Emari Demarcado blunder on Arizona Cardinals touchdown, video, reaction

It was a boneheaded mistake that ended up costing the Cardinals more than just a touchdown.

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Cardinals running back Emari Demercado dropped the ball just before he crossed the goal line for a touchdown, kicking off a wild sequence of events that eventually led to the Titans coming from behind to beat Arizona 22-21.

The Arizona Republic’s Bob McManaman described the loss as “unthinkable”, writing in a column that it will “go down as the worst” defeat in Cardinals history.

Demercado had thought he had cleared the plane of the end zone for a touchdown with 12:41 left in the game and the Cardinals up 21-6.

The error wiped what would have been a 27-6 lead, prior to the extra-point attempt, off the board.

The refs ruled the whole thing to be a turnover and touchback, which led to the Titans scoring on the ensuing possession following the fumble, knocking the Arizona lead down to just nine.

It was the second consecutive week that an NFL running back had made such a mistake that ended up costing their team big in the end.

Colts receiver Adonai Mitchell was guilty of a similar mishap last week against the Broncos, coming down with a spectacular catch and then racing away for a would-be 72-yard touchdown only for the officials to rule that he had let go of the football prior to it crossing the goal line.

It would have put the Colts up by two touchdowns, but instead the game unraveled and Indianapolis ended up losing.

The bizarre miscue led to a similar result in Arizona, in an even wackier way.

The Titans managed to pull within one when rookie quarterback Cam Ward threw an interception with under five minutes to play, but the Cardinals defender coughed up the ball as he went into the ground, allowing it to pinball into the end zone, where a Titans player jumped on it for a touchdown.

Later, Joey Slye hit a game-winning field goal as the clock expired to give the Titans their first win of the season.

— New York Post

UNDEFEATED NO MORE! EAGLES STUNNED IN LATE COMEBACK

The Denver Broncos staged a dramatic late comeback to shatter the Philadelphia Eagles’ unbeaten start, overturning a 14-point deficit to snatch a 21-17 victory on the road.

The reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles looked poised to extend their 100% record after battling into a 17-3 lead early in the fourth quarter at Lincoln Financial Field.

But the Broncos showed huge character to battle back, with JK Dobbins rushing over from close range to help cut the gap to 17-10.

After the Broncos defense forced a punt, Denver took the lead with quarterback Bo Nix engineering a touchdown for tight end Evan Engram. A successful two-point conversion put the Broncos into a slender 18-17 lead with 7min 36sec remaining.

Philadelphia’s sputtering offense was then forced to punt once more, and Denver took possession with Nix working the ball downfield.

A 36-yard Wil Lutz field goal gave Denver a four-point cushion before the Eagles’ final possession ended with an unsuccessful hail Mary attempt from quarterback Jalen Hurts as time ran out.

Denver quarterback Nix saluted a superb Broncos defensive performance after the visitors forced Philadelphia into punting seven times while recording six sacks on Hurts.

“We just kept stopping them on defense and we just started putting drives together,” Nix said. “Our defense just played incredible. They just kept getting us the ball back no matter what happened, they never wavered, and we just scored when it mattered,” he added.

EARLY SUPER BOWL FAVOURITES HIT NEW LOW

Elsewhere, the Baltimore Ravens’ season lurched from bad to worse with a humiliating 44-10 beatdown at home by the Houston Texans.

The Ravens, missing a slew of starters including quarterback Lamar Jackson, slumped to 1-4 for the season after an offensive onslaught led by Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud.

Stroud tossed four touchdowns with 244 passing yards from 23-of-27 attempts as Houston improved to 2-3.

Nick Chubb, meanwhile, rushed for a 27-yard touchdown that had former NFL defensive end turned CBS broadcaster J.J. Watt declaring the Baltimore defence is “unrecognisable”.

“This has just become an unrecognisable Baltimore Ravens defense from what they used to be,” Watt said.

“This just isn’t the Baltimore Ravens that we’ve come to know. It doesn’t feel right.”

The defeat was another brutal loss for Baltimore, who were strongly tipped to challenge for the Super Bowl before the season kicked off.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh described the team’s mood as “complete disappointment” and challenged his organisation to regroup.

“We’re gonna have to find a way to turn it around and figure out who we are this next week,” Harbaugh said.

“We’re gonna have more than half the season left and we’re gonna have to find ourselves.”

REBORN QUARTERBACKS SLING IT IN HIGH-SCORING THRILLER

Meanwhile, a thrilling game in Seattle saw the Tampa Bay Buccaneers snatch a 38-35 victory over the Seahawks with a field goal as time expired in the fourth quarter.

A seesaw duel saw Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold throw for four touchdowns and 341 yards but it was not enough against a Tampa Bay side who improved to 4-1 for the season.

Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield was once again the talisman for the visitors, hitting Sterling Shepard with the game-tying touchdown with just over one minute remaining, before Chase McLaughlin’s 39-yard field goal clinched victory.

QUARTERBACK CHANGE COMING IN CINCINNATI?

The Detroit Lions are also standing on 4-1 after bringing up their fourth straight win in a 37-24 defeat of the Cincinnati Bengals. Lions quarterback Jared Goff threw three touchdowns with 258 yards to spark Detroit.

Jake Browning, who has been filling in for injured Bengals starting quarterback Joe Burrow, had a turnover-prone start to Sunday’s game and while he stuffed the box score with a few late touchdowns in comeback mode, it only increased the pressure on head coach Zac Taylor to make a change.

“Of course, after a game like that we’re going to look at all personnel to make sure we are doing the right thing,” Taylor said after the loss.

“I won’t shy away from that because it’s a very fair question after the amount of turnovers we had. To say that I don’t think Jake can win games for us, I believe Jake can win games for us. I do. We’ll just continue to look at everything we can personnel wise.”

OTHER RESULTS AROUND THE LEAGUE

In Los Angeles, the Washington Commanders rallied from a 10-point deficit to score 27 unanswered points in a 27-10 defeat of the Chargers at SoFi Stadium.

The Indianapolis Colts, who suffered their first defeat of the season against the Los Angeles Rams last week, got back to winning ways with a blowout 40-6 rout of the Las Vegas Raiders at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Dallas Cowboys moved to 2-2-1 with a 37-22 defeat of the winless New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford while the Giants lost 26-14 at the New Orleans Saints.

In London, the Minnesota Vikings improved to 3-2 after grinding out a 21-17 win over the Cleveland Browns at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.