Marvin Lewis: Penalty on Domata Peko “kind of ridiculous”

The rare penalty that gifted the Arizona Cardinals an easy field goal for a Sunday Night Football win was a “phantom call” that should’ve never been flagged, according to Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. However, Palmer threw two quick completions, and the Cardinals were aided in a big way by a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Cincinnati defensive tackle Domata Peko for “calling out signals”.

So instead of a 46-yard try, the penalty moved the ball from the 28 to the 14.

“I trust what our player did and said”, Lewis said. To get into that kind of style and drive all the way down the field twice, it shows the grit we have. Yet in the second half I felt like we did.

The lopsided start to the second half means the Bengals have been outscored 55-44 in the third quarter this year, while they have outscored their opponents 222-128 in the other three quarters and overtime. They finished six yards of offense apart. Palmer threw three of his four touchdown passes over the final 30 minutes, including a 64-yard strike to rookie wide receiver J.J. Nelson. He ended up the evening with eight receptions for 90 yards. Palmer caught fire at the same time, and a 14-7 halftime deficit turned into a 28-14 lead for the hosts going into the fourth quarter, whereupon they did just enough to hold on.

Carson Palmer said Sunday night’s showdown against the Cincinnati Bengals wasn’t going to be “just another game”.

“Forget about them and move on”, he said when asked how he responded to the fumbles. “We have to do a better job of finishing games. “I don’t know if “set” sounds like ‘hike” to them”, Peko said.

Palmer almost through the game away before it got started with a pair of first-quarter interceptions.

If the Bengals and Arizona Cardinals played that game in the Super Bowl, we’d be good with it, right?

Dalton had his heroics, too. “Game over. On something which a lot of people would say is routine, we missed”.

Newton became the first Carolina quarterback to throw four TD passes in the first half as the Panthers jumped to a 31-14 lead. Hill scored on a 2-yard run that was set up by Bernard’s 441-yard catch and run on a dump pass over the middle after the Cardinals tried to bring the house on Dalton. Chandler Catanzaro sent a 32-yarder through the uprights with 2 seconds to play and the Cardinals beat the Bengals 34-31. Not to mention the excellent work of running backs Chris Johnson and David Johnson to keep defenses honest against the run and protecting Palmer in the process.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Adrian Peterson ran for 203 yards and a touchdown in his record-tying sixth career 200-yard game, Cordarrelle Patterson returned a kick 93 yards for a score and Minnesota took over sole possession of first place in the NFC North by beating Oakland. On 2nd and 1 from the CIN 18, Palmer fired a laser pass into the hands of Brown who caught the pass amid close coverage and near the beginning of the end zone.

(At) Baltimore 16, St. Louis 13: Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco tore ligaments in his left knee during the closing seconds. The Ravens also lost running back Justin Forsett, who broke both bones in his right forearm. The spike would’ve set up a game-winning field goal attempt from about 46-yards.

Baltimore won despite committing two turnovers and being penalized 10 times for 137 yards. Nelson was the deep threat the Cards needed to spread out the Bengals defense and every touchdown came from a player who hasn’t been in the league longer than two years.

Among the injured Bengals were cornerback Darqueze Dennard with a chest injury and cornerback Josh Shaw with a shoulder injury.