Arizona Cardinals find a way to win in final minute
By Scott Allen
There was life in the play calling, still a lot of work for the Arizona Cardinals after exciting finish on Sunday
New offensive coordinator, almost same result. The Arizona Cardinals had some different plays called on Sunday but they still couldn’t avoid making mistakes. Fortunately in the end, the Cardinals did enough to secure their second win of the season.
The Cardinals tried hard to hand this one to the San Francisco 49ers though. The 49ers weren’t much better and in the end the Cardinals were slightly better.
In what was a low scoring first half, it was 5-3 49ers at halftime, the 49ers seemingly took an insurmountable 12-3 lead in the third quarter. Nothing was working on offense for the Cardinals.
The defense seemed to have called it a day after the 49ers took a 15-3 lead. But the Cardinals offense came down the field and finally put the ball in the end zone to bring the game to 15-10.
The Josh Rosen pass to Larry Fitzgerald seemingly put new life into the Cardinals defense. They came out inspired after the Cardinals score and got the ball back.
However, tight end Jermaine Gresham, who struggled all afternoon, fumbled the ball without being touched. As he caught a pass and was running down the sidelines, he fumbled the ball back to the 49ers.
The Cardinals defense did get the ball back. They got a first down heading into the two-minute warning after a Rosen pass to Fitz.
There were some close calls but they got the ball inside the 10 and on third and goal Rosen found receiver Christian Kirk in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard score. Fitz got the two-point conversion, spiked the ball and the emotions for the team seemed to return.
We were getting ready to ask where blame once again was to be passed around. There doesn’t appear to be many wins on the remaining schedule. But the Cardinals didn’t give up in the end.
To almost make matters worse it seemed at the time, running back David Johnson left the game late with a concussion and was taken back to the locker room for evaluation. However he came running back onto the field on the last Cardinals drive.
Now the Cardinals can work on things on both sides of the ball for two weeks as they head into the bye. It comes at a great time. Next up is the Kansas City Chiefs. Good luck to them.