Other articles by Ryan Finley:

Cats clearly know what's at stake as clock ticks down Victory by Ducks ruffles bowl slots Results elsewhere will help clarify Arizona Wildcats' bowl destination Players ditch pigskin to cozy up alongside turkey, cheesecake Mom says OK, giving linebacker from Texas blessing to attend UA Being a good sport, UA's Bondzio plays the game, eats it up Arizona Wildcats Football: Texas linebacker verbally commits to UA Cats would land raise if Pac-10 earns 2 BCS bids OSU's 20-minute drill a painful end for CatsCats bit at the end

Construction
Komatsu Equipment Co
Mechanic General
CORT
Warehouse Supervisor Education
Assessment Technology, Inc
Social Studies Content Writer General
CORT
WAREHOUSE/DRIVER Health Care
Rio Salado College
PA's/Online Instructors

GLENDALE — The game was over.

Cardinals kicker Neil Rackers nailed a 27-yard field goal to defeat the 49ers in overtime Sunday, but there was — as there often is with this team — a flag.

The Cardinals were penalized for delay of game a split-second before Rackers kicked the ball. He would have to try again, this time from 32 yards.

It's not hard to imagine what happened next.

Rackers missed the kick and, following a 49ers punt, Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner fumbled in the end zone.

The Niners recovered, and escaped Glendale with an improbable 37-31 win.

The Cardinals bungled, missed and flat-out delayed their way to a loss in arguably their biggest regular-season game in nine years. The NFL's most-penalized team was flagged 10 times for 70 yards, but offered few explanations.

"It's devastating. It's like, 'Where do we go from here?' " said defensive end Joe Tafoya. "This is one of those games where two or three weeks later, we're going to still be devastated by it. We're going to realize we had three, four, five opportunities to win it, and it all slipped through our hands."

Said Warner: "Yeah, they hurt. You want to come out of the games you have a chance to win."

The Cardinals probably should have won twice.

They were trailing by three points when they drove to San Francisco's 1-yard line with six seconds remaining in regulation. Rather than attempt a run play and then use a final timeout, coach Ken Whisenhunt hedged. With another delay looming, he took a timeout and sent Warner out to attempt a pass.

The jump-ball to Bryant Johnson was caught, and then lost, and Arizona was forced to settle for the game-tying field goal attempt.

Timeouts weren't a problem in overtime. The Cards had one remaining when they took the delay of game.

"The clock ran out fast. That's my fault, and I take responsibility for that," Whisenhunt said. "I thought we had time."

Sunday's loss overshadowed arguably the best game of Tafoya's career.

The former UA star registered four tackles and a sack while making his second consecutive start at defensive end.

"I've had a chance to play more defense in the last two weeks, so I'm starting to feel a little bit more comfortable," said Tafoya, who played at the UA from 1997 to 2000. "With time your technique gets better. All I can do is try and improve my game, and try not to be the weak link."

The Cardinals signed Tafoya to a one-year, $585,000 contract in April with hopes he could shore up the team's punt and kickoff return teams.

That all changed two weeks ago, when star Bertrand Berry suffered a torn left triceps in the Cardinals' win over Detroit. To replace him, Whisenhunt proposed a platoon: Tafoya handles the running downs while Darryl Blackstock, a linebacker, provides much of the pass-rushing muscle.