Johnson continued his unexpected resurgence in the 26-18 win over the Ravens, carrying the ball 18 times for 122 yards and a touchdown.
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Entering the game, Arizona was 2-8 in its previous 10 Monday night appearances.
Chris Johnson rolled his way to a big play and Joe Flacco couldn’t quite respond with one of his own.
The Ravens were marching down the field with a chance to tie the game on Monday Night Football in Arizona.
Arizona improved to 5-2 on the season but had to hold off a late rally from the Ravens (1-6), who were still in the game with four seconds remaining, only for quarterback Joe Flacco to be intercepted by Tony Jefferson.
“John did everything he’s supposed to do in this situation, just as he’s coached”, Harbaugh told the Ravens’ official website.
No doubt, I would say this, watching Chris earlier in his career, he doesn’t have the blazing top-end speed he once had but he still has tremendous feet, balance, lateral cut ability, and really, really good patience which, to me, is what makes a great back sometimes is that ability to see and laterally cut and make people miss.
Arizona led 26-10 before Asa Jackson of the Ravens blocked a punt to set up Flacco’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Juszczyk. He then found rookie tight end Nick Boyle on the 2-point conversion, making it a one-possession game.
The Arizona Cardinals might be on the verge of solving their losing ways on “Monday Night Football”.
To make matters even worse, the Ravens lost communication on their final and potential game-tying drive. Every single loss this season was by eight points or fewer.
It looked like any chances of a Baltimore fightback were dashed when Palmer finished an 11-play drive by firing a four-yard touchdown pass to John Brown with just over eight minutes, but Catanzaro’s failure to add the extra point kept the door open.
After hitting the century mark for the third time this season, Johnson now has 567 rushing yards on the season, which is second in the National Football League behind only Falcons running back Devonta Freeman. Running back Justin Forsett had culminated one of the Ravens’ best drives all season with a nifty 14-yard touchdown run to give the visitors a three-point lead.
Arizona’s attack needed only three plays to grab the lead.
On that play, Johnson landed in nose tackle Brandon Williams’ lap but he didn’t hit the ground and the referees didn’t blow the play dead. “We played to the final whistle”. That’s why I had to go and take the penalty, to get their attention so that they would understand what was going on because they didn’t understand what was going on.
Justin Bethel, a Pro Bowl player on special teams the last two years, stripped the ball from punt returner Jeremy Ross’ hands and recovered at the Ravens 25.
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But the Ravens did well enough to get themselves in position to score in the final seconds. He threw for 262 total yards.
