NFL: Cards make history

They open game with TD kickoff return, end it with blocked punt

Bob Baum | The Associated Press

10/12/2008 - 10/13/08

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Never before had an NFL team started a game with a kickoff return for a score, then ended it with a blocked punt in overtime for a touchdown.

It was that kind of crazy day in the desert.

J.J. Arrington, inactive the first four games of the season, opened things up with a 93-yard return for an Arizona score.

Several comebacks and many clutch plays later, Sean Morey blocked Mat McBriar's punt, then Monty Beisel scooped up the ball and scored from 3 yards to give the Cardinals a wild 30-24 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

It was the first time in NFL history that a blocked punt for a touchdown ended a game in overtime.

"I can't remember one that was this crazy," Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner said, "especially toward the end."

Morey rushed untouched off the left side of the Dallas line to block the kick. Beisel, a backup linebacker, picked up the ball at about the 3 and bowled over the goal line.

Morey said that in previous punts, his assignment was to double-team Dallas' Kevin Burnett to set up the return. But this time, Burnett had been moved from tackle to guard.

"They just had new personnel," Morey said, "so I figured if I have to block the tackle, and the tackle's not going to block me, then I'm just going to make a play at the end of the game."

McBriar was hurt on the play and had to be carted off the field in the din of a crowd that included the usual large portion of Dallas fans.

Dallas (4-2) scored 10 points in the final 2 minutes of regulation, sending the game into overtime when Nick Folk's 52-yard field goal barely cleared the crossbar as the fourth quarter ended.

"It was almost a miracle finish for us," Dallas coach Wade Phillips said.

Almost isn't good enough when you're the Cowboys, who thus far haven't been the dominating team many expected them to be.

"This season isn't going to go straight down this narrow path and be a nice and cozy Sunday drive," Dallas quarterback Tony Romo said.

Folk was in field-goal range only because a 5-yard offside penalty was called against injured Arizona linebacker Travis LaBoy as he tried to limp downfield. The penalty moved the ball from the 40 to the 35.

That was just one of the weird moments in Arizona's sixth consecutive home victory. The Cardinals are 4-2 overall.

"It didn't seem like the bounces or the calls were going our way and sometimes you have to overcome those things," said Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt, whose team is 9-2 at home since he became coach. "I think our team did that. That's part of growing up and getting mentally tougher."

Romo was sacked three times and had to hurry his throw on several other occasions.

"Today I got hit blind-side for the first time in awhile," he said. "But they're good. Their D-line played an outstanding football game. You've got to give them credit. That was, I thought, the difference of the game."