Arizona Cardinal Of The Week: Week Nine

Again, a very tough loss. There weren't a lot of people who deserved to be on the list this week, but I came up with a couple of them.

Also, Steve Breaston won last week with 57% of the vote.

Joey Porter - 6 Tackles (2 for a loss), 5 QB hits, 2 Sacks

Porter had his best game as a Cardinal on Sunday, and ever since his promise before the Seahawks game when he only had one Sack that he would finish the year with double digit Sacks, he has been delivering on his promise. In the last three games, he has racked up four Sacks, bringing his total to five for the year, and he currently leads the team in Sacks (Darnell Dockett, Calais Campbell, and Alan Branch are tied for 2nd with two). Yesterday, Porter was consistently in Brett Favre's face, nailing him on several plays after he got the pass off, and providing the pass rush that was expected when he was signed in the offseason. Porter's pressure even forced Favre into throwing a Pick to Rashad Johnson in the endzone during the 3rd Quarter.

Larry Fitzgerald - 7 Catches (10 targets) for 107 yards

In his return to his home state of Minnesota, Fitz is starting to look like the big time receiver that he was last year. Following a two touchdown game last week against Tampa Bay, he didn't get one this week but he had his first 100 yard game of the season, and his chemistry with Derek Anderson seems like it is improving. Hopefully as the year goes on, Anderson will continue to find Larry Fitzgerald and allow him to have another big season. Fitz also became the second youngest person to reach 7,500 receiving yards (behind Randy Moss), during his 7 year career, Fitz has 565 catches for 7,577 yards, and 63 Touchdown.

LaRod Stephens-Howling - 4 Carries for 0 yards, Catch for 9 yards, 96 yard Kickoff Return for a Touchdown

This guy seems to make it on this list every week, he is just playing that well this year. If anyone with the Cardinals is going to make the Pro Bowl this year, it will be him. While he was not much of a factor on offense with the inability to get the ground game going, he had a huge kick return for a Touchdown following a Touchdown pass by Brett Favre in the 2nd Quarter that tied the game. The Hyphen now has three Kickoff Returns that went for Touchdowns in his short career with the Cardinals (would be four if the one against Atlanta wasn't called back), and he is becoming one of the best kick returners in the NFL. He still needs three of them to tie Ollie Matson for the franchise record though.

Michael Adams - 5 Tackles (1 for a loss), Fumble Return for a Touchdown

After the first three people it gets tough to find someone for the 4th spot, and because Kerry Rhodes had the ball stripped on what could have been a Pick 6 early in the game last night, I decided to go with Adams. He made some nice tackles, and his Fumble Recovery following the Fumble that was forced by O'Brien Schofield on the Opening Kickoff of the 2nd Half was a huge momentum shift that should have taken the life out of the Vikings, and for a while (until the 4:00 mark of the 4th Quarter) it seemed like it did. Following the Touchdown by Adams, the Cardinals also tied an NFL record with 4 Fumble Returns for a Touchdown.