The Los Angeles Rams flashed back to last season on Sunday against the Cardinals, looking like the team that made it all the way to the Super Bowl. They dominated Arizona for the fifth straight time, winning 34-7 in Arizona. The Rams were in control the entire game, jumping out to a 34-0 lead before garbage time began.
It wasn’t until midway through the fourth quarter that the Cardinals got on the scoreboard as Kyler Murray led a touchdown drive with his back against the wall. He capped it off with a nifty 15-yard touchdown run, giving the Cardinals their first score of the day.
Here are a few takeaways from the Rams’ dominant win over the Cardinals.
Defense smothers Cardinals’ offense
Other than Murray’s aforementioned garbage time drive, Kliff Kingsbury and his quarterback had a miserable day against the Rams’ defense. It was an unrelenting performance by the Rams through the first three quarters. The Cardinals failed to score points on their first nine drive, which included four three-and-outs and just one drive of at least 30 yards.
It was a return to form for a defense that had been dominant for most of the season before being dismantled by Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in primetime last week. Murray was sacked six times and six different Rams were credited with sacks. Everybody on the defensive side deserves credit for this win.
It was the fifth time this year where the Rams held an opponent to 10 points or less. If they want to have a shot at the playoffs, it hopefully won’t be the last.
Jared Goff has best game of the season
After the embarrassing performance by the Rams against Baltimore last week, a matchup with the Cardinals felt like the perfect “get right” opportunity for the Rams. Nobody took advantage of that opportunity more than Jared Goff.
Goff lit up Arizona’s bad pass defense, completing 32 of 43 passes for 424 yards and two touchdowns. It was his second-highest completion and yardage totals of the year behind the absurd shootout against Tampa Bay back in Week 4. Goff tossed over 60 passes in that game and turned the ball over four times. This week, Goff didn’t commit a single turnover.
This was exactly the game Goff needed heading into a tough primetime matchup against Seattle next week. This was also a game that Rams fans desperately needed to see from Goff. He hasn’t even remotely lived up to his contract extension this season. Today reminded us why the Rams gave him that contract. We’ll see if Goff can continue to play well for the remainder of the season, but this game was a good start.
Taylor Rapp shines, records first career interception
It was quite the journey for Taylor Rapp to record his first career interception this week. Early on in the game, Rapp dropped what could have been an easy pick-six if he retained possession. Rapp rebounded later on in the game by actually catching a ball that came right to him, only this time it was too good to be true and the interception was overturned thanks to a pass interference penalty on Nickel Robey-Coleman.
Rapp’s moment finally came in the third quarter, when he snagged a pass from Kyler Murray and took it to the house for a touchdown. It was the icing on the cake for what was a great performance from the rookie safety. Rapp has played well filling in for John Johnson this season, and now he’s added a highlight play to show it.
Questionable play-calling continues
Sean McVay, for the most part, called a great game against Arizona. It’s hard to knock him after his biggest win of the season.
That being said, everybody watching this game had to be frustrated by McVay’s continued use of screen passes on third down. The Rams’ first two drives ended as a result of third-down screen passes that didn’t work. They went back into the well a third time later in the first half, this time resulting in a first down due to Robert Woods cutting it back to the complete opposite side of the field and Jared Goff throwing a drive-saving block down the field.
A big knock on McVay this season has been his failure to adapt when things aren’t working. He called a great game this week, but little things like this remain frustrating and could have been a bigger problem against a better opponent.
Staying alive, staying alive
The Rams needed this win to remain in playoff contention. The Cardinals aren’t very good, but the Rams should be commended for walking into a division rival’s house and blowing them out. This was one of their best wins of the year.
It’s an uphill battle for the Rams to make the playoffs, but winning today helped. The Rams sit at 7-5 and will be either a game or two out of the final wild card spot depending on who wins between the Seahawks and Vikings tomorrow night. If the Rams can sneak away with a victory against Seattle next week, things will get interesting in the playoff race. If they fail, they’ll need a whole lot of help to earn a playoff spot.
