National Football League

Arizona looks to strong finish of miserable season

Published Dec. 27, 2010 11:22 p.m. ET

foxsports

For the second time in four weeks, the Arizona Cardinals will be facing a team that just fired its coach.

On Dec. 12, Arizona beat Denver 43-13 only six days after the Broncos fired coach Josh McDaniels. Next Sunday, Arizona will finish its season at San Francisco, six days after coach Mike Singletary was shown the door.

A Cardinals victory would end a three-game skid against the 49ers and mean a 3-1 finish to a mostly miserable season.

Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt, already the old-timer among NFC West coaches in his fourth season, went 1-3 against Singletary-coached San Francisco.

With his team 5-10, Whisenhunt is guaranteed his first losing season since he came to Arizona in 2007. But the performance of his team in its 27-26 Christmas night victory over Dallas, particularly the young players, has made things a bit more bearable.

''We're finding out a lot about our young players, not so much by design as it is by necessity,'' Whisenhunt said, referring to injuries to more experienced players. ''But it's been a positive when you think back to the game and you see how many young guys made big plays in that game.''

Rookie quarterback John Skelton threw his first NFL touchdown pass in Arizona's 27-26 Christmas night victory over Dallas, a 74-yard play to fellow rookie Andre Roberts. Second-year pro Greg Toler returned an interception 66 yards for a score; rookie O'Brien Schofield earned his first NFL sack; undrafted rookie Max Komar had a 19-yard catch to set up the winning field goal; and rookie inside linebacker Daryl Washington, a starter all season, shared the team lead with eight tackles.

Roberts, a third-round draft pick from The Citadel, had nine catches for 110 yards, the best statistics of his young career.

Whisenhunt spent much of Monday's media session praising Skelton, but he would not commit to building the team around the 6-foot-6 quarterback. There has been speculation Arizona will bring in a veteran quarterback or, if he's available, go for Cam Newton in the draft.

''You know, it's early for that right now,'' Whisenhunt said. ''Once again, we're trying to finish this season strong, learn a lot about our football players, and then we're going to have a lot of things that we have to consider in the offseason because we don't want to have this type of season again.''

The victory was Whisenhunt's 36th as Cardinals coach. In a measure of how bad this franchise has been and how many coaches have come and gone, Whisenhunt is third in career victories behind Don Coryell (42) and Jim Hanifan (39).

The win over the Cowboys left Arizona with a 4-4 home record. That meant Whisenhunt joined Coryell as the only Cardinals coaches to go four seasons in a row without a losing record at home.

The only injury out of the Dallas game was tight end Ben Patrick, who has a sore hamstring.

Whisenhunt said defensive backs coach Donnie Henderson was back with the team. Henderson was taken to a hospital on Sunday after he fainted while driving into the stadium area. His car hit a barricade but Henderson wasn't injured.

''Everything checked out. He's fine,'' Whisenhunt said.

Doctors had not determined exactly what caused Henderson to pass out.

''But he's in good spirits,'' Whisenhunt said, ''and just wants to make sure he can actually come to the next game, since we played so well'' without him.