CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Arizona Cardinals (2-2) get back to .500 on the season by defeating the Carolina Panthers 26-16 Sunday afternoon.
Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield, both Heisman winners during their college days at Oklahoma, faced off for the 3rd time in their NFL careers.
With the Cardinals win, Murray is now 3-0 against Mayfield.
1st quarter:
It was a rough go of it early for both teams, going scoreless and combining for less than 100 yards in the first quarter.
The Cardinals failed to score in the first quarter, stretching a scoreless streak to all four games so far this season.
Arizona had the best chance of putting points up on the board in the team's second drive of the game. But a gutsy 4th-and-1 call ended in a loss of 5 yards and a turnover on downs.
Outside of one turnover on downs each from both teams, the other 3 drives of the first ended in punts.
Kyler Murray finished the quarter 3-for-5 on 20 yards passing.
2nd quarter:
Carolina got on the board first following a Murray interception returned 33 yards by the Panthers' Frankie Luvu for a 7-0 lead.
The following Arizona drive killed momentum yet again ending in a bad snap, forcing them to punt the ball.
After recovering a fumble, Matt Prater hit a 33-yard field goal to cut Carolina's lead to 7-3.
A 54-yard field goal then extended the Panthers' lead to 10-3 at halftime.
3rd quarter:
The offense began to show a bit of life coming out of the locker room.
A five-minute drive for Arizona ended in a 2-yard touchdown pass from Murray to TE Zach Ertz and the Cardinals suddenly were tied, 10-10 with Carolina.
Ertz's touchdown reception was the only scoring for both teams in the third.
4th quarter:
Arizona dominated the time of possession and the scoring in the fourth, outscoring the Panthers 16-6 in the final quarter (23-6 in the second half).
A drive that lasted close to 10 minutes ended with a 39-yard field goal, Prater's second of the game, for a 13-10 lead with 11:22 left in the game.
The field goal gave the Cardinals their first lead in regulation this season.
Mayfield's second interception, tipped by J.J. Watt, was returned by Dennis Gardeck for 24 yards. Murray followed that two plays later with a 4-yard rushing touchdown for the 20-10 lead with 10:26 left.
For added insurance, Marquise Brown made a terrific catch from Murray for a 24-yard touchdown and stretched the lead to 26-10.
Murray finished the game 23-for-32 for 207 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Brown recorded 6 catches for 88 yards and one touchdown.
The defense also did their share combining for nine pass deflections, three turnovers (2 interceptions, 1 fumble) and one sack.
Sports
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