Arizona took Seattle’s best shot, bounced off the mat and reiterated their alpha status in the NFC West with a 31-20 pillar victory. With the win the Cardinals sit firmly entrenched as the team to beat in the division, now with a 6-3 record and a season sweep of the Seahawks.

Below are some of my in-game notes, and postgame observations

In-game notes:

• Cardinals wearing all red uniforms: priceless. I had been waiting for them to do this. There is just something more menacing looking about monochrome uniforms. Don’t ask me why, I don’t understand the psychology of it either, but it works for me.

• I expect this to be a dogfight. Just learned the ‘hawks center is snapping with his “wrong” hand today with the other one injured. Nothing smells more like victory than that!

• Bertrand Berry makes his presence known, starting in place of Chike Okeafor, getting a sack on ‘hawks first drive to set up 3rd and 18 which ended in a punt.

• Great punting by Ben Graham.

• Two big Arizona mistakes so far in my opinion: 2nd and 1 at midfield, WR screen to Larry Fitzgerald for a loss on a play when the Seahawks knew the Cardinals would be passing (Arizona leads the league in passing attempts and is last in the league in rushing attempts). On 3rd and 1, when the Seahawks knew the Cardinals would be running, they run the ball up the middle for no gain and end up punting the ball.

Also, Anquan Boldin made a spectacular reach at the end of a pass to appear to score. The call on the field was that he was down at the 1-yard line. The Cardinals had just used one challenge the play before to reverse a Kurt Warner interception, so I understand the logic in not making another challenge. However, on 4th and goal the Cardinals ran the ball up the middle and did not get any points. Had they challenged, it is my firm belief that would have led 7-0. Boldin was robbed.

• I don’t understand why Steve Breaston fields so many punts without signaling for a fair catch, with defenders close by. Where is the communication between players to tell him that a defender is closing in? He does this frequently, but it has not ended in disaster yet—fumbling the ball resulting in the opposing team being in prime scoring position. He must have great karma.

• If Antrel Rolle makes that interception in the end zone, it is 14-7 Seattle with two minutes to play before half and Arizona primed for a scoring drive. Instead, WR Deon Butler makes a great play by breaking up the pass and Seattle keeps moving the chains, which results in three more points as they go up 17-7 and the clock down to just over one minute.

• You can’t be too hard on Tackle Mike Gandy since he is playing with an injury, but his two costly penalties really stink, none more than the one to eliminate a TD pass seconds to go before half which would have brought the Cards to within 17-14, instead of 17-10.

• That 15-yard penalty on Beanie Wells was bogus! The Seahawks player grazed the referee’s face and hat as he was slapping Wells in the face, yet it is Beanie who gets flagged for retaliating? Great to see him run it in from 4th and 1 at the 10 to make up for it. 17-17.

Postgame observations:

• A win is a win is a win. Yet still the Cardinals can look extremely vulnerable, putting it as nicely as I can. Arizona allowed 29 first downs and 472 total yards. I can’t help but wonder how much they missed starters Chike Okeafor and Gerald Hayes. Bertrand Berry filled in for Okeafor and notched a sack, but also two costly penalties to keep Seattle alive and driving. Ali Highsmith, Hayes’ fill-in, looked lost at times. I like Highsmith’s energy but he needs to shore up his understanding of his assignments.

• Two unheralded defenders having solid seasons are Clark Haggans and Bryan Robinson. B-Rob registered a sack and a pass deflection and Haggans delivered two sacks to become the team’s leader with 4.5 on the season. I don’t know if Arizona could have pulled off this win without them.

• Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie had another fine game, breaking up three passes and darn near intercepting two.

• Antrel Rolle is making less mistakes this year and more plays. He recorded another interception to bring his team-leading season total to four, and could have had another if it weren’t for Deon Butler’s heads up play (see above). He led the team with nine tackles—all solo.

• As great a game as Kurt Warner ended up having after a shaky start, as did Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Steve Breaston and Tim Hightower, the game ball has to go to Beanie Wells. For a second game in a row he surpassed 13 carries and 72 yards, and this time he added his second and third touchdowns of his young career. It was his intensity and determined running that gave the Cardinals a lift when they needed it most.