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The Arizona Cardinals waltzed to Los Angeles and came away with a 37-20 victory on Sunday.
Just like that, the Rams’ 8-0 winning streak over the Cardinals was interrupted behind a balanced attack and solid defense.
The win takes Arizona 4-0 on the season and the first in NFC West. The victory also moves the Cardinals into contender territory.
Here are the main takeaways from our Arizona Sports presenters, journalists and editors.
Vince Marotta, co-host of Bickley & Marotta:
Declaration made.
The Arizona Cardinals sent one to the Los Angeles Rams and the rest of the NFL with an all-dominating 37-20 win at SoFi Stadium.
Offensively, the Cardinals looked like a well-oiled machine. They have accumulated 465 yards and 37 points. Kyler Murray puts the ball where he wants – although that streak of 80% of his passes ended in two games (he had 75% on Sunday). The ball continues to be shared in the passing game, to the point that Maxx Williams has become a legitimate concern for opposing defenses. Chase Edmonds and James Conner punctuate the racing game. A revamped offensive line made Aaron Donald almost invisible.
The defense allowed 401 yards, but 149 yards of that total came from the Rams’ last two possessions when the game was already pretty much sealed. The Rams had a touchdown in the second quarter where it looked like they could run at will, but the Cardinals got tougher on the run as the game progressed. An injury to Byron Murphy was pretty much overcome. Jalen Thompson and Budda Baker were all over the field.
A 4-0 start is not something I expected, especially with three of the four games leading the schedule to come on the road. But the Cardinals handled it very well while avoiding the flat performances that plagued them last year when things started to look promising. But the biggest difference with this year’s squad is Murray. He’s a different type of leader and quarterback than he used to be. He didn’t endanger football at all in Sunday’s game and that had been his weak spot in Arizona’s first three games. If that game-to-revenue ratio looks like it was on Sunday, the sky’s the limit for this offense.
Dave Burns, co-host of Burns & Gambo
If you’re a six percent, congratulations. You had hope, optimism and conviction that I certainly could not muster. Maybe I even made fun of you a little. On Friday we had a poll question on our show. Do the cards; A) win big; B) win up close; C) win big; D) earn close. Six percent of the 2,500 listeners who voted chose the Cards-win-big option. Whether it was endless optimism or unfiltered devotion, you were right.
The Cards mutilated the Rams. Kyler dove into his bag of magic and pulled out a few of those types of plays, while completing 75% of his passes and no interceptions. The running game crushed the Rams to the tune of 5.7 yards per carry (minus Colt McCoy’s knees). The Cardinals have consistently converted the third and long. The defense forced a Rams team that had played clean, error-free football all year through two turnovers that then turned into touchdowns. With the exception of the garbage time touchdown at the end, the Cardinals’ defense limited the Rams to scores on just three of their nine possessions. Yes there were a few things that needed some work but they were so insignificant to the end result that I won’t even talk about them.
There are two undefeated teams left in the NFL and the Cards could be on their own if the Chargers beat the Raiders tomorrow night. Be ready; they’re going to be the flavor of the week in the NFL and rightfully so. They deserved it. Kyler, Kliff Kingsbury and the Cards are about to be overwhelmed by the kind of talk reserved for MVPs and real contenders. They belong to it, but this is precisely the position in which their defeated division rivals found themselves at that time a week ago. Attention is fun, but it can be fleeting. It probably sounds cheesy, but as long as they keep working to improve themselves, stay humble when all the attention is pouring in and, more importantly, Kyler keeps playing like this, I think they’ll be in great shape. position throughout the season.
ArizonaSports.com editor and reporter Kellan Olson: What percentage would have said by Sunday that Matthew Stafford was a better quarterback than Kyler Murray? 60%? 75%? 90%?
Either way, it all came down to playing the quarterback. Neither of the two first-half defenses were so strong, and Stafford was simply out for most of the afternoon. On the other side, Murray was sensational, doing his usual half-dozen incredible throws / runs / extensions of play that no other QB in the league could do at once.
This is what an elite QB can do for a football team. This considerably reduces the opposition’s margin for error. Murray shredded the Rams and challenged Stafford to match him. Stafford was not close and the score reflected that, despite the Cardinals’ pass defense and run not offering much before the momentum got too far in one direction.
Murray is a superstar and now in the driver’s seat to win the league MVP. This jump he undergoes, having been damn good already last year, changes just about everything for the Cardinals.
Tyler Drake, Cardinals reporter and ArizonaSports.com editor: The Cardinals answered everyone’s questions on Week 1 with a bombing of the Titans.
They absolutely turned heads in the NFL landscape with Sunday’s 37-20 win over the Rams. Talk about a statement made.
Now some of you might have picked the Cardinals to win on Sunday, but definitely not like that.
Despite a somewhat slow start, both sides of the game sank. The defense kept Matthew Stafford at bay, rendering him deadly after winning two NFC Offensive Player of the Week titles. Byron Murphy continues to show he’s the new CB1 on the roster, achieving his third INT in two games.
On the other side of football, Kyler Murray got to work, continuing his successful start to the season. Not only did he find the dirt more than once, he spaced the ball out and didn’t endanger the ball throughout the afternoon.
The running game has made the opposition pay off behind James Conner’s murderous running style and AJ Green is playing as we expected during training camp.
Compared to their first three tests of the season, Week 4 was an SAT, by far the most difficult. The cardinals won.
Let the national hype train begin!
Luke Lapinski, co-host of Wolf and Luke
What better way to end the losing streak against Sean McVay than by winning so emphatically that you’re warning the rest of the league at the same time?
The Cardinals didn’t just take a last-second victory over the Rams, they took them apart on both sides of the ball. And they made it to LA. Kyler Murray and the offense kept rolling as if the defense they were up against didn’t even matter. And maybe not. Arizona are averaging 35 points per game and showing no signs of slowing down. Other than maybe the 49ers next week, who do you see on the calendar as a team that can stop this offense? The Rams were supposed to be that team. Turns out they aren’t.
The score wasn’t today’s story though. This team was built to score points, and Kyler has clearly taken the plunge. The fact that they put in 37 might raise eyebrows, but it’s not much of a surprise. The defense that shut down Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp for most of the afternoon was what turned things around. Byron Murphy continues to evolve and the Arizona defense has playmakers who can change the game at any time. When you combine that with their attack, the Cardinals are dangerous.
To be fair, it’s Week 4. The Rams will do well and the Cardinals still have a long season ahead of them. But you couldn’t ask for a better start. And there’s something to be said for finally beating the team that had your number in the past four years – especially when they’re in your division. The Cardinals know they’ll have to go through the Rams to get to where they ultimately want to go, and today was proof they can do it. It was the game everyone was circling when the schedule rolled out, as McVay’s side represented the only opponent we weren’t quite sure Arizona could beat – simply because we didn’t. had not yet seen. Now we have.
So get ready for the onslaught of the domestic pundits who finally come to watch a full Cardinals game for the first time telling yourself how good this team is and proclaiming them Super Bowl contenders. It happens on Monday. But it’s a small price to pay as Phoenix is gaining more respect in the sports world. This team is by no means perfect. They are not unbeatable. But it’s going to be really hard not to consider what they did in LA this afternoon, with everyone watching.
In other words: the start of this football season is starting to look more and more like the start of the basketball season we just experienced in the Valley.
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