Close Wins Over Good Teams Are Still Wins

Arizona beat the Bengals 34-31, on a last second field goal by Catanzaro. Said field goal was aided by the refs calling a Bengals' d-lineman for barking out signals to try and get the Cards' to false start, which is a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, apparently. It doesn't get called much, but it got called here, to the Bengals' displeasure. Is the Ravens' tendency to whine about the refs screwing them infecting the rest of the AFC North? I would agree 15 yards seems excessive, and like holding (and most other penalties) the refs probably miss/ignore it multiple times a game. But it is a rule, and you got caught, so suck it up and quit bitching. Marvin Lewis is trying to argue his guy was just trying to get the defense set for a run play. Right, the Cards were going to run the football from the 40, with 6 seconds left in the game. How are you going to beat the Patriots if your coach can't lie any better than that? At least learn to deflect with angry sarcasm like Belichek!

Anyway, Palmer played like garbage in the first half, which helped put the Cards behind 14-7. Then he found a groove in the third quarter, and Arizona went up 28-14. Then the Bengals came charging back, and they could have won, if Dalton didn't underthrow A.J. Green on a third down play, forcing Cincy to settle for a tying field goal with a minute left. Arizona got the ball, moved down the field (thanks, prevent defense!), got the helpful penalty, and kicked the field goal. Hooray!

The Cards had three fumbles, but didn't lose any of them. They even managed to recover a fumble by the Bengals. They didn't intercept Dalton, though, which combined with Palmer's 2 INTs, means they lost the turnover battle. But they still won, which is nice. It could have gone either way clearly, but it's nice to see them continue to win some of these close games. Though I wouldn't object if they went back to crushing teams the way they were earlier in the season.

Neither team ran well. The Bengals had 99 yards on 28 carries, the Cards just 82 on 25 carries. Credit to the defenses, although both allowed pretty big passing days for the opposing QBs. Dalton's QBR is 68.8, and Palmer's is 77.9. I mean, even with the two picks, he went 20-31 for over 300 yards and 4 TDs. I'll take that.