Getty Cardinals QB Kyler Murray is tackled by Rams DL Greg Gaines on Monday, December 13.
Perhaps the Arizona Cardinals aren’t ready for prime time after all.
The Cardinals stumbled in the national spotlight for the second time this season and missed an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot with a 30-23 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday, December 13.
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It was one of those nights for the Cardinals, whose brightest stars came up short in key moments. Kyler Murray threw two interceptions, DeAndre Hopkins dropped a would-be fourth-down conversion, and James Conner was stuffed on a crucial fourth-and-1 run.
“We didn’t play a clean game,” said Cardinals WR A.J. Green, who finished with 102 yards on seven catches and topped 10,000 receiving yards in his career.
“Penalties, turnovers — you can’t do that when you play a great team like the Rams,” Green said. “The whole game, we were just shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Despite all that, the game wasn’t decided until the final play. After Matt Prater kicked a 49-yard field goal with 37 seconds left in the game, linebacker Zaven Collins recovered an onside kick for the Cardinals.
“I thought it was a tremendous effort by that group, getting that ball, great kick, great recovery,” Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters.
But the game ended the way it began — with an Aaron Donald sack. On second-and-16 from the Cardinals’ 42-yard line, there was miscommunication about whether Murray was going to spike the ball or run a play, and he was dropped for an 18-yard loss as time expired.
“It was a miscommunication between me and the offensive line,” Murray said after the game.
Donald had a huge game for the Rams (9-4), finishing with five tackles, three sacks, three QB hits and a pass deflection that led to an interception. On the game’s first play, the Rams All-Pro defensive end bulldozed Cardinals offensive lineman Max Garcia and pushed him into Murray to bring the QB down.
“He was everywhere tonight,” said Conner, Donald’s former teammate at Pitt.
Conner accounted for both Arizona touchdowns — a 1-yard run in the second quarter to tie the game at 10, and an 8-yard run early in the fourth to cut the Rams’ lead to 27-20. He finished with 125 total yards (94 receiving, 31 rushing) and had another impressive one-handed catch — his league-leading fifth of the season.
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Home-Field Advantage?
The Cardinals now share the NFL’s best record with the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers but fall to the No. 3 seed in the NFC with the tiebreakers.
Arizona lost to Green Bay in its only other prime-time matchup this season. Following a trip to Detroit to take on the Lions on December 19, the Cardinals will be back in prime time on Christmas night when they host the Indianapolis Colts.
“Losses suck,” Cardinals DE Zach Allen told reporters after the game. “Obviously when you do it on a big stage like that there are going to be more questions asked and it’s going to expose yourself more, but a loss is a loss. The sky’s not falling. We’re 10-3, but we can’t just hide behind what we’ve done in the past. It’s December football, so we’ve got to step up to the challenge.”
Playing at home hasn’t been much of an advantage this season for the Cardinals, who fell to 3-3 in games played at State Farm Stadium. Inexplicably, Arizona has turned the ball over a lot more often at home (11) than it has on the road (two) this season.
“It’s really baffling,” defensive tackle Corey Peters told Cardinals sideline reporter Paul Calvisi after the game. “It’s something that’s continued to plague us, and so we’re going to have to continue to work to be a better home football team.”
Stafford Wins Round 2
Murray had his moments against the Rams and threw for 383 yards, but his two INTs were costly. The Rams capitalized on both turnovers and converted them into TDs.
Murray, who attempted only 15 passes in Arizona’s 33-22 win in Chicago on December 5, had a season-high 49 attempts vs. the Rams but completed a season-low 65.3% of those passes.
“We lost and obviously everybody wanted to win,” Murray said. “It was a big game for us, but I’m not discouraged by what happened.”
After being outplayed by Murray in the teams’ first matchup on October 3, Rams QB Matthew Stafford was impressive in the rematch, completing 23 of 30 passes for 287 yards and three TDs. The Rams also didn’t turn the ball over in the game.
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