Mexico Embraces Game

The biggest regular-season crowd in league history turned up Sunday at Azteca Stadium wearing vibrant colors and singing raucous cheers.

The league’s first regular-season game outside the United States was attended by 103,467 fans who witnessed the Arizona Cardinals’ 31-14 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

Josh McCown passed for a career-high 385 yards and two touchdowns, and Neil Rackers kicked a career-best six field goals in the 7,700-foot altitude.

But the sloppy play and one-sided result in a game between two of the NFL’s worst teams seemed secondary to the goodwill and international exposure of a venture the league hopes to turn into an annual event.

The cavernous arena was packed to the rafters with a crowd that exceeded the league’s most optimistic projections two days ago, proving the sport’s following in Mexico is second to none outside the United States.

“It was wonderful. They’re great fans, really into the game, more knowledgeable than I thought they would be,” said Rackers, who fell one short of the NFL record for field goals in a game. “It was probably the best crowd I’ve been around.”

The Cardinals (1-3) agreed to give up a home game to make history, and the NFC West rivals played in front of 68,398 more fans than they drew for last season’s meeting at Sun Devil Stadium. The crowd topped the previous NFL record for a regular-season game, when 102,368 fans saw the Los Angeles Rams play the 49ers at the Coliseum on Nov. 10, 1957.

Derek Smith and Derrick Johnson scored on fumble recoveries for San Francisco (1-3) in the first quarter, with Smith scoring on the game’s first play and Johnson returning his 78 yards. But Arizona scored the rest of the night’s points, with Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin making tough catches for scores.

Both teams took the field to wild cheers, but free safety Robert Griffith got the biggest roars when he led the Cardinals out of their giant inflatable helmet wildly waving a Mexican flag.