Tampa Bay Buccaneers
GLENDALE, Ariz. – Ho hum, just another fourth-quarter rally for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.Aqib Talib intercepted two passes, returning one 45 yards for a touchdown and saving the game with the other, and the Bucs rallied from a fourth-quarter deficit for the fourth time this season to beat the Arizona Cardinals 38-35 on Sunday.
The Bucs (5-2) won their fifth straight on the road dating to last season and moved into a tie with idle Atlanta for first in the NFC South.
Josh Freeman's 53-yard pass to rookie Arrelious Benn set up LaGarrette Blount's 1-yard run for what proved to be the winning score with 5:13 left. Freeman now has six fourth-quarter comebacks in 16 career starts.
Derek Anderson, who replaced Max Hall after the Cardinals rookie had two early interceptions returned for scores, had rallied Arizona (3-4) from a 17-point deficit to take a 35-31 lead with 9:41 to play.
Blount, the rookie from Oregon, rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries.
Arizona's Steve Breaston, back after missing three games because of arthroscopic knee surgery, caught eight passes for a career-high 147 yards. Gerald Hayes, activated for the first time since offseason back surgery, returned a fumble by Blount 21 yards for the second Cardinals touchdown in a 23-second span of the final minute of the third quarter.
Freeman passed for 278 yards but failed to throw the ball away on a crucial third-down play late in the game. That left Connor Barth with a 54-yard field goal try that Kerry Rhodes burst up the middle to block. Arizona drove to the Tampa 20 and seemed certain to at least get a game-tying field goal.
But Talib stepped in front of Larry Fitzgerald for an interception at the Buccaneers 3-yard line with 2:15 remaining.
The Cardinals got it back with less than a minute to go but went nowhere.
Fitzgerald's second TD catch of the day, a 5-yarder from Anderson, had put Arizona ahead 35-31, but nearly 10 minutes still remained, plenty of time for a Tampa Bay team that Bucs coach Raheem Morris had proclaimed "best in the NFC."
The big play was Freeman's deep pass to Benn, who bumped Rhodes before breaking free just enough for the catch and landing inside the Arizona 1.
The Cardinals had pared down the playbook for Hall, and it worked for a little while. He completed passes of 14 and 17 yards in an early scoring drive that ended with his first NFL touchdown pass, a 2-yarder over the middle to Fitzgerald.
But Hall's day went severely downhill in a hurry after that, first with Geno Hayes' 41-yard return for a score, then with Talib's 45-yarder.
Breaston made a spectacular sideline catch of Anderson's pass for 33 yards to the Bucs 11 late in the first half, but the drive stalled and coach Ken Whisenhunt chose to go for it on fourth-and-2 at the Tampa Bay 3.
Anderson's pass bounced off the helmet of offensive guard Alan Faneca but still got to the arms of Breaston, who couldn't hold on in the back of the end zone.
Tampa Bay's offense went 94 yards but had to settle for Barth's' 21-yard field goal with time running out to put the Buccaneers up 24-14 at the half.
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