Cardinals defeat Chargers, 18-17, on rookie’s clutch catch

Glendale, Ariz. — The small, speedy rookie from little Pittsburg State made his first NFL touchdown a big one.

John Brown caught a 13-yard scoring pass from Carson Palmer with 2 minutes 25 seconds to play, and the Arizona Cardinals rallied to beat the San Diego Chargers, 18-17, on Monday night.

Brown took the short toss in the flat and eluded tacklers into the end zone, capping an 11-play, 91-yard drive.

Arizona trailed, 17-6, after three quarters.

Jerry Attaochu blocked a punt and forced a fumble, setting up 10 Chargers points.

With his team trailing, 6-3, at halftime, San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers went six for six for 82 yards on a drive to open the second half. His six-yard pass to Malcom Floyd for the touchdown put the Chargers ahead, 10-6.

After Attaochu forced Palmer’s fumble, Ryan Mathews ran 20 yards for a touchdown that made it 17-6.

The Cardinals finally got a touchdown on a 10-play, 64-yard drive. Palmer scrambled and then tossed five yards to Stepfan Taylor to cut the lead to 17-12 with 12:30 to play. The two-point conversion try failed.

After the ensuing kickoff, the Chargers appeared to be headed for at least a field goal, but the center snap bounced off Rivers, and by the time he fell on the ball, San Diego was out of field-goal range.

The Cardinals took the punt at their nine-yard line with 6:50 to go and mounted the long scoring march.

Arizona rookie Chandler Catanzaro kicked field goals of 44 and 22 yards.

The Cardinals had a 211-108 advantage in yards in the first two quarters but led only 6-3 on Catanzaro’s 44-yarder as the half ended.

Arizona scored first on Catanzaro’s 22-yard field goal with 12:42 left in the first half.

Larry Fitzgerald caught one pass with 4:04 to play to keep alive his streak of at least one reception in 150 consecutive games.