AT A GLANCE Cardinals get big road victory, now comes challenge at home

AT A GLANCE

Cardinals get big road victory, now comes challenge at home

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — The victory in Seattle was as big a win as the Cardinals have had since Bruce Arians became their coach, and one of the biggest since the franchise moved to the desert 27 years ago.

Winning the game was one thing, but it was the way the Cardinals did it, Arians said Monday, that will help the team in its challenges ahead.

'If it had been a coaster all the way, who knows if we could handle adversity down the road,' he said, 'Now that you've done it on the road, it proves that you can.'

Sunday night's 39-32 victory over the Seahawks leaves the Cardinals (7-2) three games up on Seattle and St. Louis in the NFC West with seven to play. The remaining schedule is no easy path, though, beginning with a home game next Sunday night against the Cincinnati Bengals, who were undefeated going into their Monday night game against Houston.

The Bengals, Arians said, are 'very similar' to the Cardinals. 'They're very long and fast,' Arians said. 'They have a solid secondary. Andy (Dalton) is playing really, really well. They've got a huge and great wide receiver, a good stable of backs.

They're a quality, quality group. Marvin (Lewis) is a heck of a football coach. They've got a great staff.'

Raiders remain confident despite back-to-back losses

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Raiders have lost back-to-back games, not their confidence.

The mood after Sunday’s home loss to Minnesota was more of a missed opportunity than a lost season after the 30-14 defeat left Oakland with a losing record and ground to make up in the playoff chase.

That folowed a last-second 38-35 loss in Pittsburgh as the Raiders (4-5) have dropped two in a row after consecutive wins over San Diego and the New York Jets put them in the lead of the AFC wild-card race.

“You have to own what was, understand where it needs to be better and work toward it,” coach Jack Del Rio said. “There’s no time to sit around and feel sorry for yourself. You can’t dwell on the positive or negative too long. You have to move onto the next week’s work and that’s what we’re going to do.”

There was plenty of blame for this latest loss. The offense generated very little other than back-to-back touchdown drives in the second quarter. The defense struggled to contain Adrian Peterson for most of the game and the special teams allowed a momentum-changing kickoff return for a touchdown by Cordarrelle Patterson.

Back to basics as Packers try to end three-game skid

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — They’re not used to losing in Titletown, not when Aaron Rodgers is the starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers.

After the lowly Detroit Lions handed his team a third straight defeat, coach Mike McCarthy plans to hone in on the basics.

The main message on Monday ahead of a practice week to prepare for the Minnesota Vikings is to shore up fundamentals.

“You see the way they play, the way they’ve battled. That’s not an issue,” McCarthy said Monday.

“It’s the efficiency of our fundamentals,” he added. “I don’t mean to keep going back to that, but that’s where the focus of trust of confidence is.”

A once vaunted Packers offense is having issues all over the field, enough so that Green Bay (6-3) has dropped out of first place, a game back of Minnesota.

The running game has stalled. Receivers are having trouble getting open against defensive backs playing press coverage.

That has shined a brighter light on drops.

Protection is spotty for Rodgers. And now, the quarterback himself isn’t playing to his usual high standards. On Sunday, he wasn’t hitting a few throws that he usually makes.

The low point this season came in that 18-16 loss to the Lions at home. This was a Detroit team in disarray, ranked 26th in the league in defense; a team that lost 45-10 to the Kansas Chiefs in its previous game.

“Yeah it’s frustration when you’re not scoring, for sure, yeah,” Rodgers said on Sunday.