Or perhaps that headline should read “Cardinals hold on late, lose to Eagles 24-21.”
Either way, the emphasis is on hold. The Cardinals were flagged for defensive holding twice in the fourth quarter, wiping out a Patrick Peterson interception and giving the Eagles a vital first down with less than two minutes to go in the game. Those two calls were sandwiched around a fourth down incompletion by Carson Palmer, whose throw to Michael Floyd fell incomplete thanks to some coverage by Bradley Fletcher that had the Cardinals looking for a flag.
It didn’t come and Arizona’s bid for a Wild Card berth took a blow. While the penalties were a tough break, they helped make their bed with three Carson Palmer turnovers and five Eagles sacks that kept the offense from putting more points on the board. That could leave them a game back of the 49ers if San Francisco beats the Rams on Sunday.
The Eagles, on the other hand, drew even with the Cowboys at 7-5 with the win. Dallas owns the tiebreaker at the moment, but the two teams will meet again in Week 17 so they’re alive as long as they keep winning. Nick Foles narrowly avoided that first interception of the season and threw three more touchdown passes against the best defense he’s faced in his run as a starter, which more than makes up for some erratic moments. He spread the ball around, with five receivers catching at least three passes, and stood in against a pass rush that dropped him five times.
More of that in the next three weeks and that finale with the Cowboys should be a pretty meaningful one.