“The post-game air hung heavy with ifs”, and “buts”.
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Chandler Catanzaro’s last-gasp field-goal helped the Arizona Cardinals claim a wild 34-31 win over the Cincinnati Bengals and improve to 8-2 in the NFC West. I don’t know. We had way too many penalties today.
After back-to-back losses, the Bengals have a two-game lead in the AFC North and host the St. Louis Rams in Week 12. Nickel safety Shawn Williams (ankle) didn’t return, either. But “There’s no way Andy Dalton loses two games in a row!”
The Bengals were either busted or they got a bum rap.
“Probably”, Arians said. “Because they had flinched a few other times and they have a history of it”. “It was a lack of execution. We fought until the very end and that’s good to see”.
They could have turned the Texans game into a speed bump, a predictable and easily-explained one, because they weren’t going 16-0 anyway.
That’s how it went Sunday. Palmer has now thrown for 737 yards and seven touchdowns in the past two wins, both of which came away from Arizona.
Dalton was 22 of 39 for 315 yards, two touchdowns no interceptions.
They led 14-7 at half-time, but watched Palmer lead the home team to three consecutive touchdowns in less than 10 minutes during the third quarter for a 28-14 lead. The Bengals overcame a third-and-26 on the drive and converted a fourth-and-four from the Cardinals 16. “Runs, passes. I am trying to communicate stuff”. Palmer’s line: 20 for 31 and 314 yards with the four scores. “It was the ideal play in what they called. We executed it really well and gave it a chance to go down there and score”.
The game kicks off at at 8:30 p.m. “I left it short”, he said. The team looks prepared for any situation, never appearing flustered late in close games, such as Sunday night’s. Inches from greatness and seconds from euphoria.
Arizona opened the second half with touchdowns on each of their first three possessions to rally from the 14-7 deficit and take a 28-14 third-quarter lead. Even if it didn’t convert, it would milk the clock and pretty much guarantee overtime because Palmer had no timeouts left.
Listening to the commentators, you would have thought Patrick Peterson shut A.J. Green out of this game. Before the snap I was thinking to try and dive under. Basically, this game was one of those “whoever has the ball last will win” type of games, and Arizona just happened to have the ball last. Arizona says he has been cleared to play, but if he is unable to go, or is limited, it could affect the Cardinals’ s game plan. Now we’re going back to see how accurate those keys were and if the Bengals accomplished them in their second loss of the season. Palmer will get sacked once or twice, no doubt-but for the most part, he has a done a great job stepping up in the pocket and avoiding sacks. “That was bad.’ But he made a few plays though”.
Palmer used his brain in this game to not only scald the Bengals secondary, but he also took advantage of the fact that the Bengals’ secondary was hit hard by injuries before and during the game. And will Bobbie Massie be able to stop Carlos Dunlap on the outside?
Over in Chicago, Gary Kubiak saw his Broncos penalized eight times for 118 yards, while the Bears drew not a single flag. “He said it was time for the rookies to step up. We made the plays we had to”.
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It seemed like Palmer was looking for only one guy after the game. What can you tell me about this group? “I think he started to realize he’s not just a player, he’s a big-time player”. Jeremy Hill scored on the next play.
