saw the debut of rookie quarterback Jake Plummer, who the previous season guided Arizona State to a remarkable 11–0 regular season before falling just short of the national championship with a loss to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. The highlight of the 1997 season was a 25–22 overtime victory over the Dallas Cowboys in week 2, ending Dallas' 13-game winning streak over the Cardinals which dated back to 1990. But the team lost the next two games, falling to the Washington Redskins 19–13 in overtime in the first-ever game at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, and then 18–17 to the playoff-bound Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Playoff year (1998) During the 1998 season, Jake Plummer enjoyed his greatest stretch of success during his tenure with the franchise, in terms of victories at least, as his quarterback rating was still an average 75.0. The team during that time had once again been dubbed the Cardiac Cards by the local and national media as eight of their 16 regular-season games were decided by three points or less, and seven of those games ended in favor of the Cardinals. Solidifying their status as the team to beat in the clutch, the Cardinals, sporting a 6–7 record going into the 15th week, defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in overtime on a field goal by Chris Jacke, then returned home to defeat the New Orleans Saints by two and the San Diego Chargers by three to clinch a wild-card playoff berth. The close calls and the fact that none of their victories had been to teams with winning records (New Orleans was the best of the group at 6–10; San Diego was 5–11 and Philadelphia 3–13) made them heavy underdogs going into their Wild Card Playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. Considering their two regular season losses to the Cowboys and the fact that they had been on the losing end of 16 of the last 17 games against their division rivals, including 9 straight losses at Texas Stadium, the "Team of the Nineties" seemed to have history and ample statistical evidence on their side. To further the situation, the Cardinals franchise had not won a single playoff game since their title year of 1947, resulting in the longest active drought in professional sports history. However, Arizona dominated the Cowboys on both ends of the football throughout the game. At Texas Stadium that afternoon, the Cardinals jumped out