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» Bob McManaman rates the star players from Monday’s Cards-Cowboys game.

zation displayed their solidarity by linking arms in the end zone.

And the most powerful message came from the arm of quarterback Carson Palmer, who silenced his growing legion of critics with a sizzling first-quarter performance.

Unfortunately, this team is stuck inside a recurring nightmare.

The Cardinals squandered a chance to take a commanding lead in the first half, just like they did in Detroit. Their new kicker missed a field goal for the third consecutive game. And the offensive line once remains a saboteur of the early season.

“We have to protect (Palmer) better,” Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians said after the 28-17 loss. “We had guys open at times and just didn’t get them because we couldn’t throw the ball.”

As he often does, Palmer took the blame for holding the ball too long on a few occasions. But midway through third quarter, the Cowboys had pressured Palmer on 47 percent of his pass attempts while using four defenders or less.

Those who love to hate on the veteran quarterback need to realize what’s happening in between the lines, and how much inadequate protection is to blame for his spotty performances.

“When we allowed him to throw it, he was money,” Arians said.

The game was a celebration of Fitzgerald, who again proved he is one of the best prime-time performers in NFL history. It was not the nightcap Valley fans had hoped for, which came in the wake of a huge win from Arizona State’s football program and a playoff berth for the Diamondbacks.

It was also the ending to an unpredictable, exciting and historic week in the NFL.

Sports is where America solves many sticky issues. The playing field is level and colorblind, a true meritocracy where winners and losers are clearly delineated on the scoreboard, where talent and hard work usually reap commensurate rewards.

The current flap involving the national anthem is a bit different. Recent demonstrations were triggered by the incendiary opinions of our president, and not directed at social injustice. The issue illustrates how the NFL’s partnership with the military has distorted the meaning of the anthem and what the American flag represents at sporting events. And in the end, the entire controversy reeks of hypocrisy.

The president veered into the playground of sports during a speech in Alabama last Friday, stating that NFL owners should fire any player who doesn’t stand during the national anthem. He referred to any dissenter as a “son of a bitch.” His language infuriated professional athletes and played out along racial lines, as 70 percent of NFL players are African-American, including all of those who kneeled during the anthem before the president’s speech.

It was also a thinly veiled shot at Colin Kaepernick, who was the first to kneel during the anthem. And it spawned righteous indignation from owners across the NFL, who decried the president’s comments and stood by their players.

Except Kaepernick still doesn’t have a job. Which means those same owners have effectively done what the president desired long before he asked, which is fire Kaepernick from his job.

Over the years, the NFL has formed a strong alliance with our armed forces, branding their game by wrapping it in the American flag. Almost every game features a tribute to the armed forces, and many include expensive flyovers.

The growing militarism of the league has prompted many fans to associate the flag with our armed forces. And they should. The brave men and women who defend our country deserve to be honored as much as possible, just like teachers, social workers and first responders.

But the flag represents something bigger than the military. It represents all of us. It symbolizes the precious freedoms we all hold dear, including the freedom of speech and the freedom to dissent.

Arians was clearly done with the topic once the game had ended.

“That’s all over with,” he said. “I coach football. I’m not a politician.”

Besides, the Cardinals hoped to take a knee later in the game, the kind that secures a hard-fought victory. That didn’t happen. And the uphill battle continues for a team that hasn’t been over .500 since 2015.