GLENDALE, Ariz. — In the aftermath of Arizona’s 32-25 victory over Philadelphia in the NFC championship game Sunday, it was impossible to tell who was the sage veteran and who was the up-and-coming superstar.
The Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald, a 25-year-old wide receiver, was dressed in a dapper three-piece suit, complete with a pocket square and coordinated tie. He calmly talked about the way his team had rallied for the win in the fourth quarter, how he was happy to be going to his first Super Bowl, how he wasn’t thinking about his impressive individual performance.
Meanwhile, his 37-year-old quarterback, Kurt Warner, nine years removed from leading the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl title, watched from the side of the room, shifting from side to side like an antsy teenager. He was dressed like one, too, in jeans and a long-sleeved red T-shirt.
“How do you feel about Kurt?” a reporter asked Fitzgerald.
Warner’s giddiness won out over politeness. He bounded up to the podium to envelope Fitzgerald in a hug. Then Warner answered the question himself.
“He loves me. I’m his best friend,” Warner said.
The contrast in their postgame demeanor aside, Warner and Fitzgerald have formed a partnership that helped the Cardinals accomplish the unthinkable this postseason.
The Cardinals, who won nine games in the regular season and lost two of their last three games in December, beat an Eagles team that had knocked off the No. 1-seeded New York Giants a week ago. An underdog throughout the postseason, the Cardinals will play the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Fla., in two weeks and will likely be counted out then too.
“Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl,” Warner said. “How about that?”
Warner and Fitzgerald connected for three first-half touchdowns to help build a 24-6 halftime lead. And after that lead evaporated in the fourth quarter, Fitzgerald caught three passes — including two for first downs and another just short of the marker — on Arizona’s winning touchdown drive.
What followed was the kind of scene that made grown men cry.
Here in the desert land they call The Valley, where pro football has long been a joke, the Cardinals not only hosted a conference championship game, they won one.
Moments before cannons sent loads of red, white and silver confetti airborne over the University of Phoenix Stadium field, George Jurries sat silently in his front-row seat overlooking the corner of the end zone, wiping tears from his eyes as fellow Cardinals fans started a “Super Bowl” chant and danced around him.
“I’ve been a Cardinals fan since they’ve been here. I’ve been through all the ups and downs, the last-second losses, the heat,” Jurries said. “This is the happiest day of my life, except for when my daughter was born.”
Yet the day easily could have ended in heartbreak for the Cardinals and their fans.
Philadelphia scored 19 consecutive points after halftime on three touchdown passes by quarterback Donovan McNabb — two to tight end Brent Celek and a 62-yard bomb to rookie DeSean Jackson — to take its first lead, 25-24, with 10:45 to play.
Warner, frustrated by Philadelphia’s blitz in the third quarter, responded by leading the Cardinals on a 14-play, 72-yard drive that lasted nearly eight minutes. Rookie running back Tim Hightower scored on an 8-yard screen pass, and the Cardinals completed a two-point conversion to go ahead by seven points with 2:53 remaining.
“There was no panic,” Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt said.
The Eagles managed one first down, but McNabb threw four consecutive incompletions to give the ball back to Warner and the Cardinals. It was the fourth loss in five trips to the NFC championship game for McNabb.
“You never want anything to end, especially the way things went for us, just the streak and being able to play as well as we did the two playoff games,” McNabb said. “To end this way, it’s tough, when you’re that close to making the Super Bowl.”
Lindsay H. Jones: 303-954-1262 or ljones@denverpost.com
NFC championship
Bottom line:
The underdog Cardinals, led by star receiver Larry Fitzgerald, jumped on the Eagles early and took a 7-0 lead on the first drive of the game, and then rolled to a 24-6 halftime lead.
Numbers:
Fitzgerald caught nine passes for 152 yards and three first-half touchdowns. He has five consecutive 100-yard receiving games, including the last two regular-season games. Lindsay H. Jones, The Denver Post
Super Bowl XLIII
The Dan Rooney Coaches Bowl. When Bill Cowher retired as Steelers coach after the 2006 season, Pittsburgh owner Dan Rooney bypassed his own offensive coordinator, Ken Whisenhunt for a relative unknown: Minnesota defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. Turns out Rooney couldn’t go wrong. Whisenhunt, who went on to coach the Arizona Cardinals, and Tomlin will match wits in Super Bowl XLIII on Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla. Mike Klis, The Denver Post
