Arizona Cardinals Improve To 5-1 With A Victory Over the Winless Oakland Raiders

The Arizona Cardinals improved to 5-1 on the season with a solid 24-13 win over the now 0-6 Oakland Raiders, Sunday afternoon. The win keeps Arizona atop the NFC West for at least another week .

The Cardinals offense displayed the consistency that they have been wanting all season as they put up points in every quarter of Sunday's game. Carson Palmer found Stepfan Taylor for a two yard touchdown in the first quarter to put the first points on the board at 7-0. Palmer threw his second touchdown pass of the day in the second quarter, a 33 yard dime to Michael Floyd that put Arizona up 14-0.

The key for the Cardinals offensive success was the fact that they kept their third down opportunities to short yardage situations for the vast majority of the game. It showed with their 9/15 third down conversion rate (60%) and the lopsided first down numbers. The Cardinals had 25 first downs while the Raiders had just 13.

Despite losing their twelfth straight game dating back to last season, the Oakland Raiders played the Cardinals very tough. Oakland responded with 13 unanswered points after the Cardinals went up 14-0 in the second quarter. Darren McFadden found the endzone for a one yard touchdown run, cutting the lead in half at 14-7. The next possession for the Arizona, Carson Palmer threw the Cardinals first interception of the season on a pass thrown too high for tight end John Carlson, resulting in a tipped  ball that ended up in the hands of Charles Woodson. Woodson returned the pick 27 yards, which set up a 29 yard Sebastian Janikowski field goal. Janikowski had a long 53 yard field goal in the third quarter to wrap up the Oakland scoring.

The Cardinals made a statement by responding with a touchdown, a 4 yard run by Stepfan Taylor. Running backs Stepfan Taylor and Andre Ellington accounted for nearly the entire Cardinals offense. Taylor had 40 rushing yards and 19 in the air, while Ellington had 88 on the ground and 72 in the air, a whopping 160 total yards. Chandler Catanzaro iced the game with his 15th consecutive field goal on the season, a 41 yard field goal that just squeaked inside the right upright.

Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles led the Cardinals to another masterful defensive game, allowing just 220 total yards. The mixture of schemes that the Cardinals love to utilize limited Oakland to just 164 yards in the air and 56 on the ground.

The Cardinals will clash with another bird next Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles, at their nest known as University of Phoenix Stadium.