Cardinals Narrowly Escape Ravens in 'MNF' Win Behind Rejuvenated Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson powered the Arizona Cardinals to a 26-18 Monday Night Football victory, and the Cardinals are once again racing toward January. But while Carson Palmer was rolling in cruise control with one finger on the wheel, Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens nearly overtook his Cards.

The rejuvenated tailback Johnson motored for 122 yards and a touchdown against a diminished Ravens front, and Palmer bounced back from his first rough outing of 2015 with a polished 20-of-29 performance. In between handing off to Johnson and watching his defense get stops, Palmer piled up 275 yards and two touchdowns.

Until back-to-back botched drives set up an out-of-nowhere comeback opportunity late in the fourth quarter, it looked as though the Cardinals were going to treat their fans to a decisive, if not dominating, win.

As has happened so often, though, the Ravens special teams made a huge play when needed, and Joe Flacco worked a little of his late-game magic to get within striking distance of the tying touchdown. When Flacco lofted the would-be equalizer to the end zone, though, it was Cardinals safety Tony Jefferson who came down with the ball:

NFL fans, coaches and columnists have been trying to figure what happened to "CJ2K," the force of nature who rushed for 4,598 yards in his first three seasons, since...well, ever since those first three seasons.

Monday's performance, though, gives Johnson a whopping 567 yards on 111 carries, making him the second-most prolific rusher of 2015. Only the Atlanta Falcons' Devonta Freeman can boast more yards accumulated, with 621—but Freeman's has 20 more carries.

For the first time since Johnson's 2,006-yard sophomore season, he's averaging more than five yards per carry (5.1). 

Is CJ2K back? Given Johnson's current workload, he's on pace for 1,296 yards. He won't become the first NFL back to post two 2,000-plus-yard seasons (at least not this year), but he's finally showing the mix of down-to-down power and home-run ability that made him so dangerous in his first three seasons.

Check out his bruising, never-say-die 26-yard touchdown run that put the Cardinals up 7-3, and his bonkers 62-yard third-quarter magic act:

The Cardinals finished off that drive with a 21-yard Chandler Catanzaro field goal, putting them up by what seemed like a comfortable 20-10 margin. 

"We felt like we had the game in hand," Carson Palmer told the ESPN postgame show crew, "and we just needed one more drive."

Indeed, after Palmer hit John Brown for a four-yard score at the beginning of the fourth quarter, it seemed like the door slammed shut for Baltimore. When Catanzaro missed the point-after attempt (PAT) to keep it a two-possession game, though, the door cracked back open again, just a tiny bit.

Flacco and company went three-and-out, though, giving the Cardinals a chance to put the game away. But then the ensuing Cardinals possession didn't go anywhere either, and the Ravens forced the game wide open:

The Ravens punched it in and got the critical two-point conversion, cutting the lead to eight. Taking back over with 4:26 left, Arizona again turned to Johnson to finish it off. But a holding penalty wiped one good Johnson run and then Palmer's poorly timed intentional-grounding penalty turned 2nd-and-10 into a hopeless 3rd-and-22.

"Stupid play by me," Palmer told ESPN, "and suddenly you let them back in."

Arizona punted it away at the two-minute warning, and Flacco began to work his late-game magic, driving downfield through relentless Cardinals blitzes.

Of course, as you already saw, Jefferson sealed the win with a pick.

The Ravens again proved they can play with anybody in the NFL, but they can hardly beat anybody in the NFL. Flacco, head coach John Harbaugh and the rest of the Ravens organization have to take some hard looks in the mirror to find out how a team Sports Illustrated's Peter King had No. 1 in his summer power rankings can be 1-6 after seven weeks.

Meanwhile, Palmer and Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians can relish a big win after an embarrassing Week 6 loss to Landry Jones and the Pittsburgh Steelers. With Palmer again looking sharp—and Johnson chairing one of the league's best tailback committees with authority—the Cardinals are clearly the class of the NFC West.

But splitting two close games against two foundering AFC North teams isn't a great look for a team with designs on the Super Bowl. Coming into Monday Night Football, the Cardinals had the No. 2-ranked scoring offense and No. 8-ranked scoring defense.

If these impressive regular-season showings are going to carry through October into November, December and beyond, they have to avoid the kind of bonehead mistakes that nearly wasted a rare gem from one of the NFL's most elusive talents.