Cardinals snatch a tie from the jaws of victory (and defeat)
Oct 23, 2016, 11:14 PM | Updated: 11:14 pm
bruce arians and pete carroll's reactions to the missed field goal pic.twitter.com/BEDcPQPyue
— José (@whoisjoserivera) October 24, 2016
GLENDALE, Ariz. — It’s World Series time, so it feels right to quote the great baseball announcer Jack Buck.
“I don’t believe what I just saw.”
Of course, Buck was reacting to Kirk Gibson’s improbable heroic ninth-inning home run for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of their 1988 World Series sweep of the Oakland A’s.
Like Buck, I don’t believe what I just saw, either.
The Arizona Cardinals just played a football game where they held the ball for over 46 minutes, didn’t commit a turnover, converted nearly 50 percent of their third-down conversions and held the Seattle Seahawks to 11 first downs (five in regulation), yet didn’t win the game.
The much-hyped Sunday Night Football matchup between the two NFC West rivals ended in a 6-6 tie, after both Chandler Catanzaro and Stephen Hauschka missed chip-shot field goals in overtime.
It’s the first tie involving the Cardinals since 1986 when the St. Louis version of the team tied Philadelphia 10-10 in Week 14.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a tie,” Arizona head coach Bruce Arians said. “It was a very, very well-played, hard-fought ballgame. I thought our football team, other than the three plays in the kicking game, was outstanding.”
Uh, about those three plays, Bruce.
For the third time in 2016, the Cardinals were completely undone by their special team’s execution — or more to the point, lack thereof. Early in the second quarter, Catanzaro lined up for a 39-yard field goal. Seattle’s Bobby Wagner hurdled snapper Aaron Brewer and blocked the kick. The Cardinals challenged the call, but only ended up losing a timeout because it’s not a reviewable play.
Losing that timeout cost the Cardinals, who fell to 3-3-1 on the season. On what turned out to be the final play of the first half, on which the ball was snapped with 17 seconds left, quarterback Carson Palmer was sacked by Frank Clark, who jarred the ball loose. Arizona guard Earl Watford came out of the pile with the ball, but since the Cardinals had no timeouts remaining, the clock expired with Arizona on the Seattle 32-yard line, presumably in field goal range.
The kicking game problems were just getting started.
In the fourth quarter, with the Cardinals leading 3-0, Ryan Quigley had a punt blocked by Seattle’s Tanner McEvoy. It was recovered by Cassius Marsh at the Arizona 31-yard line. Four plays later, Hauschka booted a 40-yard field goal that knotted the score with 4:05 left.
Then, Catanzaro clanged a 24-yard field goal off the upright that would have ended the game. Thankfully, his counterpart would hook one wide-left from 28 yards moments later.
The Cardinals walk away feeling the relief of a non-loss. But from this viewpoint, it was a loss. It’s rare to out-physical the Seattle Seahawks, yet the Cardinals did that for the majority of a 75-minute brawl. It’s rare to hold Seattle’s offense in check the way they did Sunday — 127 of the Seahawks’ 257 yards came in overtime. Hell, it’s rare to get that kind of defensive effort, ever.
Most importantly, the Cardinals squandered an opportunity to finally beat the Seahawks at University of Phoenix Stadium during the Arians regime and pick up ground on the division leader.
“Two hundred games, including playoffs, I have never played in a game as crazy as this one before,” Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald said. “It was pretty crazy.”
Agreed, Larry. I still don’t believe what I just saw.
