Cardinals vs. Eagles: Score and Twitter Reaction for Sunday Night Football

While the majority of the NFL world wonders whether the Carolina Panthers will finish undefeated or the New England Patriots will defend their Super Bowl crown, the Arizona Cardinals are rolling. Don't look now, but quarterback Carson Palmer and Company appear primed to challenge for a Lombardi Trophy of their own. 

The Cardinals destroyed the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field to the tune of 40-17 and clinched the NFC West title in the process. It was the eighth straight victory for an Arizona team that is peaking at the right time with the playoffs around the corner. The NFL on ESPN reacted to the outcome:

Rookie running back David Johnson steamrolled the Eagles defense with 187 rushing yards, 42 receiving yards and three touchdowns, while Palmer notched 274 passing yards and a score. ESPN Stats & Info put Johnson's performance into historical perspective:    

As for the Eagles, they turned the ball over four times, three of which came from quarterback Sam Bradford (two interceptions and a fumble). What's more, headline-making offseason acquisition DeMarco Murray tallied a meager two carries for three yards.

Arizona wasted little time establishing a 7-0 lead after it marched right down the field on the opening possession. Johnson punched it in from one-yard out to end the 78-yard drive.

While the Cardinals controlled the first quarter and took a 7-3 lead into the second, John Brown racked up a handful of critical drops that would have resulted in more points. Brad Evans of Yahoo Sports was not pleased from a fantasy perspective:

The Eagles made Arizona pay when Zach Ertz hauled in a 22-yard score to tie the contest at 10. The NFL shared the highlight:

Despite the momentum from the touchdown, Philadelphia lost cornerback Eric Rowe to a concussion, per NFL Network's James Palmer. What's more, cornerback Byron Maxwell went to the locker room to have X-rays on his shoulder, which prompted this response from Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ Advance Media:

With so many injury concerns on defense, Philadelphia forgot the most important part—tackling. Johnson bulldozed his way through arm tackles on the way to an incredible 47-yard score to give the Cardinals a 17-10 lead at the half. Adam Green of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM introduced some new fans to the rookie:

The NFL captured the highlight:

Johnson continued to run all over the putrid Eagles defense, and Shorr-Parks juxtaposed that with the fact Murray didn't have a single carry for Philadelphia deep into the third quarter:

Johnson capped off another touchdown drive with a one-yard score to put Arizona up 23-10 in the third quarter, and Tim Ring of CBS 5 in Phoenix noted he made some franchise history in the process:

Chandler Catanzaro missed the ensuing extra point, and Bob Grotz of the Delco Times reacted:

Things only got worse for the overmatched Eagles when Markus Golden strip-sacked Bradford and Frostee Rucker pounced on it to give the Cardinals the ball back. Just when it looked like everything was going the Cardinals' way, Palmer hit his finger on Connor Barwin's helmet and left the game. Drew Stanton came in, but the long-term prognosis for Palmer was of more concern.

Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman commented on a rather gruesome-looking finger:

Sunday Night Football shared an image:

Palmer taped the fingers and actually came back in right after the Eagles coughed the ball up yet again. Not only did he come back, but he led the Cardinals down the field against what Philadelphia called a defense for another score to open a 30-10 advantage. Brown redeemed himself with a touchdown when he made E.J. Biggers look foolish, which the team passed along:

Eagles fans started heading for the exits when Bradford threw a pick-six to Deone Bucannon in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter to make it 37-10. ESPN Stats & Info pointed to the significance of the touchdown:

Nick Fierro of the Allentown Morning Call weighed in on the game:

The Eagles did respond with a quick-strike, 78-yard score to wide receiver Jordan Matthews to trim the lead to 37-17, but it was the type of touchdown that had more impact on fantasy games across the country than the actual one the Eagles and Cardinals were playing in Sunday night.

Philadelphia had one more long shot to get back in the game following a defensive stop, but it turned the ball over on downs with approximately 8:22 remaining. Catanzaro added a field goal to push the lead to 40-17 and underscore the difference between the two teams even more.

As if the game needed a closing act, Bradford threw yet another interception on Philadelphia's final possession, and the Cardinals went into victory formation to pick up the 40-17 win.

What's Next?

The Cardinals clinched the NFC West on Sunday, but they are still two games behind the undefeated Carolina Panthers with two games remaining in the battle for the No. 1 seed in the NFC West and two games ahead of the Green Bay Packers for a first-round bye.

The problem for Arizona (outside of Carolina's refusal to lose) is a daunting final two games against the 10-4 Packers and 9-5, two-time defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks. If the Cardinals were to lose out, Green Bay would certainly have a chance to seize that bye with the head-to-head game, but Arizona did not look like a team set to lose two games in a row during Sunday's contest.

As for the 6-8 Eagles, they are a game behind 7-7 Washington with two contests remaining. Fortunately for Philadelphia, it has an opportunity to make up critical ground in a Week 16 head-to-head showdown with Washington.

A victory in that one could clear the path to a division title.

Postgame Reaction

There was little doubt who would win the game by the middle of the third quarter, and Palmer addressed that dominance in a postgame interview with Paul Calvisi of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, via Craig Grialou of the same station: “Not to sound too proud but we expected to come in and do this. We came in and handled business.”

Perhaps the only downside for the Cardinals was the potential injury to Tyrann Mathieu in the final minutes. Patrick Peterson said, “We’ll see what the team doctor says here in a couple of days, but he’s walking around good,” per Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com. 

The only things that really went wrong on the field for the Cardinals were the early drops from Brown, and he addressed those after the victory:

As for the Eagles, Murray’s lack of carries stood out, and he said “Whoever is willing to have me. This is what I signed up for. So I’ll be here,” per Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer when asked about how much he would play next year.

Outside of Murray, Bradford struggled against the Arizona secondary. Matthews didn’t lose faith in his quarterback in the aftermath, per Dave Spadaro of PhiladelphiaEagles.com: “We all believe in Sam. He was under a lot of pressure and he threw the ball extremely well.”

Matthews also had some optimism moving forward, per Spadaro:

"

I think the biggest thing is that you can’t let one loss beat you twice. Sometimes I think short weeks are good because you’re able to get that bad taste out of your mouth that much quicker. It would be one thing if we didn’t still have life, but we have life. Everything is still right in front of us. A game like this, it’s not demoralizing because we really beat ourselves. If we clean up those things, clean up the turnovers, we can go out and get ourselves a good win next week.

I’m really optimistic. I know the guys are, too.

"

If the Eagles take that attitude into their next game against Washington, a division crown is within their grasp.