Before Thomas Davis picked up the loose ball Sunday afternoon, he had played 139 games as a pro with 865 tackles, one Super Bowl appearance and three knee surgeries.

After he had picked up that loose ball, Davis found himself in the end zone for the first time in 4,776 days. Well, for the first time it actually counted.

"I think I've had about three or four called back," Davis said, "and I thought that one was going to be called back. So everybody asked me, 'Why didn't you celebrate.' I'm like, 'I don't think it's going to count.'"

But it did, even if the Cardinals disagreed.

"I was throwing to (running back David Johnson) who was about as far away as you are from me right now," quarterback Carson Palmer told reporters. "It was an obvious pass at that. I’m surprised that the refs didn’t see it that way."

Added coach Bruce Arians:

"I said, 'Was it reviewed?,' because I never saw them go under the hood. So it was the guy upstairs that evidently made the call."

Because replays showed Palmer's arm coming forward, Arizona has a legit beef. But while the "fumble" was shown on the big screens at Bank of America Stadium, the man who caused it claimed he wasn't paying attention.

"I didn't see it. I didn't care," defensive tackle Star Lotulelei said. "They called it, so I'll take it."

So will Davis, who, to be fair, scored in 2013 at Baltimore on a fumble caused by linebacker Luke Kuechly. That was in the preseason, though.

"He was the happiest dude out there when he scored," Kuechly said Sunday night. "He’s been in for a long time, made a lot of big plays and to finally get in the end zone, it makes everybody happy."

But if Davis had a touchdown in a game that counted nearly 5,000 days ago, when was that?

"I scored against Alabama," the former Georgia Bulldog said. "Make sure you put that on the record."

Noted: