Carson Palmer threw four touchdown passes, then led a last-minute drive to set up Chandler Catanzaro's winning field goal with one second to play as the Arizona Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Bengals 34-31.
Bengals vs. Cardinals 2015 final score: Three things we learned from Arizona’s 34-31 win over Cincinnati
Carson Palmer throws four touchdowns and leads late scoring drive for winning field goal.
The Bengals trailed 31-21 with four minutes to go, but scored and got the ball back at their own 16 with 2:45 left, down 31-28. An Arizona penalty kept the drive alive at the two-minute warning, and on the next play, Andy Dalton hit Giovani Bernard for a 30-yard catch-and-run to the Arizona 37.
That allowed Mike Nugent to kick a 43-field goal with 1:03 to play, tying the game at 31.
The Cardinals didn't have any timeouts, but Palmer gained 57 yards in three plays, two to Larry Fitzgerald, and Catanzaro's kick was right down the middle.
The Cardinals are now 8-2 and lead the NFC West by three games over the Seattle Seahawks, while the Bengals (8-2) have lost two in a row and now only lead the Pittsburgh Steelers by two games in the AFC North.
The teams traded early touchdowns by their tight ends, with Andy Dalton's 3-yard pass to Tyler Eifert being matched by Palmer's 18-yard jump ball that was brought down in a crowd by Daniel Fells.
The pass to Fells helped Palmer overcome his ugly first quarter, but the Bengals were able to put together a scoring drive late in the second quarter. Dalton had a pass broken up by Patrick Peterson on 3rd-and-19, but Cincinnati was bailed out by a defensive holding penalty called on a blitzing defensive back in the end zone.
Dalton took advantage, beating a blitz with a 41-yard middle screen to Bernard that set up Jeremy Hill’s 2-yard run to give the Bengals a 14-7 lead at halftime.
Palmer looked better in the second half, and took advantage of a Cincinnati mistake to tie the game. The Bengals were in two deep coverage, and safety George Iloka jumped a covered short route by Larry Fitzgerald. That left rookie JJ Nelson wide open on a deep crossing route, and Palmer hit him in stride for a 64-yard touchdown.
On their next drive, Cardinals took a 21-14 lead when Palmer threw his third touchdown of the game, hitting John Brown for an 18-yard score. At that point, Arizona was rolling at top speed, and after another Bengals punt, Palmer hit Nelson for another 36-yard catch-and-run. That put the ball on the Cincinnati 18, and two plays later, it was David Johnson sneaking out of the backfield for a 16-yard score and a 28-14 lead.
Hill’s second touchdown, this one from 1 yard, pulled the Bengals within 28-21 with 11:26 left in the game, and the Cincinnati defense was able to force another punt. However, Marcus Golden forced a Dalton fumble, giving Arizona the ball on the Bengals 9.
Palmer fumbled two plays later, but was able to fall on it, and Chandler Catanzaro kicked a 24-yard field goal to make it a 10-point game with 6:27 to go. The Bengals, though, responded quickly, with Dalton hitting Eifert for his second touchdown, making it 31-28 with 3:44 to go.
Three things we learned
1) Nothing kills a football game faster than penalties
On paper, this should have been one of the marquee Sunday night games of the season -- that’s why NBC used their flex power to take the game away from CBS. Instead, it turned out to be yet another endless slog of penalties. It seemed like every snap had at least one flag, many of them minor infractions that had nothing to do with the play.
After all that, when the officials had a big call to make, they whiffed. In the third quarter, Deone Bucannon launched himself helmet first into A.J. Green, only to see every official swallow their whistles.
Launch and clear helmet to helmet. Has to be called. It will end up being a fine. Must make that call.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) November 23, 2015
2) The Arizona offense in full flow is fun to watch
Carson Palmer struggled in the first half, but the Cardinals looked like the Golden State Warriors in the third quarter. Palmer had receivers breaking open all over the field, as the Bengals defense looked like the Los Angeles Clippers when Steph Curry and the Warriors dropped a 70-point second half on them earlier this week.
Palmer finished with three touchdown passes in the quarter, including the picture-perfect bomb to Nelson.
Watch this 64-yard TD to J.J. Nelson and answer: Does anyone throw a better deep ball than Carson Palmer? #CINvsAZ https://t.co/UXj3HihByH
— NFL (@NFL) November 23, 2015 3) Larry Fitzgerald can do more than catch passes
The Cardinals star might downplay his blocking ability, but he can stop a defender in his tracks when he needs it.
And @LarryFitzgerald doesn't want to be known as a good blocker?! #CINvsAZ pic.twitter.com/V9EfhrXTcb
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) November 23, 2015
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