GLENDALE, Ariz. — In a matchup featuring two of the four teams in the NFL with just one loss this year, it only figured Sunday’s game between the Arizona Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles would come down to the wire.

Arizona quarterback Carson Palmer connected with rookie wide receiver John Brown for a 75-yard touchdown with 81 seconds to play, and the Cardinals held off the Eagles 24-20 to improve to 6-1 — their best start since beginning the 1970 season with a 7-0 mark.

Most teams probably would have opted to try just for a first down, but on third-and-5 from the Arizona 25, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians decided to dial up a game-breaking deep ball. Palmer couldn’t place it much better than he did to Brown.

“We’re going to take our shots when they give them to you,” said Arians, whose team is 13-3 in its past 16 games. “You know we had players at the sticks. We had three guys at 8 yards for first downs. But when there’s a touchdown involved in the play, never pass it up.

“Don’t play scared, play smart.”

Arizona’s defense set up the win by forcing the Eagles (5-2) to settle for a field goal after Philadelphia had three chances to score while inside the Cardinals’ 10-yard line.

After Brown’s dramatic touchdown, Philadelphia still had one more shot. Quarterback Nick Foles moved the Eagles 64 yards during the final frantic minute. Foles had three chances from the 16-yard line but couldn’t get his team into the end zone.

A fade pass to Jordan Matthews in the end zone was out of the wide receiver’s reach. A throw into the corner for wide receiver Jeff Maehl was batted away by rookie safety Deone Bucannon. And with one second to go, Foles’ pass for Matthews sailed too far for the receiver to come down with it the end zone. Safety Rashad Johnson helped break up the play to preserve the win for Arizona.

“I’ll deal with these emotions for the next 24 hours. It’s definitely tough because we fought as hard as we could. When it comes to the playoff picture, we’re focused one week at a time. I’ve always been the kind of person that I’m going to focus on this game and now I’m going to correct it and now I’m moving on to the next game and then we’ll see where we are at the end of the season.”

The Cardinals, who are 4-0 at home, lead the NFC West by two games over the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks, who are tied for second place at 4-3. Arizona faces another powerful NFC matchup next week, playing the Cowboys in Dallas.

What the Cardinals said:

“That it’s not a fluke that we’re winning games. It’s hard to win games in this league and 6-1 just says how good we are, how much of a contender that we are and how much we believe in one another. I’m excited being 6-1 and moving forward to Dallas for a big game. Down in Dallas stadium, it’s going to be a big showdown, and we definitely need a win against the next NFC team that we play.” — Safety Rashad Johnson on what it means to be 6-1.

What the Eagles said:

“Yeah, I thought about it. Two-minute warning and talked about it. I thought our defense at that point was playing really, really well and I had confidence in them. I told them that when we were kicking the field goal because I had confidence in our defense at that point in time.” — Coach Chip Kelly on opting for a 20-yard field goal by Cody Parkey late in the game instead of going for it on fourth and goal from the 2.

What we learned about the Cardinals:

1. Carson Palmer’s arm strength doesn’t appear to be a question at all, considering all the shots he took deep down the field against Philadelphia, including his 75-yard bomb to John Brown that ultimately won the game for the Cardinals. It was only Palmer’s second game back, though, after missing three in a row to deal with a dead nerve issue in his passing shoulder. “It’s been three and a half weeks since I’ve started throwing again. You know, arm strength just comes with throwing,” Palmer said. “It doesn’t come back over a long period of time, it comes back pretty quickly, pretty rapidly. There were some balls that I knew I wouldn’t have been able to throw against Washington three weeks ago and some balls I felt a little more comfortable with last week (against Oakland) and this week I feel like I’m getting all the way back to 100 percent.”

2. Arizona’s secondary picked up the slack when All-Pro cornerback Patrick Peterson suffered a concussion late in the first half and was unable to return. It especially showed during the final three plays of the game, when everyone, it seemed, helped keep the eagles out of the end zone despite three cracks at it from the Cardinals’ 165-yard line. “I made sure that on the back end that every guy knew what he was supposed to do, make sure we were talking on the sideline and talking on the field about certain plays that are comoing along and certain formations,” cornerback Antonio Cromartie said. ‘I think that’s where, as a secondary, we grew a lot today in the second half.”

–DE Calais Campbell was a game-time decision to play Sunday because of a sprained MCL in his right knee that forced him to miss the past two games. He had to wear a brace and wasn’t 100 percent, but said this was a game he wasn’t going to miss. “It was amazing and I’m exhausted right now,” Campbell said. “I left it all on the field. But it was huge. The two weeks I had off killed me. I love being on the field and seeing my teammates battle. I’m happy I could be a part of this and battle with them. It was a great win. This is one of those games that really defines who we are as a team.”

–CB Patrick Peterson suffered a concussion when he and teammate Deone Bucannon crashed into Jeremy Maclin on a play that rattled all three of their helmets. Peterson will undergo regular concussion protocol testing this week and his availability for Sunday’s game at Dallas likely won’t be known until Friday at the earliest. “I’m just really happy it wasn’t anything more serious that may have taken him out longer,” Bucannon said. “I’m thankful to God that he’s OK.”

–LB Sam Acho got to play against his younger brother, Emmanuel Acho, a linebacker for the Eagles. It’s the first time they’ve ever played against each other. “It was huge,” Sam said. “He’s been playing in the NFL for three years. This is my fourth year and our paths have never crossed. To have this game — we had so much family in town, about 10 family members — and they were split down the middle.” Sam Acho said his mother wore a jersey featuring both the Cardinals and the Eagles. His father wore a Cardinals jersey and an Eagles hat during the first half and then an Eagles jersey and a Cardinals hat during the second half.

What we learned about the Eagles:

1. After being intercepted just twice all of last season, picks are starting to become a problem for quarterback Nike Foles. He was intercepted twice on Sunday, both times by Antonio Cromartie, and that brings Foles’ interceptions total to nine through seven games. “Things are going to happen but you have to keep pushing forward,” Foles said. “Just because a turnover happened, the world doesn’t end. You keep fighting. You keep moving. You keep learning.”

2. The Eagles became the first team this season to rush for 100 or more yards on the Cardinals. They finished with 110 on 26 carries, including 83 by LeSean McCoy. He intimated afterward that he would have liked to have seen the Eagles run it a little more regularly late in the game considering the second-half success they were having against Arizona. “I definitely didn’t think they were ranked as high on defense as the way they played,” McCoy said of the Cardinals. “Just from the beginning, the couple of runs we did get, I felt we were successful. Then at the end, we ran so easy on them. That’s not really my call. Whatever plays are drawn up, I just execute them as best as possible.”

–WR Jeremy Maclin finished with 12 receptions for 187 yards and two touchdowns, but he was nearly knocked out of the game during the collision that concussed the Cardinals’ Patrick Peterson. There were even reports that Maclin was bleeding from the ear. “I probably just got scraped in my helmet. Not a big deal,” he said, adding, “I’m alright, man. It was a hard-fought game. I’m a little tired, a little sore. I’m alright, though.”

–S Nate Allen injured his hamstring during the game, but he isn’t sure how bad it is. “I have to do some tests and stuff,” he said. “I don’t know exactly what I did to it. We’ll see.”

–WR Jordan Matthews almost came down with a game-winning touchdown on the last play of the game, but he came down out-of-bounds and he felt sick about it later. “Yeah, you have to try and make that play,” he said. “Nick (Foles) trusted me. He gave me a chance to go get the ball. I have to find a way to get my feet down. That’s the bottom line. That’s on me. I have to make a play for my team and my quarterback. That’s how it is.”