Pro /Football Week 15 : Cardinals Join the Also-Rans, 23-17 : Eagles Take 21-0 First-Quarter Lead and Hold On for Win

Randall Cunningham, Keith Byars and Cris Carter scored first-quarter touchdowns as the Philadelphia Eagles took a 21-0 lead and held off error-prone Phoenix, 23-17, Saturday, eliminating the Cardinals from National Football League playoff contention.

The Eagles (9-6) are a half-game behind the NFC East-leading New York Giants, who play the Kansas City Chiefs today at East Rutherford, N.J. The Cardinals (7-8) have lost 4 straight.

Philadelphia led, 21-7, at halftime, but the Cardinals narrowed the score to 21-17 after linebacker E.J. Junior scored on a 36-yard fumble return 1:04 into the third quarter and Al Del Greco kicked a 40-yard field goal with 13:49 remaining.

But Izel Jenkins blocked Greg Horne’s punt out of the end zone for a safety with 10:58 left to boost Philadelphia’s lead to 6 points.

Phoenix had a chance to take the lead in the final minute of play. The Cardinals, starting from their 20-yard line with 3:39 to play, drove to Philadelphia’s 13, but Neil Lomax then threw 3 straight incompletions, and the Eagles took over and ran out the final 39 seconds.

“They had a hell of a drive,” Eagle Coach Buddy Ryan said. “It was scary as hell. We had to do something to make it happen for us. Our defense won the last game against Phoenix (a 31-21 victory 2 weeks ago at Philadelphia), and our defense won this game.

“We’ve been peaking all year,” Ryan said. “You’re supposed to win the games in November to be in the playoffs. Of course, this is December. You got to win now, too.”

Cunningham’s 15-yard run 5:13 into the game made it 7-0 before Philadelphia turned two Phoenix fumbles in a 1:17 span into Byars’ 4-yard touchdown run and Cunningham’s 37-yard scoring pass to Carter.

Lomax’s 93-yard bomb to rookie Ernie Jones--the fifth-longest pass in Cardinal history--cut the deficit to 21-7 early in the second quarter.

Lomax completed 29 of 50 passes for 384 yards, and Cunningham hit on 10 of 26 for 169 yards. Both threw 1 interception.

“Are we a playoff team? That’s not even a question,” Cunningham said. “We’re a playoff-caliber team, regardless of whether we win or lose. We beat the Giants twice, we beat Phoenix twice and we beat Dallas. That says a lot for this team.”

A crowd of 54,832 watched the game at 72,175-seat Sun Devil Stadium. There were 7,946 no-shows.

The Cardinals, who moved here from St. Louis last March, have yet to officially sell out any of their seven home games this season but have drawn 428,351, breaking the club record of 384,675 set in 1981.

“It’s hard to get behind that far and still come back,” Cardinal Coach Gene Stallings said. “There’s a lot to be said for our effort, but we still fell short. The early fumbles really, really set us back.”