After winning their first postseason game in a decade last weekend, the Arizona Cardinals travel cross-country to face the Carolina Panthers Saturday night. Traversing the continent hasn’t worked for the NFC West champs, who have lost all five games they played in the Eastern Time zone in 2008.

Arizona’s poor showing on the East Coast isn’t a new phenomenon. STATS’ Los Angeles-based research group discovered the Cardinals have lost 14 of their last 15 games played in the Eastern Time zone, dating to November 2004. The sole win came in Cincinnati last season -- in the last of four East Coast appearances on Nov. 18.

The sample size isn’t large, but large enough to figure the disproportionate numbers have some significance. Explaining their meaning, though, requires some imagination.

One thing that’s hard to miss is how soundly the Cardinals were beaten in three of those East Coast games this season.

The New York Jets throttled the Cardinals at the Meadowlands on Sept. 28, scoring 34 second-quarter points for a 34-0 halftime lead. Brett Favre tied Joe Namath’s franchise record with six TD passes in a 56-35 decision. A month later on Thanksgiving Day, Eagles QB Donovan McNabb returned from a benching the week before to throw four TD passes in Philadelphia’s 48-20 victory. On Dec. 21, the New England Patriots whipped the Cards, 47-7, on a snow-covered field in Foxborough.

The closest of the five East Coast games was Arizona’s 27-23 loss to Carolina on Oct. 26. Cards QB Kurt Warner threw for 381 yards and two touchdowns, but the Panthers held on for the win. It was a strong showing by the Cardinals, who won’t have to deal with blowing snow and cold temperatures in Charlotte.

The weather probably won’t be a factor, but whatever else might play a role in Arizona’s recent East Coast struggles -- the long flight, living life three hours earlier than usual, whatever -- is beyond simple explanation.