Watch UAB’s J.J. Nelson go long for his first National Football League touchdown

“Runs, passes. I am trying to communicate stuff”.

What Happened: The first half started out relatively slowly, but the teams would get warmed up and start scoring more as the game wore on.

This game and last week’s Seattle game should let the Cards know that they have to do something about their defense. “He’s alerting a run and not anything to do with what (the Cardinals) are saying”.

Arizona Cardinals rookie WR J.J. Nelson breaks out vs. Cincinnati Bengals Nelson hauled in four catches for 142 yards and his first career touchdown. At 7-2 the Cardinals look like the best team in the National Football League not named the Patriots and with a three game lead in the division look to clinch the NFC West since 2009.

St. Louis Rams quarterback Case Keenum (17) fumbles the ball on a hit from Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker Courtney Upshaw (91) forcing a turnover during the second half of an NFL football game in Baltimore, Sunday, November 22, 2015. Mike Nugent tied it at 31 with a 43-yard field goal 1:03 from the finish.

As the Cardinals lined up at the Cincinnati 30-yard line to run a spike play and stop the clock, the officials threw a flag on the Bengals defense.

Carson Palmer overcame two early interceptions against his former team to throw four touchdown passes and, with 57 seconds left, completed three quick passes to move the Cardinals into field-goal range after the Bengals rallied to tie it at 31. Fitzgerald had just two first-half catches, but played a big second-half role.

If this were a quarter-by-quarter evaluation, there would be straight Fs across the board in the third after the Bengals got outscored 21-0 and outgained 205-42.

Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer wasn’t buying Peko’s explanation. “I feel like we should have beaten them”, Kirkpatrick said.

Dalton was fairly ineffective in the Bengals’ first loss of the season, throwing for just 197 yards and failing to lead the offense to the endzone.

Following yet another Bengals punt the Cardinals drove 49 yards and capped it with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Palmer to running back David Johnson, who easily beat linebacker Vontaze Burfict. Fitzgerald, a future Hall of Famer, leads a pass-catching corps that is deep, dynamic and selfless, something Palmer never had in Cincinnati.

Until Bengals nose tackle Domata Peko was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for what the referees said was mimicking the Cardinals’ snap count, which is a no-no.

“Andy is going to get us in the play that he feels best versus the defense and he took the one-on-one shot to A, J. and we just didn’t get our feet in”, said head coach Marvin Lewis. “I don’t know from the way I said it, “get set” real quick”. The Niners have been very good defensively at home, even in losses.

The Cardinals turned a 14-7 halftime deficit into a 28-14 lead at the end of the third quarter, but, thanks in large part to running back Giovani Bernard, the Bengals forged a fourth quarter comeback.

“We didn’t finish. That is pretty much the bottom line and the headline, we didn’t finish”, Kirkpatrick said.