TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona Cardinals were able to generate some offence in their regular-season finale and can breathe a bit easier if Ryan Lindley is their quarterback in their playoff opener.But the defence, once the backbone of the team, is coming off its two worst performances of the season.Those games came against athletic, mobile quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick — and Arizona faces another one in Cam Newton when the Cardinals play at Carolina in a wild card game on Saturday.He presents different problems than Colin and Russell, Arizona coach Bruce Arians said Monday. Hes more of a combination of both those guys. He can really throw the football extremely well from the pocket. It presents a multitude of problems for us.Lindley completed 23 of 39 passes for 316 yards and his first two NFL touchdowns but was intercepted three times in the Cardinals 20-17 loss at San Francisco.At least publicly, the Cardinals still hold out hope that Drew Stanton will be back this week. He has missed the last two games with a sprained right knee and had it scoped last week after developing an infection.Hes progressing and nothings really changed, Arians said. Weve got our fingers crossed that possibly he could go later in the week.After a bad day against Seattle the previous week, Lindley at least moved the offence on Sunday.Arians said he saw improvement in a little bit of everything.The command of it, where he was going with the ball and Mike (Floyd) made some plays for him, which we didnt do in the other game, which we had chances to, Arians said. Its just a matter of continuing to grow.After a 9-1 start, the Cardinals lost four of their final six games.A litany of injuries finally caught up with the team after Stanton, who had been Carson Palmers backup, was injured. That left the job to Lindley, who was released by Arizona at the end of preseason then re-signed off the San Diego practice squad.The offences problems, then, were predictable.The defences werent.In the last two games, the Cardinals allowed 596 yards against Seattle and 395 to San Francisco. Wilson ran for 88 yards in six carries, Kaepernick 63 yards in seven attempts.Arizona, among the league leaders in run defence most of the season, allowed 267 yards on the ground against the Seahawks and 206 against the 49ers.Its just because of tackling, Arians said. Guys missing tackles.The pass defence had problems, too. A miscommunication between safety Tyrann Mathieu and cornerback Antonio Cromartie led to Kaepernicks 76-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Anquan Boldin.Getting in the right gap and making a tackle should be pretty easy, Arians said. As far as (defensive backs) making a hand signal — whos got coverage when youve got an all-out blitz on — thats not really hard either. The fact that it happened yesterday, Id much rather have it happen then than next Saturday.The players had Monday off, but after the game on Sunday, cornerback Patrick Peterson said the defence cant win like that.As a defence, we cant give up big plays as we did today, he said. We cant have those mistakes next week, because everything is on the line. Its win or go home.Through most of the season, Arizona was among the league leaders in takeaways. They havent had any the last two weeks.That makes the job even tougher for the offence.Arians said Arizona will have inside linebacker Larry Foote back. The 13-year NFL veteran missed Sundays game with a sore knee. Before that, he had played on all but two snaps for the Cardinals defence all season.Theres no doubt we missed him out there, Arians said. ... the spirit that he brings. When a big play happens, its not woe is me, hes getting in somebodys face.The coach was asked if his team simply is not peaking at the right time.I would think youd say that, he said. But I dont think theres any concern, because were in the playoffs and it doesnt matter.It does to the oddsmakers. Carolina (7-8-1) opened as a 4 1/2-point favourite against 11-5 Arizona.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL Cheap Air Max 270 Shoes . -- Chris Jones and Louisville have done a tremendous job protecting the basketball this season and thats led to easy victories. 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Bjoerndalen, who had failed to win any major race for two years before Sochi, writes in a Facebook entry that he is "full of energy and inspiration" after winning the 10-kilometre sprint and mixed relay at last months Olympics.Fernando Alonso does not believe it should come as a surprise that consistent Nico Rosberg is on the brink of beating Lewis Hamilton to F1s world title. For the first time in their four seasons as Mercedes team-mates, Rosberg is on course to beat Hamilton over the course of a full campaign with victory for the German in this Sundays Brazilian GP enough for him to become world champion for the first time.And McLarens Alonso, a double title winner in 2005 and 2006, believes the German has proved himself to be a worthy title contender in his own right. I dont think that anyone thought that the championship was easy for Lewis this year. He didnt even think that way when it started, said Alonso at Interlagos.We know Nico is very consistent and is very strong in some circumstances. Here in Brazil he was winning for the last two years, even if Hamilton was dominating other circuits. So we know that Nico is a very strong driver - and very consistent as well.He normally finishes all the races, [with] many, many podiums, so he will always be a title contender and this year he is even ahead of Hamilton. So lets see what the outcome is. Last season aside, when Hamilton won 10 of the opening 16 races to clinch his second consecutive title with three races to spare, Alonso says the battle at Mercedes has invariably been close.They were quite equal two years ago when the championship was decided in the last race in Abu Dhabi. So they were up and down that year, said the Spaniard.Last year Lewis was much quicker and had the championship [won] with good margin and I think this year Nico was very strong and was more consistent.He had less reliability issues also, Nico, so that was probably a little bit of an advantage. But apart from last yeear, they were always both quite competitive.dddddddddddd.Why Rosberg would be a deserved champ if he wins the titleThe fact Hamiltons title defence has been compromised by several engine failures, notably in Malaysia last month when on course for a comfortable victory, has led some to question whether Rosberg would be a fully-deserving world champion.Jenson Button, Alonsos McLaren team-mate and a former title winner himself, says circumstances have fallen more for Rosberg this year but it still would not dilute the achievement and if you win a world championship youre a worthy champion. However, Button reckons the possibility of a rain-hit weekend in Brazil would mean Rosberg will have to work harder to close it out this weekend.I think this weekend is going to be an interesting one, said Button. If its dry its very easy for him to clinch the title here, but if its wet it really does mix things up.It puts a lot of pressure on both of them if its wet because Lewis knows hes very strong in the wet and he can get a big points haul here. And Nico knows hes got more to lose if its wet.So its tricky in the wet because everythings to play for and one tiny mistake can end in disaster. I hope its wet and its good for Formula 1 if theres a good fight in the wet. Im sure Nico wants it to be dry, but everybody else who watches F1 and is in F1 wants it to be wet. Can Nico Rosberg clinch the title at Interlagos? Watch the Brazilian GP live on Sky Sports F1 on Sunday, the race begins at 4pm; Watch the whole race weekend with a NOW TV week pass - £10.99, no contract Also See: Why Rosberg would be a deserved champ Whens the Brazilian GP on Sky F1? ' ' '