The Rams were in grave danger of falling way behind in the NFC playoff race, desperately needing a win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon. They got exactly what they needed, blowing out Kliff Kingsbury’s squad on the road, 34-7.
It was an unusually dominant win by the Rams, who went 1-2 in their last three games, including a 45-6 loss to the Ravens. They were in complete control of this game from start to finish, keeping the Cardinals off the scoreboard until there was 8:35 left in the fourth quarter.
The Rams offense was hot out of the gate, but the scoreboard didn’t reflect that as they led 3-0 after two drives. Then they broke through with a touchdown pass to Tyler Higbee and scored on three of their following four possessions.
The Rams looked like the team we saw in the last two years, but it was against the Cardinals, whose defense has not been great this season. Still, it was an encouraging performance by Los Angeles.
Player of the Game: Jared Goff
There were a lot of players to choose from, but Goff had arguably his best game of the year. He racked up 424 yards on 32-for-43 passing with two touchdowns and a passer rating of 120.7. He sat out half of the fourth quarter, too.
Stat of the Game: 27
The Rams had 27 first downs in this one, which is exactly how many they had in the previous two games combined. They also totaled 549 yards, their most of the season.
Game notes:
- Goff looked like a completely different quarterback than he did the last three games. He was making every throw to every part of the field, whether he was in the pocket or rolling out to one side or the other. His touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp was one of his best throws of the game, fitting it into a tight window for six.
- Todd Gurley once again nearly reached the 100-yard, gaining 95 yards on 19 carries with one touchdown. He also caught one pass for 20 yards, giving him more than 100 yards from scrimmage. If not for David Edwards’ holding penalty, he would’ve had another touchdown and 30 more yards rushing.
- Tyler Higbee and Robert Woods did the heavy lifting in the passing game. Woods caught 13 of his 19 targets for 172 yards, while Higbee finished with seven receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown. Higbee had those numbers at the half, and set new career-highs in receptions and yards.
- Taylor Rapp could’ve easily had three interceptions, but he finished with just one. He dropped a pick-six and had another interception called back by a pass interference penalty, which was only called after Arizona challenged the non-call. The pass that he did pick off he returned 31 yards for a touchdown.
- The defense as a whole was stout on Sunday. Outside of the garbage-time yards and points the Cardinals picked up, Los Angeles essentially shut down Arizona’s offense. Prior to the fourth quarter, seven of the Cardinals’ nine drives went for fewer than 10 yards and only one had more than six plays. The Cardinals picked up 117 yards on their final three possessions and finished with 198 total yards in the game.
- David Edwards did not have a good game, committing four penalties on the afternoon. One was a false start, while the other three were holding penalties, one of which negated a 30-yard touchdown by Gurley.