Rams hang on for 13-9 win over Cardinals

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – It took the slimmest of margins, but the Rams (10-6) found a way to hang on for a narrow 13-9 victory over the Cardinals (7-9) on Saturday night at SoFi Stadium.

Up 13-9 with 2:01 left, the Rams saw the Cardinals – armed with two timeouts – drive downfield all the way to the Rams’ 5-yard line. Then, cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon corralled Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray’s deflected pass in the end zone for the game-sealing interception, which was upheld after further review by the officials, allowing the Rams to survive.

Wide receiver Puka Nacua finished with 10 catches for 129 yards in the win, which was accomplished despite the Cardinals winning time of possession 36:55-23:05.

Defensive end Braden Fiske finished with two sacks in the win, and outside linebacker Michael Hoecht had his third blocked kick of the season. Running back Kyren Williams had 56 rushing yards and 1 touchdown, while kicker Josh Karty made his lone field goal attempt (53 yards) and extra point attempt.

With their win over the Cardinals and the Bengals’ win over the Broncos, the Rams can win the NFC West in Week 17 via the Strength of Victory tiebreaker over the Seahawks with three wins from one of these five teams this weekend: Commanders, Bills, 49ers, Vikings, Browns.

Here is the complete game summary:

Neither team was able to get into a rhythm offensively early until late in the first quarter, when the Cardinals went on a long drive that reached 11:04 in the second quarter. However, that streak was changed after the Rams’ stonewalled Cardinals running back James Conner for no gain on 4th-and-1 from the Rams’ 14.

The Rams finally broke through with 3:23 left in the first half on a 1-yard run by Williams to take a 7-0 lead. The drive was aided by explosive completions from Stafford of 29 yards to Kupp and 15 yards to Nacua.

A 53-yard field goal by Karty with 27 seconds left in the second quarter gave the Rams a 10-0 halftime lead.

The Cardinals received the second-half kickoff and opened the third quarter with a long scoring drive capped by a 1-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kyler Murray to tight end Trey McBride. However, the ensuing extra point attempt was blocked by Rams outside linebacker Michael Hoecht, giving the Rams a 10-6 lead with 8:31 left in the third quarter.

Arizona dominated time of possession for the rest of the third quarter. Los Angeles had the ball once and that drive lasted just 2 minutes, 12 seconds, while Arizona had the ball for 12:48 in that period. The second long drive spilled into the fourth quarter before LA’s defense picked up a third down and held Arizona to a 28-yard field goal to preserve a slim 10-9 lead with 14 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

A promising drive on the ensuing possession saw the Rams settle for a 25-yard field goal by Karty for a 13-9 lead with 6:33 left.

On the following series, Kobie Turner’s key second-down sack ultimately forced the Cardinals to go for it on 4th-and-10 from the Rams’ 40. Murray’s desperation heave landed in the arms of Rams safety Kam Kinchens for an interception, giving the ball back to the Rams with 3:02 left.

However, the Rams were forced to punt on the ensuing possession, giving the ball back to the Cardinals at their own 36 with 2:01 remaining. Witherspoon came up with the big interception with 42 seconds left, allowing the Rams to run out the remaining clock to secure the victory.