Cardinals Left Hanging, but Win

Jake Plummer built his reputation on last-minute comebacks. This time, he watched helplessly from the sidelines as Trent Green tried to perform a miracle finish for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Green fell two yards short.

Corey Chavous intercepted Green’s pass in the end zone with one second to play after the Chiefs had driven 97 yards, and the Arizona Cardinals hung on for a 24-16 victory Sunday.

“We’ve done that a few times,” Plummer said. “I know what it’s like for Trent over there. He was just throwing it up and his guys were making plays, but we stopped them and we got a win.”

Michael Pittman rushed for 95 yards in 26 carries and caught four passes for 42 yards. His 24-yard touchdown run put Arizona (2-3) up for good, 10-9, with 9:17 left in the third quarter.

Thomas Jones ran 13 yards for the other Arizona touchdown as the Cardinals scored on their first three possessions of the second half to take a 24-9 lead, the first time they had been ahead by as many as 15 points in 42 games.

Plummer completed 16 of 25 passes for 228 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown pass to David Boston. For the second game in a row, he did not throw an interception. Plummer also scrambled three times for 20 yards.

Only 35,916 watched the game in 73,000-seat Sun Devil Stadium.

“I don’t know what the ticket count was, but they got their money’s worth,” Arizona Coach Dave McGinnis said. “This football team is not in any position to apologize for wins. We took control of the football game, and then gave control back to them, then we came back and finally took it.”

Green completed 21 of 43 passes for 352 yards with a touchdown, but was intercepted twice. Priest Holmes carried 13 times for 85 yards.

“It’s a frustrating thing,” Green said. “There were times I wasn’t on, there were times there were drops, and there were times we just couldn’t get things done.”

The Chiefs lost their third straight and fell to 1-5 .