Oakland Raiders vs Arizona Cardinals 2nd half thread

The Oakland Raiders started out with the ball first. They tried to go deep on the first play from scrimmage but Patrick Peterson and James Jones got their feet tangled. A run by Darren McFadden and an incomplete pass later left the Raiders with a 3 and out opening possession. The punt was muffed but recovered by the Cardinals.

The Cardinals drive stalled at midfield. Instead of punting it the Cardinals went for it on 4th down but did not get the first down. The pass was on target to TE John Carlson but a great pass break up by CB T.J. Carrie knocked the ball out of Carlson's hands. Unfortunately the Raiders did nothing with the ball and had to punt after a 2nd straight 3 and out.

The Cardinals running backs were crucial on their next drive including the TD that made the score 7-0 Arizona. The TD came on 3rd and Goal and was especially painful. It looked like Charles Woodson had Arizona RB Stepfan Taylor stopped short but an amazingly athletic play kept Taylor's knee off the ground just enough to extend into the end zone. Andre Ellington also was a factor in the drive with a short pass turned long gain for the Cardinals.

The Raiders finally got into some rhythm when they got the ball back and drove into Cardinals territory. Unfortunately another dropped pass by Andre Holmes put a hiccup in the drive, followed by a strong pass rush forcing Derek Carr to try and scramble for the first. Carr was caught with a shoe string tackle otherwise he may have been able to get to the marker.

The end result of the drive was the same as the first two though even if they looked better, it was still another punt. The Cardinals took over with the 7-0 lead. The Raiders needed their defense to make a stop here and the defense stepped up big. It wasn't a 3 and out because the Cardinals got a 1st down on the drive. Still they had great coverage on a deep ball, a deflected screen pass and then a sack on 3rd down to force a Cardinals punt.

T.J. Carrie had a great punt return into the Arizona red zone but it was called back because of a penalty. The long return being called back usurped all the momentum the Raiders had just earned. Instead of nearly certain points they ended up with yet another 3 and out. The punt came from the Raiders own goal line after a sack on Carr so Arizona ended up with great field position, starting their next drive at the 50.

This time there would be no denying the former Oakland Raider Carson Palmer. He went deep to his big play receiver Michael Floyd on 3rd down from the Raiders 33 for the TD. Just like that it was 14-0 Arizona, despite the Raiders defense not playing badly.

The Raiders really needed to score on their next drive to keep this game from getting out of hand. Thankfully that is exactly what Derek Carr and company did. They scored on a 79 yard drive that featured a "Carr Bomb" to Brice Butler to inside the 5 and a 3rd down TD run by DMC. The TD made the score 14-7.

Arizona got the ball back with just under 2 minutes to go and all three timeouts, which is a scary proposition in the NFL. However, Carson Palmer overthrew his target and the ball was tipped into Charles Woodson hands. It was the first interception thrown by a Cardinals QB this year.

The Raiders got the ball at the Cardinals 12 yard line after Woodson's interception. Unfortunately the Raiders couldn't get anything going. Derek Carr threw the ball away on 2nd and 3rd down after a failed run on 1st, so Oakland settled for a field goal to make the score 14-10.

The Cardinals weren't content with the score what it was so they did try for more points before the half. It was almost a huge mistake on their part as the Raiders were very close to another deflected pass interception. The punt had some fireworks when T.J. Carrie almost muffed the punt from falling down while fielding the ball. The play went under review but there was no concrete evidence on it being touched by Carrie. After the heart stopping play the Raiders were content to go to the half down 14-10.