The Rams’ offensive creativity was on display during Kupp’s first career rushing touchdown. Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald added to the Cardinals’ early frustrations by recording his 100th career sack after swiping at Murray’s feet to bring him down. In the opening quarter, the Cardinals were the ones who struggled offensively, failing to record a first down until their third drive and having only 26 yards compared to the Rams’ 158 heading into the second quarter. Prater added a 43-yard field goal with two seconds left in the second quarter. The Rams generated only 22 yards in the second quarter and entered halftime with a 13-6 advantage. Brown finished with 14 receptions for 140 yards. Arizona took nine minutes, 30 seconds off the clock during the scoring drive. The Cardinals entered the red zone for the first time on that drive, but stalled on the Rams’ five-yard line and settled for a 23-yard field goal from Prater to make it 13-3 with 1:51 left before halftime. Marquise “Hollywood” Brown ignited the Cardinals’ offense midway through the second quarter after recording a four-yard catch to convert on fourth-and-2 and followed that with a 20-yard reception. “He redeemed himself after the previous snap where he and Cooper usually hit that.” “I thought that was the play of the game,” McVay said about Stafford’s memorable third-down conversion. Stafford overthrew Kupp downfield on the prior play. Stafford spun away from Cardinals linebacker Zaven Collins to rifle an 11-yard pass to Cooper Kupp on third-and-11 to end the first-down drought during Akers’ scoring drive. Stafford and his Rams’ offense had three consecutive three-and-outs during the slump. The Rams started fast offensively to build a 13-0 lead, but struggled in the second and third quarters to allow the Cardinals to hang around. Murray went 37 of 58 for 314 yards and only had two carries for eight yards. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford finished 18 of 25 for 249 yards, but most importantly, he didn’t commit a turnover, after having five interceptions in the first two games of the season. “Just makes me want to go out and show what I already know I can do. “Very motivating,” Akers said after mentioning that he’s heard people say that he’s lost a step. Akers, who missed most of last season because of an Achilles injury, recorded a game-high 61 yards on 12 carries. “Let’s learn from it, but you’ve done too many good things throughout this game for that to minimize (your performance).”Īkers had struggled to start the season and was called out by McVay after the Week 1 loss to the Bills.
“I have all the confidence in the world,” McVay said about Akers. Arizona only managed a fourth field goal and failed to get the ball back on an onside kick attempt. That didn’t occur because Murray and his offense moved up field slowly, with the Rams’ defense taking away the deep areas. McVay said Akers was running like his old self and he planned on giving him the ball to close it out in a four-minute drill if the Cardinals left the field quickly. Something that can’t happen, something that we preach in practice, something that I gotta learn from.”
“I just got greedy,” Akers said about the fumble. With Cardinals fans heading for the exits, Akers fumbled on Arizona’s 1-yard line to give Murray the ball back with an 11-point deficit and 6:39 left in regulation. But Akers delivered such a drive with four consecutive bruising runs for 39 yards, including a 14-yard rushing touchdown to extend the Rams’ advantage to 20-9 with one minute left in the third quarter.
The Cardinals, however, were able to add three field goals from Matt Prater to trim the deficit to 13-9 while the Rams’ offense struggled to put together a productive drive. The Cardinals also struggled in the red zone, a credit to the Rams’ defense, which was without safety Jordan Fuller and cornerbacks Troy Hill, David Long and Cobie Durant. “I thought the theme of the day was really just finishing those drives in the red area, where if we end up scoring 30-plus points, we probably feel a little bit better,” McVay said, “but we didn’t. McVay and his Rams team have moved forward from the embarrassing loss to the Bills, despite an abundance of injuries to key players to start the season, but the offense continues to stall in big chunks of games.
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