Cardinals Keep Hope Alive, 17-15 : NFC: Field goal by Greg Davis on final play gives Arizona the victory over Washington and evens record under Ryan.

The Arizona Cardinals have remained in playoff contention by winning close games.

The Cardinals have won twice with field goals in overtime and another time by a single point. On Sunday, they defeated the Washington Redskins, 17-15, on Greg Davis’ 27-yard, final-play field goal, and Coach Buddy Ryan said it looked like “a playoff-caliber” victory to him.

“The main thing is to win,” he said, “and sometimes you have to win when you’re not as fired up.”

After the Redskins took a 15-14 lead with 2:54 left on Chip Lohmiller’s 21-yard field goal, Jay Schroeder, who threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl in the first quarter, led the Cardinals (7-7) on a 70-yard scoring drive.

His 29-yard flare pass to Garrison Hearst on fourth and one took the ball to the Washington six with 51 seconds left. The Cardinals ran down the clock with two more snaps before Davis kicked the winning field goal.

Davis said he was ready to kick from the 35 but couldn’t talk Ryan out of going for the first down with the pass to Hearst.

“I wanted to kick,” Davis said. “But after I watched the play, I thought, ‘God bless Garrison Hearst.’ ”

Each team had a touchdown and a field goal in the fourth quarter.

The Cardinals got the ball after Lohmiller kicked his third field goal to give the Redskins (2-12) their only lead. The loss was the Redskins’ 15th in a row in the NFC East, a league record that surpassed a 14-game skid by the Houston Oilers in the AFC Central from 1972-74.

“I have a good feeling about our football team,” Coach Norv Turner said. “We played physical in the game today, and we made some good plays.”