PHOENIX (AP) _ Since last January, when they won their first playoff game in more than half a century, very little has gone right for the Arizona Cardinals.

	Rod Moore's holdout is just one of the distractions the Cardinals have had to deal with during training camp.

First came the usual, injuries and contract disputes.

But the latest blow is the worst _ an auto accident that injured starters Lester Holmes and Carl Simpson and left doctors trying tosave the right arm of backup offensive lineman Ernest Dye.

It's left the players shaking their heads.

"All things turn for the better at some point," defensive end Simeon Rice said. "Our backs aren't to the wall yet. We still have bullets we haven't fired yet. The best is yet to come."

This was supposed to be a season of great expectations.

Last year, the Cardinals were 9-7, their first winning season since they moved from St. Louis, and they won a playoff game for the first time in 51 years. They also developed an emerging star at quarterback in charismatic Jake Plummer.

But things turned in the off-season, as they have so often for this franchise wherever it's been.

Voters in Mesa defeated a plan to finally build the Cardinals a stadium of their own. Two of last season's leaders, offensive tackle Lomas Brown and linebacker Jamir Miller, left via free agency, then the Cardinals angered fans by cutting fullback Larry Centers, who had toiled without complaint through the years of losing only to become expensive excess baggage to the front office.

Then, on the first day of camp, came another public relations disaster, the release of tight end Chris Gedney, who had undergone surgery to remove his colon.

Nearly a week into camp, the team signed its top draft pick, wide receiver David Boston, but its other first-round choice, offensive tackle L.J. Shelton, remains in a bitter contract dispute with owner Bill Bidwill, who has refused to give in to the trend of voidable years and incentive clauses.

Wide receiver Rob Moore, miffed at being tagged the team's franchise player, stayed away from camp. So did defensive tackle Mark Smith, who insists he is worth at least twice the $500,000 the Cardinals are offering.

"It's hard to put a team together when you have some key parts missing," coach Vince Tobin said. "We've had a lot of different things off the football field that have affected these guys. Whether it's been injury or illness, or guys going to other teams, we're going to be a different football team than we were at the end of last year."

"The tragic stuff with the kids in the accident, you feel fortunate they're alive," said general manager Bob Ferguson. "So we're happy to be able to see them and look them in the eye again. That's not a regular happening. But the holdouts are, that happens everywhere."

So, unfortunately, are injuries.

Eric Swann, one of the NFL's best offensive tackles when healthy, is still rehabilitating from extensive knee surgery and it's uncertain whether he will be ready for the season opener. Starting guard Chris Dishman went back to his native Nebraska for surgery to flush bone fragments from his right elbow and might not be ready for the season opener.

Without Swann and Smith, the Cardinals' defense was manhandled in a 38-7 loss to Denver last Saturday in Arizona's preseason opener.

What happened next was worse.

Headed up Interstate 17 for a final week of training camp, Dye's Mercedes veered off the rain-slicked freeway and overturned.

Holmes, a starting offensive guard, was driving and was the only one wearing a seatbelt. He severely cut his face and went back to his home in Phoenix to recuperate. Simpson, a starter at defensive tackle in the absence of Swann and Smith, injured his hip.

Dye's arm was pinned beneath his car, crushed so badly that doctors feared they might have to amputate.

Meanwhile, the coaching staff is trying to fill the holes left on the field.

The offensive line, already missing a starter with Brown's departure, is without Holmes, Dishman and Dye. The defensive line, without Swann, Smith and now Simpson, has gone from a strength to a major liability.

One more problem.

The Cardinals break camp on Thursday and play at home Friday night against Tennessee at Sun Devil Stadium.

Because school starts next week at Northern Arizona University, site of the training camp, the workouts shift next week to the team's Tempe headquarters, where 100-plus degree heat will make things even more uncomfortable.