Maybe Donovan McNabb shouldn't have taken so much grief. That's kind of how Frostee Rucker -- who played in the infamous tie game when he was with the Bengals and they tied the McNabb's Eagles and McNabb admitted later he didn't know you could tie -- sees it, after being in yet another tie game Sunday night.

"Donovan McNabb got so much heat because he didn't know the overtime rules, but who knew the overtime rules?" Rucker said, noting that the only reason he knew was because he had played in the one previous. "He took so much heat then and I wish I could say to him today, 'You know what Don? People still don't know.' "

(This is true. On the sideline late in overtime, I had at least three people -- not players -- ask what happened when the clock ran out.)

Then again, why would it matter? Why would a tie even come into play, on a night when the Cardinals moved the ball pretty well and stonewalled the Seahawks' offense almost the whole way. I mean, Seattle had just 65 net yards (including penalty yards lost) in regulation. Say that again: 65 yards. The defense was excellent (especially since it was the pass rush forcing holding calls on many of those penalties.)

Instead, though, there were way too many missed opportunities -- and when you get inside the 5-yard line and don't score any points, you probably are fortunate not to lose.

I never thought I'd see a game in which a sub-30-yard field goal would win it for both teams, and both teams missed. And while I indeed did know the tie rules, I never really thought I'd see that either.

-- David Johnson got his 100 yards rushing (113 to be exact), although it took him 33 carries. With eight catches too, Johnson had 41 touches, and make no mistake, they were hard touches. They needed Johnson, but there's another rough-and-tumble front seven coming in Carolina. Something tells me Johnson will be ready for his bye week.

-- Michael Floyd has had his drops, but that one he had around the Seattle 15-yard line in overtime, which would have been a first down on a drive when a touchdown would have ended it, was different. Floyd lay on his back for what seemed like a long time, upset he dropped it, and for the first time looked outwardly like his struggles bothered him. Floyd had five catches for 65 yards and made several key grabs -- but this mysterious up-and-down season continues.

-- Lost a bit in all this is the injuries piling up. Floyd's hammie. Patrick Peterson's back. Darren Fells' ankle. Jaron Brown's knee. Smoke's sickle-cell problem. The injury report Wednesday will be interesting to say the least.

-- It'll be a long time until the Cards see the Seahawks again -- Christmas Eve in Seattle -- but that offense is going to be in trouble unless Russell Wilson' knee gets better. When he cannot run, they are going to struggle against good defenses.

-- It was the lowest scoring tie since the overtime rules were introduced in 1974. So ... history. Right? It was the 21st tie in that time frame.

-- The tie hurts against the Seahawks. Not as bad as a loss, of course, but when it probably should have been a win, it stings. The Cards remain two back in the loss column, so they not only have to keep winning but hope the Seahawks stumble. Had they won Sunday, you'd only have to have that happen once. Now, it's got to happen at least a couple of times.

-- Some big plays from lesser-known factors. J.J. Nelson was great (3 catches for 84 yards) and Ifeanyi Momah (2 catches for 50 yards) got open twice for giant plays.

-- Arians clearly was not happy about the Bobby Wagner blocked field goal in which he leaped over long snapper Aaron Brewer. And Arians wasn't happy when the Seahawks did it again on Chandler Catanzaro's OT miss. "I'll talk to the league and we'll get some kind of explanation that's all bulls* like normal," he said, and that's probably true. It's not like anything will change. It will, however, bring more clarity to a rule that seems difficult to understand.

-- I was impressed with Palmer late with his leadership. When Floyd dropped that pass, Palmer rushed over to him and got in his face to tell him the Cards were still going to need him and not to get down. He did the same exact thing with Catanzaro after Catanzaro's miss. I know there will be many who aren't happy with either of those players -- I've heard from plenty via Twitter -- but Palmer is right. The Cards are going to need both. That's what leaders should do.

The path to the playoffs is hard and probably suffered a setback with a tie. It's not a loss. But it's not a win either.