Cardinals score late for Bengals’ second loss

Associated Press

GLENDALE, Ariz.

A bizarre penalty made the ending of Arizona’s wild 34-31 victory over Cincinnati even crazier.

Chandler Catanzaro kicked a 32-yard field goal with 2 seconds remaining for the winner after Cincinnati tied it with two late scores Sunday night.

The winning field goal was considerably closer than it would have been because Cincinnati’s Domata Peko was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for hollering out offensive signals to try to confuse the Cardinals (8-2) as they were about to spike the ball to set up the kick.

The penalty moved the ball from the 28 to the 14.

Carson Palmer overcame two early interceptions to throw four touchdown passes and, with 57 seconds left, completed three quick passes to move the team into field goal range after the Bengals rallied to tie it at 31.

“I just made two really stupid plays,” Palmer said.

“Just kind of got the jitters out and we got rolling. We caught fire in the second half.”

Andy Dalton threw two touchdown passes for the Bengals (8-2), both to Tyler Eifert.

The second cut, a 10-yarder, cut it to 31-28 with 3:44 to play. Mike Nugent tied it at 31 with a 43-yard field goal 1:03 from the finish.

Palmer, who had said during the week that this one against his former team was “not just another game,” completed 20 of 31 passes for 317 yards and has 11 TD passes in his last three games — four against Cleveland, three against Seattle and four against Cincinnati.

Dalton bounced back from a shaky start to the second half to engineer the Bengals’ comeback.

He finished 22 of 39 for 315 yards.

Arizona rookie speedster J.J. Nelson caught four passes for 142 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown reception.

Cincinnati running back Giovani Bernard caught eight passes for 128 yards. Jeremy Hill had two short scoring runs for Cincinnati.

The Cardinals trailed 14-7 at the half, led 28-14 in the third quarter and 31-21 in the fourth before the Bengals rallied.

Arizona had the ball at its 16 with 58 seconds to go and Palmer quickly threw 19 yards to Nelson. He followed with passes of 18 and 20 yards to Larry Fitzgerald to move the ball to the Cincinnati 27.

“If there’s a guy you’re going to pick to throw to when it really counts, he’s the one,” Palmer said about Fitzgerald.

“He just did a good job getting open.”