In the quiet of the Cardinals home locker room for the eighth consecutive time Sunday, it was fitting that safety Jalen Thompson explained his late-game injury by simply stating, “I just got the wind knocked out of me.”
That was an apt way to describe how the Cardinals felt after falling short in a 20-17 loss to the Eagles, after starting slowly again and spotting Philadelphia a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.
A somber Kyler Murray was still in uniform an hour after the game ended when he spoke to the media.
Asked what was going through his head, the Cardinals QB said, “Processing the game, thinking about things we could’ve done differently. Everything that happened during the game, just trying to soak it all in. Get over it.”
The injury to Thompson with 1:48 remaining in the game set in motion a chain of events in the next 91 seconds that knocked the wind out of the team, especially replacement kicker Matt Amendola, who sliced the potential 43-yard game-tying field goal wide right with 17 seconds showing on the clock.
Let’s set the stage for the frantic finish.
The Cardinals tied the game at 17 with 9:43 remaining in the fourth quarter when running back Eno Benjamin had an 11-yard scoring run and Ammendola drilled the extra point to cap a 12-play, 90-yard drive.
The Eagles, who were held under 400 yards (357) for the first time this season, marched to the Arizona 10-yard line at the two-minute warning. Running back Miles Sanders gained five yards on two runs and the Cardinals used two of their three timeouts after each play.
On third-and-5, Thompson broke up a pass for wide receiver Quez Watkins, but fell hard to the ground and had to be attended to by the team’s medical personnel. By rule, there is an automatic timeout for injury in the final two minutes of each half, so the Cardinals then had none left.
That rule makes no sense in situations like this. The rule was implemented essentially so that players wouldn’t fake injuries to stop the clock when trying to come from behind. In this case, the clock was stopped by the incomplete pass. Thus, after Eagles replacement kicker Cameron Dicker hit a chip-shot, 23-yard field goal and the Cardinals took over on their own 25-yard line, they had no timeouts remaining.
Murray ran for 15 yards on the first play, then overthrew a wide-open tight end Zach Ertz down the left sideline. However, Murray connected with Ertz for 11 yards on third-and-8 and after gaining 13 yards on receptions by Rondale Moore (five) and Marquise Brown (eight), Murray spiked the ball at the Philadelphia 34-yard line with 36 seconds remaining.
That set up the stunning ending. Murray dashed up the middle for what appeared to be a first down even when he went into a slide.
The scoreboard clock showed first down, but that is not the official word.
Coach Kliff Kingsbury said he was sure it was a first down:
“Yeah, I was right there,” he said. “I thought he was clearly past and they brought it back, and by that time we’d committed to clocking it.”
Murray spiked the ball again on what turned out to be third-and-1.
When Murray was asked if he thought it was first down, he said, “After the play, everyone is screaming clock in my ear, so assuming yes I had the first down.”
Kingsbury also said he believes the play should have warranted a replay review.
“I’ll have to look at it, but they brought it back a few yards and that was just tough,” the coach said. “Like I said, we’d committed to it at that point. (But) we would have kicked a field goal around that area either way. The risk-reward wasn’t good enough at that point once we’d committed to clock it.”
With that little time, he wanted to make sure they came away with a field goal and wouldn’t have been bold and tried for the win in regulation.
Kingsbury said, “If it would’ve been a first down, maybe something safe, but probably not launching up to the end zone. You don’t want to get picked off. You don’t want to take a sack and it’s over, so it would’ve been some conservative throws to try and get closer.”
All that was left at that point was for Ammendola to nail the kick and send the game to overtime.
Which, of course, didn’t happen.
This was familiar territory for Ammendola, who missed a 34-yard, fourth-quarter field-goal attempt and an extra point while with the Chiefs in Week 3 that handed the Colts a victory. Almost eerily, the score of that game was also 20-17.
Last season, in 11 games with the Jets, Ammendola was 2-for-5 on field goals from 40-49 yards with misses from 40, 42 and 48 yards. The 42-yarder against Houston on Nov. 28 was his final game on the Jets’ roster. His miss for the Chiefs was his last game on Kansas City’s practice squad.
He did face reporters after Sunday’s game and said of the miss, “It honestly felt good. Everything felt good off my foot. Again, it’s just something I’ve got to work on, and I don’t know. I’ll have to go back and watch it, then look at the film, and just review what went on. I felt good all game. Honestly, like I said, it felt good off my foot but I’ve just got to keep working.
“Obviously, it sucks. It’s a bad feeling but you just have to keep pushing. Got to bounce back through adversity.”
A replay appeared to show the ball heading straight down the middle and then veering way right.
Told that, he said, “It’s like golf. Sometimes you might slice the ball just ever so slightly. Like I said, it felt good off my foot. It’s just something that obviously I’m not going to get back, but I’ve got to keep pushing and go forward.”
While he was talking to the media, left guard Justin Pugh entered the conversation in an attempt to defend the kicker. He said, “It’s not one fuckin’ guy. I missed a block, we could have scored touchdowns. Everyone’s waiting around for one guy to come back here, but it ain’t fuckin’ right. It’s not right.”
Asked about the support from Pugh and teammates, Ammendola said, “It feels good. Almost every guy that I talked to coming in here said, ‘Keep your head up.’ Obviously, I’ve got to make my kicks at the end of the day, but it’s a team sport. I’ve got to do my job better. Having the camaraderie of the team and how they just lift me up, I’m going to keep pushing and get back to work on Monday. Every guy in here is amazing.”
It remains to be seen how long he will be working for the Cardinals, but he wasn’t the only one with laments.
“We didn’t make enough plays obviously,” Ertz said. “It’s not about one play with the kicker. We had plenty of opportunities to score a touchdown in the red zone and we didn’t get it done.”
That was in reference to the end of the first half when the Cardinals had a 16-play, 91-yard drive that ended with an Ammendola 20-yard field goal. They had first-and-goal at the 2-yard line with 10 seconds remaining and no timeouts. Murray missed Moore and Ertz on short quick passes and then had to settle for the three points on third down.
The biggest questions now are why the Cardinals selected him among four candidates that had tryouts last week and if this will be his last days on the practice squad.
The availability of Matt Prater is not known at this point, but if he is not ready, it surely wouldn’t be a surprise if the Cardinals head to Seattle next week with another kicker.
And although Pugh and Ertz have a point that there are many plays in a game that can affect the outcome, the reality is that kickers have one job and one job only.
When they have the results that Ammendola has had, it usually means they don’t have a job anymore.
Don’t hesitate to comment or ask questions on Twitter @hbalzer721 or email me: howard@gophnx.com
