TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) The Arizona Cardinals are a winning team at home 2-1 _ after their upset victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
The next thing on the franchise makeover agenda for first-year coach Dennis Green is to end the longest active road losing streak in the NFL, which stands at 16 games.
We won a lot of road games at Minnesota,'' former Vikings coach Green said Monday.I'm accustomed to winning on the road. I'm accustomed to going to the other guy's place and beating him. So we're going to hammer that idea home until we can do that.''
Arizona is 0-3 on the road this season _ all close losses.
The Cardinals were leading in the fourth quarter of their opener at St. Louis, fumbled the ball away three times inside the opponent's 20-yard line in a 6-3 loss at Atlanta and blew a 16-point lead in the final five minutes of regulation in San Francisco.
Arizona is at Buffalo (1-5) and Miami (1-6) the next two Sundays _ so the opportunity seems at least realistic.
Green likes to divide the season into ``phases.'' Because his team was coming off a bye, Sunday's 25-17 victory was the start of phase two. The midway point of eight games marks the end that of that phase.
Where we want to be and where we can be in the second half of the season takes into account that in the next four games, three of them are on the road,'' Green said.We have to win back-to-back games if we're serious about where we expect to be.''
The coach still talks about making the playoffs, and a look at the NFC West shows he's not being too ridiculous. Arizona is 2-4, with just one more loss than division leader St. Louis (4-3).
We're still not favored yet,'' Green said.We're not favored at Buffalo. We won't be favored probably when we go play Miami. We won't be favored at Carolina.
``We won't be favored against New York. In this phase, we're going to be an underdog in each and every game. And I like that. That's part of my mentality as everybody knows. If we can go and do what we want to do, then after Thanksgiving it will be interesting.''
As has been the case for all the long road trips so far this season, the Cardinals will leave on Friday for the Sunday game. Regardless of Buffalo's record, Green knows to expect a lively environment.
You have to have a certain mind-set,'' he said.The mind-set is that you don't mind going into a stadium and have everybody in the stadium disliking you. You've got to get into the excitement of the National Football League and say `Hey, we can go in here and give everybody real misery.'
Arizona could have some help with the much-anticipated return of wide receiver Anquan Boldin.
Last season's NFL rookie of the year has been sidelined for two months while recovering from knee surgery. Green said Boldin initially will be listed as questionable for the Buffalo game, then could be upgraded depending on how he does in practice on Wednesday.
He will join the pair of Larry Fitzgerald and Bryant Johnson, who had good games against Seattle. Fitzgerald, the No. 2 pick in this year's draft, caught a touchdown pass for the second game in a row, this one a 25-yarder. Johnson, entering his second season, had seven catches for 54 yards.
Neil Rackers with three field goals beyond 50 yards to tie an NFL record and Emmitt Smith with his 78th career 100-yard rushing game setting an NFL mark received the most attention following Sunday's game.
Overlooked was a strong performance of Arizona's defense, led by safety Adrian Wilson. The Cardinals intercepted Matt Hasselbeck four times, doubling their total for the season.
Arizona has 18 takeaways compared with 10 giveaways, and has yet to allow a rushing touchdown.
