FanHouse Arizona Cardinals

Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris was ejected from Sunday's Chicago-Arizona game after throwing a punch to the face of Cardinals guard Deuce Lutui.

The incident occurred just four plays into the contest. Lutui, who was blocking Harris on a running play, was lying face down on the Soldier Field turf when Harris grabbed him, lifted him slightly and landed an uppercut to Lutui's facemask.

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Anquan Boldin, when healthy, is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. This isn't a secret. He's been to three Pro Bowls, enjoyed four 1,000-yard seasons, caught more than 500 passes thus far in only 87 games and scored 41 touchdowns. He's a running back in a receiver's body, though, so he has endured his fair share of injuries -- missing 16 games in his first six seasons due to injury. This season, he's played every game, but he's done so at less than 100 percent.

Looking at his numbers, it's evident he's not himself. His per-game averages show Boldin's on pace for career lows across the board. And he just doesn't seem himself, either. Considering his ankle injury isn't going away without rest -- and the fact that the gamer Boldin won't voluntarily sit out -- should the Cardinals bench him until he's healthy? One Arizona columnist says they should.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- They flew all over the field all night, racing to the ball, harassing the opposing quarterback with a variety of aggressive blitzes. The defense was disruptive, deep and energetic, and the main reason its team won the game. All of this was to be expected, of course...just not from this particular team.

On this night, it was the Arizona Cardinals beating the New York Giants at the latter's own game, forcing four turnovers and out-muscling Big Blue 24-17 on national TV in the swamps of Jersey.

"We definitely fed off our defense tonight," Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner said.

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We have an exciting matchup on Sunday night as Eli Manning and the New York Giants host Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and the defending NFC champion Arizona Cardinals. We'll be chatting about all of the action -- and the rest of Sunday's slate of games -- starting at 8:15 PM ET, so please, stop on by and join us.

When Justin Tuck showed up to watch film of the Arizona Cardinals this week, he was fired up. He knew what he was going to see -- Cardinals QB Kurt Warner sitting behind his line, taking forever to get rid of the ball while a swarm of receivers ran their routes downfield.

"I was licking my chops," said Tuck, the Giants' defensive end. "But then I went in there and...he's not holding the ball as long as he used to. We're looking at an average of 2.2 seconds, which is a drastic change."

You wouldn't think the Cardinals would have to change much, playing in the weak NFC West and coming off a season in which they represented the NFC in the Super Bowl. But starting with an opening-week loss to the surprisingly game division-rival 49ers, the Cardinals found life as defending conference champs to be tougher than they thought it would be.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Peyton Manning's four-touchdown performance was a headline-grabber in the Indianapolis Colts' emphatic 31-10 road victory Sunday night over the reeling Arizona Cardinals.

So was emerging offensive star Pierre Garcon, the Colts' second-year receiver who caught three passes for 64 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown reception down the right sideline with 1:52 remaining before halftime in a game that proved totally one-sided after a tight opening quarter.

That play was the third of Manning's three second-quarter touchdown passes -- Reggie Wayne caught a 20-yard scoring pass and tight end Dallas Clark snared a 10-yard TD -- and all of them put this contest out of reach for the Cardinals (1-2), who are now 0-2 at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Sunday night's contest in Arizona marks the first time multiple regular season MVP's, and Super Bowl MVP's -- Peyton Manning and Kurt Warner -- have faced each other in a regular season game. The Colts are coming off a come-from-behind win in Miami, while the Cardinals are coming off a near-perfect game from Warner in a win against Jacksonville.

Should be a good one, and we'll be live-chatting every single play. Fun starts at 8:15.

The bus ride to last season's Pro Bowl gave Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh a fresh perspective of Peyton Manning and Kurt Warner. Off the field. On the field.

"They both sat beside my daughter, Alison, and treated her like a princess,"' Harbaugh recalled. "It was really impressive how they related to an 8-year-old. Just great. And then Peyton starts pumping me for information about how we run our defense. Kurt wanted to talk about chemistry on offense and how best to get it."

Ken Whisenhunt tried to challenge the Arizona Cardinals before the season by dismissing his team's unlikely run to the Super Bowl last season.

"We haven't done anything. We were a 9-7 football team last season," he said. "We didn't have a lot of respect going into the playoffs, so that doesn't surprise me. Until we win consistently that's not going to happen.''

They still don't have a lot of respect, especially after Sunday's 20-16 loss to San Francisco, a game in which they were lethargic at best.

Sorting the Sunday Pile looks back at the NFL weekend that was. It's also an unofficial Brady Quinn blog.

A year ago, Matt Cassel got his chance to be an NFL starting quarterback when then-Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard blew up Tom Brady's knee. Cassel led the Patriots to 11 wins, and played well enough for the Chiefs to trade for him in the offseason.

Smash cut to Cassel tweaking his knee during Kansas City's third preseason game (God's sense of humor is underrated), which forced him to miss the first Sunday of the 2009 season. Any chances the Chiefs -- an outfit that won six times in their last 32 games -- had against the Ravens were out the window with Cassel on the bench.