GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Arizona Cardinals struggled on all but their very first drive of the game as their NFC West rival, the Los Angeles Rams, came into State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Sunday and capped a season sweep with a 37-14 victory.
"It wasn’t good football, wasn’t good football," quarterback Kyler Murray said after the game. "(We) didn’t execute and they got the better of us, you know, pretty much. Nothing really to say other than we got beat."
That was a message echoed by several of Murray's teammates on Sunday night.
"It just seemed like they were making plays and we weren’t in every phase of the game," offensive tackle D.J. Humphries said. "So that’s really what it boiled down to at the end of it."
"Oh, I mean, a little bit of everything, honestly," safety Budda Baker added about the Cardinals' performance on defense. "They did a good job in the run game, they did a good job in the pass game, so yeah, I would say both."
"Just not executing," wide receiver Marquise "Hollywood" Brown said. "That’s what happens when you get down, don’t convert on third down, penalties, don’t make our plays, that’s what happened."
Head coach Jonathan Gannon said after this game, he may even make changes to how the Cardinals go through their preparation during the week.
"Not good enough, obviously, (Sunday)," Gannon said. "I felt like we didn’t match their level of effort and enthusiasm throughout the game. That falls solely on me. When you get beat like that, we’ve got to take a good hard look of how we’re setting up the week because (it) really wasn’t competitive in my mind and that’s on me first and the coaches next."
One part of the game that stood out to fans and the team was the Cardinals' run defense which gave up 228 yards (143 yards alone to running back Kyren Williams). Gannon knows that has to change moving forward.
"I think they had over 100 yards in explosive runs, not just the total run game, but the just explosive runs," Gannon said. "So, misfit here, bad technique here, you know, bad call here, it’s all of us together. It’s not, never one thing. Run defense is all 11, but we’ve got to play better in the run game."
Kyler Murray ran for a touchdown on the first drive of the game, but he and the entire offense stalled after that, outside of a late drive in the fourth quarter that ended with a touchdown pass to Greg Dortch.
Murray threw for 256 yards and a touchdown, but the Cardinals only managed to get 73 yards on the ground.
Murray didn't love the feeling of this loss but knows that this is something the team has to go through to improve.
"This is my third game, seventh week of practice," Murray said. "There’s obviously growing pains with this. Like I said, it’s my third game, a new scheme, a new everything for me. So, I’m not discouraged at all by it. I know we’ll be better because of it but these are some of the things that we’ve got to go through. That’s part of it."
However, that doesn't mean he wasn't upset by the loss.
"I mean, we just got our (expletive) kicked," Murray said. "I mean, that was, (we) played a good football game last week, you know, won the week before but this one is probably like the first time all year we just got beat, you know, terribly. We’ve got to flush it and move on. We’ve got a good Pittsburgh Steeler team next week.”
The Cardinals (2-10) will travel to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers (7-4) next Sunday at 11 a.m. Arizona time.
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to five major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks and NHL's Arizona Coyotes.
The Cardinals have made the State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers also play at the Footprint. Phoenix has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events on a yearly basis, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the Waste Management Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall; and Cactus League Spring Training.
12Sports on YouTube
Watch more of the latest sports videos on the 12News YouTube channel. Don’t forget to subscribe!