The Sports Xchange
Oct 24, 2016
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- In a game featuring two blocked kicks and missed field goals that would have won the game for both teams on what essentially were chip shots, the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks wound up settling for a 6-6 tie Sunday night at University of Phoenix Stadium.
Cardinals kicker Chandler Catanzaro had a chance to win the game with a second field goal in overtime, but his 24-yard attempt with 3:19 remaining bounced off the left upright.
The Seahawks took over, and after two long pass plays from Russell Wilson to Doug Baldwin, Seattle kicker Steven Hauschka shanked a 28-yard field goal wide left with seven seconds left to play in the extra period.
Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer completed a pass to Larry Fitzgerald on the next play, but his last-ditch Hail Mary attempt to Fitzgerald with no time left on the clock fell incomplete.
It marks the first time the Cardinals (3-3-1) played to a tie since Dec. 7, 1986, when they settled for a 10-10 draw at the Philadelphia Eagles. The Seahawks (4-1-1) played the first tie game in franchise history.
Catanzaro connected on a 45-yard field goal with 11:23 left in overtime, but the Cardinals' defense, which pressured Wilson continuously and kept the Seattle offense in check, couldn't stop the Seahawks from tying it up and extending play.
Hauschka evened the score 6-6 on a 36-yard field goal with 6:42 left in OT.
Arizona thought it had things locked up after Palmer connected on a pass plays of 27 yards to tight end Ifeanyi Momah and 40 yards to receiver J.J. Nelson. Instead of kicking the game-winner right away, coach Bruce Arians elected to go for the touchdown by running David Johnson, who ripped off his third consecutive 100-plus yard rushing performance.
Johnson, who finished with 113 yards on a career-high 33 carries, was stopped just short of the end zone on two rushing attempts. Then, Catanzaro came on and clunked one off the post.
Palmer finished the game 29 of 49 for 342 yards with no interceptions. Wilson was 24 of 37 for 225 yards with no interceptions.
Arizona had nearly a 20-minute edge in time of possession overall -- 46:19 to 28:39. The Cardinals outgained the Seahawks in total yards, 443 to 257.
The Seahawks, who earlier in the game blocked a Cardinals field-goal attempt when linebacker Bobby Wagner hurdled the offensive line and leaped into the air to knock the football down, used another block on special teams to help them tie the score at 3.
This time, it came during a punt by the Cardinals' Ryan Quigley. Just as he booted the kick, Seattle's Tanner McEvoy flew in high to bat it down. The ball was recovered at the Arizona 22-yard line by Seahawks defensive lineman Cassius Marsh.
Four plays later, Hauschka drilled a 40-yard field goal right down the middle to make it 3-3.
The Seahawks might have outscored the Cardinals 105-34 in their last three visits to Arizona, but they didn't resemble that same club in the first half on Sunday night.
In keeping Seattle off the scoreboard through the first two quarters of play, the Cardinals outgained the Seahawks 174-47 in total yards, dominated them in first downs, 12-2, and completely owned them in time of possession, 22:20-7:40.
All the Cardinals could get out of that, however, was a 46-yard field goal from Chandler Catanzaro to take a 3-0 lead heading into the locker room.
It was another in a series of long scoring drives for Arizona, however. Catanzaro's kick capped a 14-play drive covering 53 yards that lasted eight minutes, 24 seconds. The Cardinals entered the game having totaled 12 drives of 11 plays or longer -- just three fewer than they had all of last season, when they set numerous franchise records on offense.
Wagner might have set a record, meanwhile, for most clicks of a highlight reel when he made a Superman-like move to block an earlier Catanzaro field-goal try from 39 yards.
Less than two minutes into the second quarter, Wagner perfectly timed the snap from Aaron Brewer to holder Quigley and in a flash, hurdled his way over Brewer and then in a single bound, leapt high into the air to block Catanzaro's kick.
Wagner brushed Brewer's back with his left foot while leap-frogging over the long snapper, but it was incidental contact and not a foul. The Cardinals tried to challenge it, but since it wasn't a reviewable play, Arizona lost a timeout in addition to a chance at three points.
The Cardinals lost that opportunity at the end of the first half as well when Palmer was sacked for a 7-yard loss just as he helped put them back into field-goal range again. He fumbled the ball and right guard Earl Watford recovered for Arizona, but the clock ran out because of the pileup for the football.
NOTES: Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald extended his streak of consecutive games with at least one catch to 186 games, which ties Hines Ward for the fourth-longest streak in NFL history. Also with his first catch on Sunday night, Fitzgerald moved ahead of Henry Ellard (13,777 career receiving yards) for 13th place on the NFL's all-time receiving yards list. ... For a second straight week, the Seahawks were forced to play without Kam Chancellor, their four-time Pro Bowl safety, because of a groin injury. Kelcie McCray once again started in his place. ... Cardinals WR John Brown, who was diagnosed with sickle-cell trait late last week, was inactive on Sunday night. He is been dealing with pain in his legs, which the team believes is caused by the blood disorder.
