Sports

The Cardinals had to sweat out the final minutes of their Week 1 win over the Saints, but it looked like they'd have an easier time finishing things out in their home opener against the Panthers on Sunday.

They held a 27-9 lead with less than six minutes to play in the game, but the Panthers scored a touchdown and forced a quick three-and-out to create some home. Another touchdown cut the lead to 27-22 with two minutes to play and the Panthers recovered an onside kick to make the Week 1 sweat feel like a pleasant memory.

The Cardinals committed four penalties over the next few plays — the Panthers had a couple of their own as well — before finally closing the door on a win that left tackle Paris Johnson said wasn't "the way it feels" because of how the final minutes went. Head coach Jonathan Gannon said it's on him to instruct players on "how to close games out" and quarterback Kyler Murray called it a "shitshow" that will feel much worse when a game ends with the Cardinals on the wrong side of the final score.

"We could be 0-2, but we're 2-0 with this issue," Murray said, via the team's website. "I don't want to make it a thing, but at the same time, we have to finish games. That's [the] bottom line. So, it didn't bite us in the ass today, it didn't bite us in the ass last week. But, you keep playing around, [you'll] get bit. We have to be better."

Cleaning up problems at 2-0 is always better than the alternative and the Cardinals seem to realize that playing with fire will catch up with them if they keep allowing it to happen. They'll try for a crisper 60 minutes against the 2-0 49ers next Sunday.

The push to ban the tush push was a big offseason storyline, but it ultimately did not garner enough support and the play remains a big part of the Eagles' playbook for the 2025 season.

Their use of it in Kansas City in Sunday's 20-17 win over the Chiefs opened the door to discussion about how the play is officiated. There were multiple times when replays showed Eagles guards Landon Dickerson and Tyler Steen were moving before center Cam Jurgens snapped the ball, but no false starts were called. After the game, Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones was asked about those plays and said it was on the Chiefs to get ready for the next play whether officials made the right call or not.

“You can’t get all the calls right," Jones said in his postgame press conference. "Just because we see it, sometimes the official is 15, 20 feet away and sometimes they can miss those small things. We think he jumped multiple times. The official didn’t see it, so it wasn’t called. We just got to go play the next down.”

Head coach Andy Reid said the Chiefs have to get "penetration" to stop the play and they were able to do that at times, but agreed with Jones about the Eagles moving early. The scrutiny that the plays received — there was a lot of talk about the false starts in the Fox booth — may lead to different responses from the officials in the future, but that won't do anything to change the result for the Chiefs in Week 2.

The Colts missed a 60-yard field goal attempt as time expired on Sunday against the Broncos, and for a moment the Broncos celebrated a 28-26 win. But the officials called a rare 15-yard leverage penalty on the Broncos, giving the Colts another chance. This time the 45-yard field goal was good, and the Colts won 29-28.

The Broncos weren't happy about it, but referee Craig Wrolstad says it was the right call.

"For leverage, as a defender, you're not allowed to place your hand on an opponent or a teammate and push off to propel yourself into the air to block a kick," Wrolstad said, via the pool report. "In this case number 92 [Dondrea Tillman] came across the line to the right guard and he put his hands on the right guard and pushed off him to elevate himself in the air in order to try to block the kick. You're not allowed to do that. It is a personal foul and a 15-yard penalty. In this case since it was the last play of the game and it was a foul on the defense, we extended the game for one untimed down. We assessed the 15-yard penalty, and they were able to run another play."

It's a penalty that often goes uncalled in the NFL, but by the letter of the rule it was the correct call. And it was the call that changed the game.