Playoffs still a long shot, but Cardinals needed this feel-good win
Dec 4, 2016, 7:34 PM | Updated: Dec 5, 2016, 11:16 am
Arizona Cardinals wide receiver J.J. Nelson (14) celebrates his touchdown with Larry Fitzgerald as Washington Redskins cornerback Quinton Dunbar (47) walks away during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
GLENDALE, Ariz. — At least a dozen NFC postseason scenarios played out across the NFL on Sunday; scenarios that impacted and could have distracted the Cardinals. In a season where so much has gone off script and out of focus, the Cardinals finally found the tunnel vision they needed to deliver a satisfying victory.
Tampa Bay spoiled what could have been a perfect day for Arizona when the Buccaneers won at San Diego to keep the Cardinals two wins (technically 1.5 games) behind the NFC’s final wild card spot with four games to play, but they couldn’t spoil the feeling lingering in the locker room after a 31-23 victory over the Washington Redskins at University of Phoenix Stadium.
“We just needed a win,” said receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who passed Cris Carter and Marvin Harrison for third place on the NFL’s all-time receptions list with 10 catches. “It didn’t matter how it came or how it looked.”
Maybe so, but the optics were pretty good.
Arizona (5-6-1) finally got a big game from its receiving corps, with Michael Floyd and J.J. Nelson both catching touchdown passes. Quarterback Carson Palmer completed 30 of 46 passes for 300 yards and three touchdowns without a turnover. David Johnson was an MVP-caliber force again, and there were no significant special teams hiccups despite Chandler Catanzaro’s missed 53-yard field goal and a 28-yard Drew Butler punt that drew boos from the crowd.
Just as important, the defense provided steady pressure on Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins, with Calais Campbell recording a sack and a strip of Cousins to set up Floyd’s 6-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter. Cornerback Patrick Peterson sealed the victory with his first interception since Sept. 25 against Buffalo.
“Coach has been preaching the last three weeks that it’s about time that the defense get a win and we got one today,” Peterson said. “I believe it can help propel us throughout the rest of the season.”
Even coach Bruce Arians got his mojo back. With the Cardinals clinging to a 24-23 lead and facing 4th-and-1 at their own 34-yard line with 3:47 to play in the game, Arians went for it and Johnson gained a first down with a 14-yard run he nearly took to the house.
Five plays later, on 2nd-and-10 from the Redskins’ 42-yard line, Palmer threw deep and Nelson made a spectacular catch in traffic for a touchdown.
“The 4th-and-1 I was kind of with coach on that. Go for it. Just try to put the nail in the coffin,” Peterson said. “That 2nd-and-10, to see him heave it deep, I was like, ‘whoa, here we go!'”
Arians’ aggressive approach has earned praise and scorn, but he wasn’t about to change his philosophy and the Cardinals finally got the deep ball they’ve been lacking most of this season.
“You go back to your roots. When the game is on the line, ‘no risk it, no biscuit,” Arians said. “They’re fun when they work, but when they don’t you’re answering questions of ‘why the heck did you do it?'”
The Cardinals still face an uphill climb to the playoffs. They sit 10th in the NFC standings behind Tampa (7-5), Washington (6-5-1), Minnesota (6-6) and Green Bay (6-6) for the final wild-card spot, but for one day in Glendale, it was good to see the team we expected to see most weekends.
“We’re going into a big game, traveling across to the East Coast,” quarterback Carson Palmer said of next weekend’s game in Miami. “We have some momentum right now and we need to continue building on that.”
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