Phewww, that was a bit of a long day and unexpected outcome -- I think for everybody. To give you an idea of what went on, which follows up my earlier explanation of the botched play, it basically was Shaun's fault. Now, I'm not sure exactly how he communicated that to his teammates or Mike Holmgren, who was told that he thought it was an audible, and I'm not sure I am buying the audible thing. He kind of changed stories a couple times in his explanation. First, he thought it was an audible. Then, everybody knew it was a run play, including him. Then, when he saw Hayes in the backfield he thought it was an audible. My guess from listening to everybody is that he thought he may have heard an audible but wasn't sure, then when he saw the play was broken second-guessed himself, and by then it was too late.

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When I asked Matt if he would ever audible in a situation where they were being conservative to try to set up a field goal, he gave that sort of cyptic answer about, I see the game one way, other people see the game differently than me. Everybody on the team knows it was Shaun but does not want to cast blame. When we were interviewing Deion Branch, he said two people messed up and cost the gamne, then quickly said, A lot of plays during the game cost us the game, not just one play. Not really sure what else there is to say, it was a brain lock for a play at a crucial time. I was trying to get a historical analysis from Boling, who said half-jokingly that this may not even be among the top 10 gaffes. He specifically brought up the play where Mack Strong tries to catch a pass, not only doesn't catch it but tips it up in the air and Aeneas Williams returns it 70 yards for a touchdown, making Dennis Erickson react like he got shot in the side and fall to the turf.

Other stuff: Deion Branch was all over the place and came a few broken tackles from having a huge day. I was looking through the play-by-play and will have a bigger look tomorrow, but just from an initial guess, he caught seven passes, dropped two and was the intended receiver on probably 5 others, at least. He was supposed to be part of probably 40 percent of the passing game.

Rookie Baraka Atkins did not stand out to either Boling or myself, though he was credited with one tackle.

I thought Craig Terrill made his presence felt on several occasions, including the blatant holding penalty against Lutui.

Courtney Taylor caught his first pass of his career.

The defense at times looked good, at times look bad. Gave up 431 total yards, 132 rushing and 299 passing. The Cardinals have a lot of weapons and could be pretty good this year. I question that they don't pass more than they do given the talents of Fitzgerald and Boldin but Ken Whisenhunt clearly is trying to establish an identity.

This is two straight games with slow starts. Holmgren says they are "overanalyzing" things instead of just going out and playing. The run game looked stifled until the pass game came together. I wonder if Holmgren establishes the pass more this week now that he has seen Alexander prosper more in the second half. This game is in keeping with the others; when Alexander has a good game, the Hawks win, when he has a poor showing (70 yards today on 18 carries and the decisive fumble) they lose.

Also keep in mind, the Bengals just gave up 51 points to the Cleveland Browns today. FIFTY-ONE points. That is a lot of points, in case you didn't notice.

Lofa Tatupu led the team with 12 tackles, Julian Peterson had seven, Marcus Trufant 5. They had zero sacks, perhaps the reason Leinart threw for 300 yards, and only two QB hurries.

That is it. I think Boling may blog from the Phoenix airport, where he regrettably has a 5:45 AM flight. For a number of reasons that don't need to be explained I get back to Seattle tomorrow after Holmgren's news conference so you may get blogging from Darrin Beene, filling in for me.

And, promotionally, if you want to meet Boling and talk Hawks, he will be at The News Tribune booth tomorrow at the Puyallup Fair from 4-5. He'd love to meet the faithful.