One week after Cam Newton’s dabbing led one horrified mother to write a viral scathing letter against the quarterback’s touchdown dance, online celebration police stayed away from their keyboards on Sunday night after Arizona Cardinals kicker Chandler Catanzaro hit the dab against the Cincinnati Bengals.
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The Cincinnati Bengals travel to University of Phoenix Stadium to face the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday Night Football.
Palmer, who had said during the week that this one against his former team was “not just another game”, completed 20 of 31 passes for 317 yards and has 11 TD passes in his last three games – four against Cleveland, three against Seattle and four against Cincinnati.
Jameis Winston threw five touchdown passes, and Doug Martin ran for 235 yards for Tampa Bay.
Dalton finished 22-for-39 with no interceptions. Bengals running back Giovani Bernard caught eight passes for 128 yards. Little went right for them to start the game, as Palmer threw two bad interceptions while the entire offense looked out of sync.
The Cardinals tied the score at 14-14 on their first possession of the half after forcing the Bengals to punt. Carson Palmer could show the “pick 6” moniker he earned in Cincinnati.
Lewis couldn’t recall if he was given an explanation on the penalty, which would measure out at 14 yards.
After the game, Larsen told NFL Network’s Alex Flanagan that he was “relieved” that Peko got flagged because he thought he was going to get hit with a false start penalty. With a third-down conversion, the Bengals could have either grinded the clock down and kicked a field goal with precious few seconds remaining to set up overtime or, even better, scored a touchdown to go up by four. Just about six minutes later, Tucker tied the game with a 20-yard field goal.
The Bengals overcame seven first-half penalties for 73 yards, several coming in key spots, to take a 14-7 halftime lead.
The Bengals, badly needing a win to compensate for last week’s shocking loss to the Texans, had plenty of motivation heading into Sunday’s game. The tight end Eifert has been a touchdown machine reeling in nine touchdowns this year on 40 catches, leading the entire league. He’s had Dalton’s number since the day the two players first faced off, picking off a Dalton pass in each of the past four matchups between these two teams. Nickel safety Shawn Williams (ankle) didn’t return, either.
What happened, sadly for Bengals fans, is that Dalton whiffed badly on the throw.
The Bengals defensive lineman was also surprised that a penalty was called at all. Bruce Arians put his coaching skills on full display with the ideal two-minute drill that Palmer and crew executed to get within field goal range.
Brandon Tate returned the ensuing kickoff 58 yards to midfield, where Dalton was sacked on first down. With 3:49 remaining, Cincinnati had second down from the Cardinals’ 10-yard line when Dalton zipped a fastball (behind surprisingly comfortable protection) to Tyler Eifert.
“This is not just another game”, Palmer said.
Earlier in the week, Palmer admitted that facing the Bengals, the team that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2003, was not just another game. “I don’t see how they make that call at that point in the game like that”.
PacMan Jones was one of those players and documented the action. Uzomah, rookie defensive lineman Marcus Hardison and third-year defensive end Margus Hunt…
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That takes us back to Lewis’ main problem: Remember, the Bengals coach was in disbelief that the officiating crew chose to make the call “at that point in the game”. Floyd has a hamstring injury. The other inactives for Arizona were: quarterback Matt Barkley, cornerback Robert Nelson Jr., linebacker Shaq Riddick, tackle D.J.
