Cards overpower Ravens
ARIZONA 26 BALITMORE 18
GLENDALE, Arizona — Chris Johnson rolled his way to a big play, Joe Flacco couldn’t quite respond with one of his own.
And the Arizona Cardinals escaped with a 26-18 victory over the luckless Baltimore Ravens on Monday night.
Johnson rushed for 122 yards, 62 on a play where he rolled over the belly of a big defender and kept on running to set up a field goal.
Baltimore (1-6) drove to the four in the final seconds before Tony Jefferson’s interception deep in the end zone clinched the victory for NFC West-leading Arizona (5-2).
Arizona led 26-10 before Asa Jackson blocked a punt to set up Joe Flacco’s one-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Juszczyk. The two-point conversion pass to Nick Boyle made it an eightpoint game with 4:26 to play.
Baltimore got the ball back and Flacco quickly moved the team downfield before the final ill-fated throw.
“The punt block and all of a sudden you let them in,” Arizona’s Carson Palmer said, “but that’s what you want on Monday Night Football. We made it a game at the end.”
Johnson also ran 26 yards for a touchdown. The 30-year-old running back topped 100 yards for the third time this season and didn’t even play in the fourth quarter. The last Arizona player to do that was Edgerrin James in 2007.
Palmer completed 20 of 29 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns. Flacco was 26 of 40 for 252 yards, with a touchdown and that one interception. The Ravens’ Justin Forsett had a 14-yard touchdown run but finished with only 36 yards in 12 carries.
A 26-10 lead seemed comfortable before Bryant burst up the middle to block Drew Butler’s punt to set up the final Ravens touchdown.
The play of the night came in the third quarter, when Johnson hit the line and was pulled down, but he came to rest on the belly of 6-foot-1, 335-pound Brandon Williams. Johnson’s knee or elbow didn’t touch, so he alertly got up and kept running to the 4. The play set up Chandler Catanzaro’s second 21-yard field goal, making it 20-10.
After Arizona scored again, Catanzaro’s try for the conversion bounced off the right upright and was no good, setting the stage for the tight finish.