Calais Campbell should be signed long-term to the Arizona Cardinals. He probably was the most dominating player on the team's defense this past season. That doesn't mean he has an awesome game every time he plays. Early in the season, he had one of his most impressive games of the season against the Seattle Seahawks, logging 2.5 sacks and 10 tackles, five of which were solo tackles.

In Week 17 against the same team, he did not do so well. In fact, hemade the Pro Football Focus "Had a Bad Day" list.

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Pro Football Focus recognized once again the players graded the highest at each position during Week 17. With their win on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, the Arizona Cardinals had a couple of players who made that list. One is no surprise -- receiver Larry Fitzgerald -- who not only a spectacular day in numbers, but also had two amazing plays in overtime.

The other player recognized is less expected -- reserve defensive lineman Vonnie Holliday.

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In overtime the Arizona Cardinals seem to shine in the 2011-12 season. It means something when a coach decides to kneel the ball with 30 seconds left and take his chances in the extra period of play. That something is the play of his team, specifically that of his Quarterback. John Skelton usually gets hot in the 4th Quarter of play and his hot streak continues into the extra period. In week 17 Larry Fitzgerald had hot hands and was performing circus catches in the second half making John Skelton look like a professional, the Seattle defenders look like rookies, and the Cardinals Front Office look like genius' for signing Fitz' contract extension during the season that at many times looks like a bargain price! The play of the game could go to any of Larry's incredible catches, but the one handed grab at 8:36 in overtime on 2nd and 9 has to be the play of the game.

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The season has come to an end for the Arizona Cardinals. They started the year off with a win, and then the roller coaster took its first drop, a nasty six game whirlwind that left many white knuckled. But after the drop, the coaster picked up speed and began the climb back to the heights of winning. During this time, a young defense matured in a new scheme under coach Ray Horton.

This defense took the the field in the game and made numerous plays, although they were beaten for two long touchdown plays. Barring those, the defense stepped up, with a number of exceptional individual efforts. In fact, so many that I had to whittle down the list to make the top five.

Without further fanfare, hit the jump to see my top five defensive plays of the game.

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Highs and lows, highs and lows. We've experienced more highs and lows in each weekly Cardinal game than a kid on ride at Six Flags! The bonehead plays this week go to the three and out at 2:17 left in the 4th Quarter. The play calling was terrible, pass-run-pass, and the running plays were so clearly drawn out it seemed like it was a replay "TE shift to the right side, then WR shift to right side, overload right with TE in motion". It worked the first two times, but on the third, fourth, and fifth times it resulted in little to no yardage.

From a 1st and 15 with that much time left I expected a run, quick pass slant, and then have the option of a play action for a big pass if needed, or bring in Smith or Taylor for the 3rd down back to get those last remaining yards. But instead, the Cardinals were only able to run 31 seconds off of the clock and were forced to punt the ball back to Seattle to start at the Seattle 39 yard line. The Cardinals Offense put the pressure on the Defense to once again save the team from a loss due to an inconsistent offense. Lucky for us all, the Defense answered the call and allowed the game to go to OT. The rest is history from there.

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Another NFL regular season has come and gone, but it was nice to know that instead of going into the offseason with defeat crowding their minds, the Arizona Cardinals have something to look forward to in the new year. After defeating the Seattle Seahawks by a final score of 23-20 in overtime, the only thing Cardinals fans have to look forward to is seeing some of their favorite team's players represent the NFC in the Pro Bowl later this month.

As for the game, it came down to the wire -- a common theme for this year's Cardiac Cards. Arizona did just enough to get the victory, but there were a few plays/aspects to this game that almost had this game slip between their fingers. Let's take a look at five of them after the jump.

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8 - 8. The Arizona Cardinals pulled even at .500 with the last game of the season, needing overtime to find the victory. This was a spirited game, with pushing and shoving on both sides, which for the NFC West heralds a new dawn of competition.

Going into halftime, the Cardinals had the lead, and today it was the offense keeping the game within reach.

A win is a win, and this provides momentum heading into the off-season. Hit the jump to see what the team had to say about today's victory.

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And with that, Arizona is 8-8. This caps off an improbable come from behind season. After falling 1-6, many fans thought the season was over. But behind John Skelton, the Cardinals went 6-2. This may just spark a quarterback battle this offseason. Hit the jump for the season finale of the "Cardiac Cards"

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