Chargers vs. Cardinals: Score and Twitter Reaction for Monday Night Football

NFL fans who stayed up late for the opening Monday night of the season were treated to a thriller between the victorious Arizona Cardinals and the San Diego Chargers.

The Cardinals found themselves down 17-6 entering the fourth quarter, but Carson Palmer led Arizona to two fourth-quarter touchdowns to notch the 18-17 victory. Incredibly enough, the final drive lasted 11 plays and 91 yards and was capped off by a touchdown catch from rookie John Brown.

The Chargers had a chance to score at the end, but the Arizona defense backed by a raucous crowd made sure it never happened.

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Palmer ended up with 304 passing yards and two touchdowns, while Michael Floyd led the way with 119 receiving yards. On the Chargers' side, Philip Rivers threw for 238 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and Antonio Gates notched 81 receiving yards.

As to be expected from any NFC West team at this point, the Cardinals defense set the tone from the opening kick. Arizona was getting constant pressure on Rivers throughout the first quarter, and Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller was already looking forward to next week:

Aaron Nagler of SI Now tried to offer a solution for the San Diego offense:

While the opposing defenses stifled nearly every offensive attempt in the first half, there was one important moment for a special teams player, as SI NFL pointed out:

"

Rookie K Chandler Catanzaro hits the 22 yard FG, the first of his NFL career. Arizona up 3-0 over San Diego.

— SI NFL (@si_nfl) September 9, 2014"

The Cardinals took the early 3-0 lead on that field goal, but the Chargers came back with a field goal of their own after a blocked punt. ESPN Stats & Info noted that it wasn’t exactly business as usual for the San Diego special teams:

The Cardinals seized a 6-3 lead at the half because Jerraud Powers intercepted Rivers with less than 20 seconds remaining and almost returned it to midfield. Palmer led the offense into field-goal range, and fans finally saw another score. There was at least one participant making fantasy football players happy, via ESPN Stats & Info:

The Chargers apparently had enough of the defensive struggle and their offense came out firing on all cylinders to start the second half. Rivers led them down the field through the air and capped it off with a perfect touchdown strike to Malcom Floyd. 

SportsCenter felt the same way everyone else did when tuning in:

Jeff Borzello of CBS Sports noted that the touchdown could foreshadow good things for Floyd this season:

As soon as San Diego seized momentum with the touchdown, the defense stepped up in a critical moment. Palmer was sacked and lost the ball, and just like that the Chargers were set up in perfect position to score.

Andy Glockner of The Cauldron noted things were going according to plan, while ESPN Stats & Info hinted at the plan Glockner was referring to: 

Ryan Mathews took advantage and dashed in from 20 yards out to open up a 17-6 lead for the Chargers. 

With the Cardinals down 11 points and the fourth quarter right around the corner, Josh Weinfuss of ESPN wondered if it was time to get Larry Fitzgerald involved. The star receiver didn't have a catch, although Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report offered his tongue-in-cheek reason why that was:

Fitzgerald didn't even get his first target until the fourth quarter, which certainly made this stat from NFL on ESPN relevant:

Even without Fitzgerald doing much, the Cardinals answered the Chargers at the start of the fourth quarter with an impressive touchdown drive. Palmer and company took it 64 yards on 10 plays to cut the lead to 17-12. Fox Sports NFL summarized the scoring play:

All of a sudden, the fourth-quarter momentum was on Arizona's side, but Rivers completed a beautiful pass to Gates on 3rd-and-13 to give the Chargers some breathing room. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com commented on the critical play:

However, it was all for naught when Rivers let a snap get behind him, which knocked his team out of field-goal range.

The ensuing punt pinned the Cardinals inside their own 10-yard line, but Palmer picked up an important third-down conversion with his feet. Bleacher Report's Miller was wondering where all the scrambling came from:

Later in the drive, Mr. Fitzgerald picked a nice time to tally his first catch of the game to set the Cardinals up at the San Diego 30-yard line. SportsNation had some fun with the moment:

The Cardinals crowd reached a fever pitch a few plays later when Palmer hit the rookie Brown on a short pass and let the speedster go to work. NFL on ESPN described the proceedings:

Albert Breer of NFL.com had an interesting comparison for those who didn't know Brown before the clutch touchdown:

Ben Higgins of 10 News in San Diego set the stage for the final drive:

Not so much. The Chargers turned the ball over on downs after Rivers' fourth-down pass was deflected at the line and then fell through Keenan Allen's hands at the last moment. Arizona won the thrilling game 18-17.

It was an incredible comeback for the Cardinals and an ideal way to start the season in what should be a loaded NFC West.

What's Next

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

The Cardinals have a golden opportunity to move to 2-0 with a game against the New York Giants in Week 2. New York looked absolutely awful Monday in a loss to the Detroit Lions, and Eli Manning threw two interceptions, while Matthew Stafford exploited the Giants secondary.

Look for the Cardinals defense to give Manning trouble yet again Sunday.

As for the Chargers, things get even worse with a date against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks in Week 2. It's not quite as intimidating to host the Seahawks as a trip to Seattle would be, but we are still talking about arguably the best team in the league. Seattle's defense completely shut down Aaron Rodgers and the rest of the Green Bay Packers and will look to do the same to Rivers.

Interestingly, Rivers seemed to have some confidence in his offense, which is entering its second year under coach Mike McCoy, via Noey Kupchan of STATS (h/t The Associated Press and Yahoo Sports): "I just think we know what to expect now. We all know the terminologies. There's a level of comfort and I think all that does is allow you to play fast and play confident."

The Seahawks may have a different opinion of that offense Sunday.