Boo-birds stick around to see 49ers win in OT

The 49ers won their first game after four straight losses.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- When Larry Fitzgerald's first touchdown catch gave the Arizona Cardinals a 16-point lead with 8:19 remaining, the few San Francisco fans who weren't booing rushed for the exits.
They missed the only good part of the 49ers' season so far -- a thrilling finish with big catches, bad defense and a breakout performance by the man who hopes to be the next name in San Francisco's elite quarterback lineage.
Tim Rattay threw two touchdown passes and got two two-point conversions in the final minutes of regulation, and Todd Peterson kicked a 32-yard field goal with 11:37 remaining in overtime of the 49ers' 31-28 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
The Niners' (1-4) comeback from a 28-12 deficit was improbable on several counts. For starters, Rattay's top two receivers were hurting, San Francisco's running game was nonexistent and Arizona's defense hadn't allowed a touchdown in 13 quarters.
Yet Rattay showed a cool he hasn't earned through experience yet, and his young teammates followed his lead. He finished 38-of-57 for a career-high 417 yards, 169 after the third quarter -- and afterward, he claimed the outcome was never in doubt to him.
Outlook
"We're always thinking that we can win the game," Rattay said. "You're never out of it, you know? It's happened so much, and this team knows that we have to keep fighting and keep fighting."
Running a no-huddle offense with the flair he learned at run-and-gun Louisiana Tech, Rattay hit tight end Eric Johnson for a score with 4:35 remaining, then ran for the conversion.
"Tim is amazing in that [offense]," said Johnson, who had another outstanding game with career-bests of 13 catches for 162 yards. "He reads the defenses and makes so many great calls. That's really where he's at his best."
After Arizona punted, the Niners mounted a 72-yard drive. Brandon Lloyd made a diving 23-yard TD catch with 1:07 remaining in regulation, then wrestled the ball away from David Macklin for the tying conversion.
Lloyd drew motivation from Arizona rookie defensive tackle Darnell Dockett, who asked the receiver how it will feel to be 0-5 -- shortly before San Francisco rallied.
"We didn't win in the preseason, and we didn't win in our first four games, so it's definitely a relief," Lloyd said. "We bounced back. We hung in there, and our leadership really took over. Tim took over."
San Francisco won the overtime coin toss, and Rattay drove 47 more yards before Peterson easily made his third field goal.
While the 49ers celebrated, the Cardinals (1-4) trudged off the field with a dead-man's walk that's been around this woebegone franchise much longer than coach Dennis Green.
Ranks among worst
"When you have been around the game a long time, you get some tough losses, and this ranks up there with them," Green said. "Any time that you go on the road, you have to continue playing. They made a lot of plays in the fourth quarter and in OT. They just didn't miss any plays."
Josh McCown threw his first three touchdown passes of the season, but the Cardinals' once-sturdy defense was shredded on the 49ers' final three drives. San Francisco finished with 448 total yards.
Emmitt Smith rushed for a fourth-quarter score, while Freddie Jones and Troy Hambrick caught scoring passes from McCown, who was 19-of-34 for 231 yards.