GLENDALE D.K. Metcalf Jersey , Ariz. (AP) — shuffled a couple of steps right and set his feet.Arizona’s all-time leading receiver cocked his right arm back and let a not-quite-a-spiral fly into the desert air. The ball landed softly into the hands of Cardinals running back David Johnson, hitting him stride for a 32-yard touchdown.The Cardinals may have lost 31-9 to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, but Fitzgerald added another highlight as Arizona fans celebrated what could be the final home game of his storied 15-year career.“It’s awesome,” Rosen said. “This town loves Larry, he’s an unbelievable player. The fans were looking for something positive and that was a fun one.”Fitzgerald hasn’t decided if he will return for a 16th NFL season and the Cardinals still have one game left, next Sunday at Seattle.Arizona’s first season under Steve Wilks was a huge disappointment, possibly sending the Cardinals (3-12) toward a coaching search for the second straight season by New Year’s Eve.Amid one of the worst seasons in franchise history, Fitzgerald showed he’s still got it, even at 35.Entering Sunday’s game, Fitzgerald was Arizona’s leading receiver with 59 catches for 645 yards and five touchdowns. He caught six passes for 62 yards against the NFC West champion Rams (12-3), extending his streak of games with a catch to 226 straight — second all-time to Jerry Rice’s 274.Fitzgerald holds the NFL record for catches with one team and is third all-time overall with 1,299. He’s second all-time with 16,243 yards.Fitzgerald also is one of the most respected players in the NFL and in Phoenix sports history, both on the field and off.“I can’t really speak enough about Larry, not only what he brings to this organization, but to the shield itself, the National Football League http://www.seahawkscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-cody-barton-jersey ,” Wilks said. “Just a true pillar of this league.”Arizona’s home finale felt like the end of the line for Fitzgerald, even if he hasn’t made a decision yet.Fitzgerald stood alone in the Cardinals’ inflatable helmet at the end of pregame introductions and ran onto the field to the first of many chants of “Larry!” from the home crowd.Throughout the game, the video boards showed highlights of Fitzgerald’s career to the Christmas-inspired song “Twelve Days of Fitzmas.”The Cardinals kept his receptions streak alive by targeting him early and often. Fitzgerald then did something he had never done before, lofting his first career TD pass into the hands of Johnson, setting off another “Larry!” chant.“It was a great throw. He threw it up there,” Johnson said. “I didn’t have to slow my stride or anything.”The Cardinals had the Fitz pass in the playbook most of the season, insisting it wasn’t put in just because this might have been his final home game.Even so, when Fitzgerald came to the sideline after his first TD pass, offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich got a massive chest bump from the veteran receiver.“I guess it’s like a layup in basketball; you can’t miss,” said Fitzgerald, 2 for 4 for 53 yards career passing. “I just wanted to put a little air under it. It came out a little wobbly, like (former teammate) Kurt Warner’s ball. But, like Kurt Warner’s ball, it was effective.”As the clock wound down on another Cardinals’ defeat, the few remaining fans started a chant “Larry!” — maybe for the final time.When it was over, Fitzgerald found himself surrounded by photographers, following his every move as Rams players and coaches lined up to congratulate him on the field.Even after 60 minutes of pounding each other, the respect was there for one of the greatest receivers — and people — in NFL history.“I play a team sport. I’m not Michael Phelps or Tiger Woods. Those guys do individual things Gary Jennings Jr. Jersey ,” Fitzgerald said. “Everything I’ve done has been in the context of a team setting. It’s a little uncomfortable to be singled out. There’s 11 guys with me and I wouldn’t be able to do my job without every single guy doing it. It’s cool, but still, you never get used to that.” The NFL’s wild weekend of wild-card games demonstrated that even in this age of explosive offenses, defense still dominates in the playoffs and it often comes down to a toe, a few fingers or even a 40-year-old hamstring.Kicker Sebastian Janikowski’s season — and maybe career — ended when he popped his left hamstring on an errant 57-yard field goal try just before halftime of Seattle’s 24-22 loss to Dallas on Saturday night.Without a backup plan, the Seahawks had to go for it on fourth down in field-goal range and had to go for 2 points after a touchdown rather than try to kick it through the uprights. And when they pulled within a field goal with 1:18 left, they were toast without a Plan B for an onside kick.Punter Michael Dickson’s drop-kick went way too far and Dallas receiver Cole Beasley made what might be the easiest catch ever to seal a playoff win.The onside kick nearly disappeared in 2018 after the league’s competition committee last offseason outlawed teams from stacking one side or getting a running start. The rules were designed to cut down on concussions but drastically reduced the onside kick as an option.Only four of 54 attempts were successful during the regular season, an 8 percent success rate that pales in comparison to the 23 percent conversion rate in 2017, when 13 of 55 onside kicks were recovered by the kicking team.Coach Pete Carroll figured Janikowski simply hurt himself trying to kick the ball as hard as he could.And Seabass might have kicked his final game in the NFL. The 40-year-old isn’t under contract for next season and also got hurt last month.On Sunday, Chicago’s dominant defense that led the league by yielding just 17.7 points a game held the Philadelphia Eagles to 16 points but lost by a point when Bears kicker Cody Parkey, who made 76.7 percent of his kicks in the regular season, double-doinked a 43-yard attempt in the final seconds off the left upright and the crossbar.He said after the game he thought he hit it well and was at a loss to explain the miss.Turns out, Philadelphia defensive lineman Treyvon Hester tipped the ball.After reviewing the play and seeing Hester’s left hand hit the ball, the NFL officially ruled it a blocked field goal on Monday.That provides some explanation but little consolation for Parkey and Bears fans, who booed Parkey as he ran off the field after kneeling with teammates and opponents for a postgame prayer.He was at his locker as soon as reporters entered and accepted responsibility for the loss that abruptly ended the Bears’ first playoff appearance in eight years.“There’s really no answer to it,” Parkey said. “I thought I hit a good ball. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it. I feel terrible, 100 percent take that loss on me. It is what it is. Sun is going to shine tomorrow. Life is going to go on. Unfortunately http://www.seahawkscheapshops.com/cheap-authentic-phil-haynes-jersey , it’s going to sting for a while.”Eagles kicker Jake Elliott was one of several players who stood up for Parkey on social media.“This is a standup guy that a lot of young players can look up to,” Elliott wrote on Twitter . “This is how you handle adversity like a pro. Cody is a heck of a kicker and will be for a long time. No reason to be taking the heat he is especially when that ball was tipped. #ClassAct”Eagles coach Doug Pederson on Monday praised Hester, who began the season on the practice squad, for having “a big hand in the game.”Other takeaways from the first week of the playoffs:— The Chargers flummoxed the Ravens by lining up with seven defensive backs on all but one snap in their 23-17 win in Baltimore. Rookie All-Pro safety Derwin James set the tone when he dropped Lamar Jackson for a 1-yard loss on the first play from scrimmage. The alignment bottled up Jackson, who had run for nearly 700 yards in his seven starts and finished with just 54 yards. More importantly, the Chargers made sure Jackson couldn’t bring back the Ravens with his right arm after they fell behind 23-3 midway through the fourth quarter.— The league might have some tweaking to do to the catch rule. Or, rather, recovery rule. Just before halftime of the Eagles-Bears game, Mitchell Trubisky hit wide receiver Anthony Miller with a pass. Miller took a few steps before Philadelphia defensive back Cre’Von LeBlanc knocked it loose. Neither team’s players went for the ball near the goal line, and an official picked it up .The play was ruled an incomplete pass although replays showed Miller securing and then losing possession, making it a completion followed by a fumble. But because it didn’t go out of bounds and neither team secured it, the rule states it has to be an incomplete pass , as Al Riveron, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating, explained on Twitter.— ESPN apologized for playing “Dixie” during the Colts-Texans game, when the song was added to a lighthearted look at Andrew Luck’s Twitter alter ego, Captain Andrew Luck. ESPN had produced a graphic that depicted Luck as a Union general being protected by both Union and Confederate soldiers. It was based on a parody account that pretends Luck is a Civil War officer writing letters to his mother.