Birds of similar feathers flock together

Without playing a game, Catholic University quarterback Keith Ricca’s perfect season got even better.

Ricca, whose Cardinals are 3-0, chatted up another Cardinals quarterback the other day. That would be Kurt Warner of the 2-1 Arizona Cardinals, who are practicing at Catholic this week for Sunday’s game against the New York Jets.

“It’s awesome,” said Ricca, a talented senior.

“How often does a college quarterback get to meet an NFL quarterback like that?” Ricca said, practically giddy from the experience. “You’re playing Division III football, and all of a sudden you come out here on a Wednesday afternoon and the Arizona Cardinals are playing on our field.”

Ricca, who comes from a football family, knows that Warner also played at a small college, Northern Iowa. He knows Warner’s Cinderella story.

“This is like a dream come true,” he said.

For the Cardinals, meanwhile, this is like something from “The Twilight Zone.” No matter what they do and where they go, they stay trapped in Redskins country.

The Cardinals had back-to-back games on the East Coast, about 2,300 miles and three time zones from home (Arizona does not observe daylight savings). Rather than fly back to Phoenix after their 24-17 defeat, the team is staying in Northern Virginia to prepare for the Jets’ game at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.

“The whole thought was to get accustomed to this time [zone] and be on this side [of the country] without having to travel an additional 6,000 miles,” Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said, amplifying the distance a bit. “Or 10 hours on an airplane, which takes a toll on your body.”

The Cardinals are notoriously slow starters in the Eastern time zone. They led at halftime and beat Cincinnati last year but were outscored 44-12 in the first half in losses at Baltimore, Washington and Tampa Bay. In Sunday’s game, Arizona fell behind 10-0 before halftime.

Staying on the road is uncommon but not unprecedented. A few other teams have done it, and the New England Patriots will stay on the West Coast when they play San Francisco and San Diego - and then Oakland and Seattle later this season.

“We’re trying to do anything that will give us the best chance to win,” said Whisenhunt, a Redskins tight end in 1989 and 1990. “And we feel that saving just the travel and the time in the airplane will help, and being better adjusted to East Coast time will help. Hopefully, we’ll find that out on Sunday.”

The Cardinals, who will take the train to New Jersey on Saturday, have stayed all week at their Tysons Corner hotel, commuting to practice in Northeast.

“A little bit of a hike,” Whisenhunt said.

It helped that the three buses picked up a police escort once they crossed into the District, and the trip to Catholic took just 30 minutes. Tourists gawked at the motorcade, wondering what all the fuss was about.

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