Cardinals hold off late Ravens rally

Associated Press

GLENDALE, Ariz.

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 4 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’s blocked a punt to set up Joe Flacco’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Juszczyk. The 2-point conversion pass to Nick Boyle made it an eight-point 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.”

The eight-point loss was the most one-sided of the season for the Ravens.

Johnson also ran 26 yards for a TD. The 30-year-old running back, signed late in training camp after recovering from a gunshot wound during the offseason, topped 100 yards for the third time this season and didn’t even play in the fourth quarter.

Palmer completed 20 of 29 passes for 275 yards and two TDs. Flacco was 26 for 40 for 252 yards, with a TD and that one interception.