Cardinals' receiver Larry Fitzgerald has been ordered to stay away from the mother of his 11-month-old son after he allegedly assaulted the woman. Angela Nazario claims she brought the couple's son to visit Larry last October when the former lovers began arguing. Nazario alleges in legal papers filed in Arizona that Fitzgerald attempted to "diffuse the situation" by raising his fist and challenging her to a play fight. Nazario admits she responded by swinging at him and "may have hit his face." Fitzgerald then turned enraged, allegedly pushing Nazario down to her knees. She claims he "grabbed me by my hair with both hands on the back of my head very very hard and tossed me across the room."

The struggling Cardinals will play their starters on Sunday against the Seahawks in their season finale. Arizona has had the NFC West title wrapped up for several weeks but has lost four of their last five games. "I think the most important thing that we have to do is play well," Coach Ken Whisenhunt said Friday. "So that's what we're looking to do."

Bill Belichick and Cardinals' special teams coach Kevin Spencer played lacrosse against each other while in college, with Spencer at Springfield (Mass.) College and Belichick at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. "It depends on who you talk to on that one, whether I scored a couple or he shut me out," Belichick said. "There's some confusion as to what happened on a couple of those goals, whether I was actually his man or not." Spencer remembers hitting Belichick in a game. "He came across the crease looking for a feed and I knocked him on his ass," Spencer said. Wesleyan, however, won those battles. "Anybody having hair out of the back of their helmet, you figured, 'He's a girl. I'm going to kick his ass.' We honestly thought that." Spencer remembers Belichick "ran the show" at Wesleyan. He said, "Bill really coached the team."

Edgerrin James hasn't played in three games, and Tim Highwater has just seven carries for 15 yards. James declined comment, but his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said his client is frustrated. "He feels like he can help so much," Rosenhaus said. "It's befuddling for him. Since the change has been made, there hasn't been an improvement. He's certainly not going to create a distraction but the level of frustration, it's rough."

Cardinals' receiver Anquan Boldin could miss Sunday's game against the Patriots with a sore shoulder. Boldin was named to the Pro Bowl for a third time Tuesday, and Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt might be more likely to hold the receiver out so that he can heal in time for the postseason.

Quarterback Matt Leinart beat out Matt Cassel to be the starting quarterback at USC in 2003. "I won, but I didn?t even win convincingly," said Leinart. "It was close." Beyond this, "I had to play well to keep my job." Before this duo competed, Cassel had the misfortune of having to back up Carson Palmer, Leinart pointed out. "Carson Palmer is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL," Leinart said. "I?m not going to talk about myself in that way. But I ended up having a pretty good career there. "The cards never really fell into place for him. But he always did well. He could always play." Leinart has had a bumpier professional career than Cassel has after the success the Patriots' quarterback has had following the injury to Tom Brady.

The Giants could look to deal for Cardinals receiver Anquan Boldin if Plaxico Burress is done in New York. Eli Manning no longer has a legitimate top threat without Burress, who could never take the field for the Giants again. Boldin was unhappy that Arizona didn't upgrade his contract last offseason, and could be upset once again if the Cardinals pass on giving him a big payday. New York, set at many positions, could offer a first rounder and a little more to the Cardinals for Boldin.