards and 1 touchdown. Spreading it around the field, Favre hooked up with eight different receivers on the day, each of them catching at least two passes. Elusive in the pocket, Favre wasn’t sacked.
Cardinals Player Of The Game
Rushing for one touchdown and passing for another, quarterback Jeff Blake always seemed to have the answer for the Cardinals. Although he threw one interception, Blake wasn’t sacked. He completed 20 of 31 attempts for 273 yards. Many of his throws allowed Arizona to convert on third-and-long.
Stat Of The Game
The Arizona Cardinals converted on eight of 13 third downs, including one third-and-6, and four conversions of 9 yards or more (9, 10, 10, 14).
Play Of The Game
With the game on the line the Packers moved the ball 68 yards in the game’s final minutes. They just needed seven yards more. After driving to the Arizona 7-yard line, passes to Bubba Franks and Antonio Freeman fell incomplete. On third down, with 10 seconds left, Brett Favre’s pass was intercepted by Dexter Jackson, sealing a victory for the Arizona Cardinals. After the game, GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman indicated that the Packers would have gone for the 2-point conversion rather than force overtime with a point-after kick.
THEY SAID IT
GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman –
On if the Packers ‘overlooked’ Arizona: “Absolutely not. In this league, as I told the players last night, the greatest challenge that we have every week is to play to the very best of our ability, regardless of who we play, when we play, where we play, what time we play. There’s absolutely no looking forward to next week in this league. If you look forward to the next week, this is what happens to you. But we didn’t do that. That’s not why we lost. We lost because they played better than we did. Their backs were against the wall, they came out and made the plays they needed to make. I take my hat off to them and what they accomplished today.”
On why Tony Fisher played in place of Najeh Davenport: “The fumbles last week were a disappointment to me. He’s going to have to prove to me that that’s not going to be a part of it. In this game I thought turnovers were going to be a factor. They were. In the first quarter we turned the ball over and it resulted in points for them.”
On pass defense: “We didn’t cover very well. It did appear to me that a lot of crossing routes over the middle, our underneath coverage wasn’t deep enough or our deep coverage was too deep. And we did not drive hard on the crossing routes.”
On pass interference call charged to Al Harris: “I felt it was not catchable.”
On interception to end the game: “This game isn’t about the last play. There were so many other plays we could have, should have made in this game that we didn’t make -- both sides of the ball. This game does not come down to that play. Unfortunately, being our quarterback, (Brett Favre is) on the field, the last one to touch the ball. They made a play. When he let it go, I thought he had a window there from the sideline. That window closed. They made the play on the ball. Interception. We were going to go for 2 if we got the touchdown and hopefully make that.”
Nick Barnett –
On heat that reached 106 degrees: “It was hot, but I don’t think that had any factor in the way we played. We drank a lot of water and we had the little fan things going. The heat didn’t bother me at all. I don’t think it bothered anybody out there. We just didn’t play up to our capability today.”
Na’il Diggs –
On game: “I think we came out a little flat. I don’t think we came out with the spark we had last week, that’s for sure. We could have been a hell of a lot more explosive. As far as assignments, we were blowing them left and right. We weren’t executing anything well as far as defense goes. I could go on and on. The bottom line is we didn’t really come out and play like we’re supposed to.”
Robert Ferguson –
On if team can climb out of 1-2 hole: “It’s a hole that we have to dig out of. We have no choice. One-and-two is not what we expected, not what we dreamed about, it’s not what we worked for, but at the same time, we definitely can dig ourselves out of this hole.”
On loss: “It’s always difficult when you lose a game. I don’t know if we laid an egg or not, but it’s always disappointing to lose a game.”
Darren Sharper –
On loss: “It’s embarrassing. That’s the word I want to use, because we’re a better team than them. But they beat us today and it’s kind of embarrassing to come out here and lose.”
On if such embarrassment can be a motivator: “We were embarrassed the first week, came back and played better the second week. But you can’t keep getting embarrassed and come back and expect to play well. You’re going to end up 8-8 if you do it like that.”
On if he can call Packers a better than ‘ordinary’ team: “Yes, I can. We’re not playing that way, but I can say we’re better. Until we get out there and prove it, I don’t think anyone else can say it, but inside the locker room we know we’re a better team. Right now we’re not playing very good football.”
Mike Wahle –
On if Packers looked past Cardinals: “I would hope that we didn’t overlook them. I can’t speak for everybody. We knew coming in that they were a hungry football team. It’s very, very frustrating to know that we got outplayed today.”
GAME NOTES
Paid attendance at Sun Devil Stadium was 58,784.
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End of 4th quarter. Game over.
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On third-and-goal at the 7-yard line, Dexter Jackson intercepted a Brett Favre pass in the end zone (0:02, 4th quarter). On first-and-goal Favre fired incomplete for Bubba Franks. On second-and-goal, Favre was incomplete for Antonio Freeman.
The Packers' final drive began with 3:59 remaining. Javon Walker caught a Favre pass going across the middle and turned it up the sideline for a 34-yard gain. Two plays later Favre avoided a sack with a dump off pass that Franks turned into a 2-yard gain. Ahman Green had a 3-yard run on third-and-2 and a 1-yard run on third-and-1.
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Jeff Blake faked a handoff to Emmitt Smith and found James Hodgins open in the flat for a 1-yard touchdown pass to move Arizona ahead, 20-13 (3:59, 4th quarter). The Cardinals scoring drive was 11 plays, 68 yards. Time of the drive was 7:09.
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Ryan Longwell's 40-yard field goal tied the game, 13-13 (11:08, 4th quarter). Brett Favre's third-down pass for Donald Driver fell incomplete. Earlier on the drive Favre completed a 9-yard pass to Robert Ferguson and an 11-yard pass to William Henderson. Ahman Green had an 11-yard run. Antonio Chatman started the drive with a 33-yard punt return. The Packers scoring drive was 8 plays, 37 yards. Time of the drive was 2:48.
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Temperature at the start of the fourth quarter is 106 degrees.
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End of 3rd quarter.
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The Packers tried to respond to the Arizona score, but Brett Favre's pass for Javon Walker on third-and-4 fell incomplete. Earlier Favre hit Robert Ferguson for 15 yards and William Henderson for 14 yards. Josh Bidwell's 40-yard punt was downed by Rob Davis at the Arizona 2-yard line (4:15, 3rd quarter).
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Bill Gramatica's 37-yard field goal moved the Cardinals ahead, 13-10 (7:31, 3rd quarter). Antuan Edwards was there to defend Anquan Boldin in the end zone on third down. Earlier on the drive Boldin made a 20-yard catch. Bryant Johnson made a 15-yard catch. Emmitt Smith had an 11-yard run. The Cardinals scoring drive was 13 plays, 62 yards. Time of the drive was 7:29.
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End of 2nd quarter. Halftime.
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Bill Gramatica's 21-yard field goal tied the game, 10-10 (0:05, 2nd quarter). The Cardinals moved downfield on Jeff Blake's passing. Bryant Johnson had catches of 25, 14 and 12 yards. Anquan Bolding made a 22-yard catch. The Cardinals scoring drive was 8 plays, 77 yards. Time of the drive was 1:05.
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Ryan Longwell's 40-yard field goal moved the Packers ahead, 10-7 (1:17, 2nd quarter). Ahman Green was stopped 2-yards short of a first down on a 8-yard pass from Brett Favre on third down. Earlier on the drive William Henderson made a 22-yard catch. Tony Fisher had a 9-yard run. The Packers scoring drive was 11 plays, 54 yards. Time of the drive was 4:12.
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Brett Favre fired incomplete for Donald Driver, ending a streak of 10-straight completions today, and 14 dating back to the previous game. The 14 straight completions tie Favre's personal best. The Packers record is 18.
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Brett Favre found David Martin in the back corner of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown pass on third down to tie the game, 7-7 (6:44, 2nd quarter). Favre's completion was his 10th of the game in as many attempts. Going into the game, Favre had completed his last four passes against the Lions to give him a streak of 14 straight.
Earlier on the drive Tony Fisher extended to make an outstanding grab for a 23-yard gain. The Packers scoring drive was 8 plays, 61 yards. Time of the drive was 4:15.
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End of 1st quarter.
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Jeff Blake rolled right out of the pocket and faked a pass before leaping over Darren Sharper for a 1-yard touchdown run (4:16, 1st quarter). The Cardinals' possession started after Ahman Green's fumble. Cletidus Hunt stopped Emmitt Smith for a loss of 5 yards. Blake's 38-yard pass to Anquan Boldin gave Arizona first-and-goal at the 1-yard line. The Cardinals scoring drive was 4 plays, 39 yards. Time of the drive was 2:26.
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After Nick Barnett's interception gave the Packers possession, Ahman Green's fumble gave it back. Green was hit by Barron Tanner causing the fumble, which was recovered by Ray Thompson. The Cardinals took over at the Green Bay 39-yard line (6:42, 1st quarter). The fumble was the second of the game for Green, who recovered his previous fumble on the Packers' opening drive.
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Arizona's first possession ended in a turnover. On second-and-7 at the Green Bay 45-yard line, Jeff Blake threw to Anquan Boldin, who was hit by safety Darren Sharper as he tried to receive the ball. The deflected pass was then caught by Nick Barnett for an interception. Barnett returned the pick 5 yards. The Packers take over for their second possession at the Green Bay 41-yard line (6:51, 1st quarter). The interception was the second in as many games for Barnett.
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Temperature at kickoff is 102 degrees, tied for the hottest in Packers history.
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The following Packers are inactive for today's contest: Derek Combs, Brennan Curtin, Curtis Fuller, Chris Jackson, Aaron Kampman, Nick Luchey, Craig Nall (third quarterback), Wesley Walls.
Donald Driver and Robert Ferguson will start at wide receiver. |
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