An interesting, competitive and offensively fueled “Thursday Night Football” game? ! Who knew that was even possible this season, after several weeks of slow games on Thursday.
In two quarters, the Arizona Cardinals have a 28-14 lead over the New Orleans Saints.
Saints quarterback Andy Dalton had a promising start, but enters the half with three interceptions – two returned for touchdowns.
The Saints offense started strong with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Dalton to Rashid Shaheed less than three minutes into the game and the Cardinals responded with a 50-yard field goal on their first drive to carry the score at 7-3.
The Saints were walking with a 15-play drive totaling over nine minutes and it looked like they were going to score another touchdown, but Dalton threw a pick into the end zone. It would be the start of a choice half for the quarterback.
The New Orleans offense showed many different looks tonight and Taysom Hill, the sometimes tight end, sometimes the quarterback, is a big part of that. Dalton connected with Hill to extend the Saints’ lead and the extra point made it 14-6.
Just as the Saints were starting to gain momentum, the Cardinals made a statement with consecutive touchdowns, one on offense and one on defense.
Keaontay Ingram ran it from 2 yards and a two-point conversion tied the game at 14. Then the Cardinals defense stepped up with a 38-yard 6 pick for Arizona’s first lead of the night. .
It was deja vu again for Dalton who threw another 6 pick, extending the Cardinals’ lead. After a missed extra point following the last touchdown, the Cardinals decided to score two. Their attempt was successful, making it 28-14 Cardinals.
The Cardinals enter halftime with 22 unanswered points.
