Cards avoid 1st losing season since 1998

Arizona Cardinals did not have a losing season. That's not headline news for most teams, but it's the first time the Cardinals have managed it in eight years.

Larry Fitzgerald caught 11 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns, and Arizona finished an 8-8 season with a 48-19 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday, the Cardinals' highest-scoring game in 30 years.

The .500 record under first-year coach Ken Whisenhunt is Arizona's best since going 9-7 and making the playoffs in 1998. The Cardinals' only other non-losing season in 23 years was 8-8 in 1994, Buddy Ryan's first year as Arizona coach.

Kurt Warner threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns but was intercepted twice. Oshiomogho Atogwe returned one of the picks 52 yards for a score that cut the Cardinals' lead to 31-19 with 1:48 left in the third quarter.

On the next possession, Anquan Boldin's 20-yard touchdown reception, his career-best ninth scoring catch of the season, boosted the lead to a comfortable 38-19 with 13:37 to play.

The Rams (3-13), plagued by injuries most of the year, finished with a four-game losing streak after opening 0-8.

Antrel Rolle intercepted two of Marc Bulger's passes, returning the first 47 yards for a touchdown. It was Rolle's third return of a pick for a score this season. Gerald Hayes picked off Gus Frerotte's pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown with 3:09 left.

Warner, who took over from injured Matt Leinart against the Rams five games into the season, threw for 27 touchdowns, one shy of the Cardinals' season record shared by Charley Johnson (1963) and Neil Lomax (1984).

Arizona finished 6-2 at home in the franchise's biggest scoring output since the then-St. Louis Cardinals of coach Don Coryell beat New Orleans 49-31 on Oct. 23, 1977.

Edgerrin James rushed for 102 yards in 24 carries, including a 2-yard TD run.

Fitzgerald, who had TD catches of 20 and 6 yards, finished the season with 100 receptions.

Selected this season to his second Pro Bowl, the 24-year-old Fitzgerald broke a franchise record for a first half with 136 yards receiving, helping Arizona open a 24-6 lead. His eight first-half catches tied a first-half franchise mark.

Arizona took the lead for good with two touchdowns in a 65-second span of the second quarter to go up 17-3.

The teams traded field goals in the first quarter, then a gamble by the Rams backfired. St. Louis went for it on fourth-and-four at the Arizona 43, but Bulger's pass was knocked down by Rod Hood.

The Cardinals went 57 yards in eight plays, the last 20 on runs of 15, 3 and 2 by James, and it was 10-3 with 7:45 left in the half. On the second play from scrimmage after the kickoff, Rolle made a diving interception, then got to his feet and evaded tacklers on a scrambling, 47-yard return for a score.

Fitzgerald's three catches accounted for all but one yard on Arizona's 8-play, 64-yard drive for its third TD of the quarter. His leaping catch of Warner's 21-yard pass in the left edge of the end zone put the Cardinals ahead 24-3 with 1:06 left in the half.