Cardinals Take Advantage of Eagle Errors, 26-10

PHILADELPHIA —  Ballhawking Phoenix forced six more turnovers and Tom Tupa completed enough passes to lead the Cardinals to a 26-10 victory Sunday over the Philadelphia Eagles in a battle of backup quarterbacks.

Tupa completed only six of 19 passes, but they went for 218 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown to Johnny Johnson in the first quarter to boost Phoenix’s lead to 10-0.

Jim McMahon, replacing injured Randall Cunningham, completed 19 of 34 passes for 173 yards. While Tupa, starting in place of the injured Timm Rosenbach, was averaging 36.3 yards per completion, McMahon averaged 9.1 yards.

“Tom was great,” Cardinal Coach Joe Bugel said. “He didn’t take any chances. He did a good job using the clock, was a good manager on the field. He’s a winner.”

The Cardinals (2-0) have caused 13 turnovers in two games. Three led to scores against the Eagles, and four led to scores against the Rams.

“That’s a winning edge,” Bugel said. “If we continue to play like that, you have a chance to win every afternoon.”

Eagle Coach Rich Kotite said McMahon, starting for the first time since 1989, needs work.

“He needs more playing time to get his timing down,” Kotite said. “It was only his first week of practice and he was out of sync.”

McMahon gave himself poor marks.

“I had opportunities to make a few plays but didn’t make them,” he said. “I wasn’t very sharp. Fundamentally I was very poor. I was pressing early in the game trying to get the ball to guys.”

Greg Davis kicked field goals of 52, 28, 22 and 42 yards as the Cardinals (2-0) built a 19-10 lead.

McMahon suffered an inglorious finish with 2:48 left. He fumbled when he was sacked and the ball was recovered by Rod Saddler, who ran seven yards to score.

McMahon was replaced by rookie Brad Goebel, who directed a 75-yard drive that ended with the Eagles (1-1) a yard short of a touchdown with four seconds left.