The Good, Bad and Ugly from the Arizona Cardinals’ Puzzling Primetime Loss

The Arizona Cardinals lost a strange, low-scoring affair to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on Saturday night.

Despite an opportunity to deliver a game-winning drive from the Los Angeles 5-yard line, quarterback Kyler Murray had a deflected pass intercepted by tight end Trey McBride, and the Cardinals fell to the Rams by a score of 13–9 in primetime.

It’s not exactly the worst Arizona has played in a contest, despite the low score. There were plenty of moments to inspire positivity heading into the 2024 offseason.

But in the end, past issues continued to plague the Cardinals at the wrong times, and all that really matters is the bottom line.

The good, the bad and the ugly from another loss to Sean McVay and the Rams:

Marvin Harrison Jr.

Rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. produced an excellent game on Saturday night. After a poor showing against Carolina last week, Harrison was able to do what fans have been looking for from him for a while.

Early in the first quarter, Harrison came down with an outstanding catch on a contested, one-on-one, backside shoulder throw for a 24-yard gain.

He then caught a pass in stride over the middle and turned upfield for a first down. Later, Harrison secured a ball with both feet down on an extremely tight sideline catch – twice.

Outside of his Week Two performance against the same Rams, and his stellar day against the Miami Dolphins, Harrison looked much more comfortable Saturday, hauling in veteran-like catches that he had failed to convert in previous weeks.

Harrison finished with a season-high six receptions and picked up 96 yards through the air. If this is the slightest glimpse of his ability, it looks like the rookie is headed for a year-two leap.

Trey McBride

The Cardinals’ best weapon was on fire Saturday night. He hauled in a whopping 12 receptions for 123 yards, surpassed 1,000 receiving yards on the season and picked up his first receiving touchdown in 2024.

While he seemed down on himself on the sidelines after the game-sealing pick directed at him, it’s impossible to place the blame for the loss on McBride, who once again turned in a truly brilliant performance.

The armed forces

Once again, defensive coordinator Nick Rallis’ defense turned out in a big game. The Cardinals surrendered just 13 points on the road and held Matthew Stafford to just 189 yards through the air and 68 yards on the ground.

That adds up to just 257 total yards of offense for LA and 12 first downs — exactly half of Arizona’s 24 first downs. The Cardinals dominated total yards (396) and time of possession (36:55), but ultimately couldn’t find the end zone when needed.

But the defense was excellent. Cornerback Garrett Williams had another great game with two PBUs, but left the game in the fourth quarter with a concussion. As a whole, the defense defended seven passes and held the Rams to just 6-of-15 on third down.

Even though they didn’t record a sack, there was constant pressure in Stafford’s face and he was forced out of the schedule regularly — a good sign for Arizona’s defensive line, though not as productive as one would like.

Offensive Play Calling

Not to hammer a point too hard, but Arizona’s offensive play-calling was inconsistent at best. It’s easy to sit from an outsider’s perspective and pass judgment on an offensive coordinator, but it was hard to see Drew Petzing dial back to swinging passes on long downs.

Early in the game, there were numerous instances of passes thrown behind the line to gain third downs, a heavy dose of short, ineffective passes and running plays up the middle that were consistently loaded.

There was notable improvement in that department in a stellar third quarter, but a strange, broken reverse play on 3rd-and-17 in the fourth quarter set up a 4th-and-10 play that resulted in an interception.

But the biggest sin in the play calling department was the game seal. While it wasn’t an accurate throw by Murray, and potentially a lack of awareness by McBride, there was no reason to throw the ball on that play.

With the clock hovering close to 40 seconds, two timeouts in Jonathan Gannon’s pocket and facing a first-and-goal from the five-yard line, why on earth would a team blow up?

Even if a touchdown was scored on said play, it would have given Los Angeles an opportunity to tie/win the game.

Hindsight is 20-20, and I don’t pretend to know more than a professional coach, but I can’t think of a reason why I shouldn’t just give the ball to Carter, who had stung the Rams’ defense on the field. last drive to begin with. It was a mistake in decision, plain and simple.

The offensive line

You can’t fully fault Arizona’s offensive line for the outcome of this contest. Given the loss of both Paris Johnson Jr. and Jonah Williams last week, and Will Hernandez already on season-ending IR, it’s hard to judge a unit made up of mostly second- and third-stringers too harshly.

But unfortunately, the Rams’ defensive line — especially pass rushers like Jared Verse and Braden Fiske — lived in Murray’s face.

While some of the onus could be on Murray’s inability to break the containment, he was terrorized all night and the Cardinals’ O-line did him few favors, at least in pass protection. In the end, Murray was sacked four times for a costly 38 yards. He was hit six times.

It’s not fair to place the full blame on the likes of Kelvin Beachum and Jackson Barton, but Los Angeles clearly won the trenches on Saturday.

Kyle Murray

This game was by no means Murray’s worst performance of the season. In fact, he made some of his better throws of the season on Saturday.

He completed 33 of 48 passes, threw for a season-high 321 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for another 32. He was more adept on downfield throws than had been seen from the 27-year-old in the previous five-plus weeks.

Unfortunately, he threw two costly interceptions. Now, none of these interceptions were quite as bad a game as some of the previous few.

On one, he was immediately chased out of the pocket, giving Harrison a chance to make the catch. On the second, he hit McBride in the helmet. Inaccurate throws, maybe, but not the same caliber of egregious as his interceptions against the Panthers and Seahawks.

But that’s splitting hairs. Murray made some excellent throws and some good plays. But he also seemed to hold his own on crucial downs.

He tripped over his own lineman’s feet, ran straight back and then stood still in the pocket while under pressure instead of escaping the pocket and making a play. Granted, he didn’t have to do it as often as needed on Saturdays.

As mentioned before, the o-line struggled to stop Los Angeles. It wasn’t just on the quarterback’s shoulders, but it seemed like he almost helped the defense on a couple of his sacks.

That being said, these are the types of games to be won. It was a team effort, with several factors contributing. Overall, I would even admit that Murray played a very solid game, but there were mistakes and they were very costly.

The Cardinals will have another chance to double their 2023 win total this season, taking on the San Francisco 49ers at home to close out 2024 next Sunday.