Marco Wilson and Isaiah Simmons returned interceptions for second-quarter touchdowns as the Arizona Cardinals defeated the New Orleans Saints 42-34 on Thursday night in Glendale, Ariz.
Wilson’s touchdown broke a 14-all tie with 1:50 left in the first half. Barely a minute later, Simmons made the third first-half interception of Andy Dalton, who finished 30 of 47 for 361 yards with four touchdowns for the Saints (2-5).
Kyler Murray passed for 204 yards and a touchdown and Keaontay Ingram and Eno Benjamin each ran for a touchdown for the Cardinals (3-4). DeAndre Hopkins returned from a six-game suspension to catch 10 passes for 103 yards.
After Arizona scored 22 points in the final 2:28 of the first half, the Saints drove to Wil Lutz’s 25-yard field goal to close the deficit to 28-17 early in the third quarter.
Murray completed a 12-play, 85-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Greg Dortch that increased the lead to 35-17 at the end of the third quarter.
After Dalton threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Juwan Johnson, Benjamin ran 5 yards for a touchdown to restore Arizona’s 18-point lead. Dalton tossed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Johnson and Lutz kicked a 45-yard field goal to complete the scoring.
On the fourth play of the game, Dalton threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Rashid Shaheed.
On the ensuing possession, Rodrigo Blankenship kicked a 50-yard field goal to trim the Saints’ lead to 7-3.
New Orleans drove to the Arizona 6 on the next possession, but Antonio Hamilton intercepted Dalton in the end zone, keeping the score 7-3 at the end of the first quarter.
After Blankenship kicked a 28-yard field goal, Dalton had a 64-yard pass completion to Kevin White, leading to a 3-yard touchdown pass from Dalton to Taysom Hill for a 14-6 lead midway through the second quarter.
Ingram ran 2 yards for a touchdown and Benjamin ran for a two-point conversion to tie the score.
Wilson then grabbed a pass that bounced off of Saints receiver Marquez Callaway, and Simmons snared an underthrown pass to Chris Olave, who finished with 106 yards on seven catches.
–Field Level Media