The Good, Bad and Ugly From Cardinals' Puzzling Primetime Loss

The Cardinals showed signs of improvement, but ultimately delivered another disappointing performance on primetime.

Dec 28, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) looks to throw the ball against the Los Angeles Rams in the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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

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

It's not exactly the worst Arizona has played in a contest, despite the low score. There were plenty of moments that could inspire positivity heading into the 2024 off-season.

But, ultimately, prior issues continued to plague the Cardinals at the wrong moments, and all that truly matters is the final score.

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

The Good

Marvin Harrison Jr.

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

Early in the first quarter, Harrison came down with an excellent catch on a contested, one-on-one, back-shoulder throw for a gain of 24 yards.

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 these same Rams, and his stellar day against the Miami Dolphins, Harrison looked much more comfortable on Saturday, hauling in veteran-like catches that he'd been failing to convert in previous weeks.

Harrison finished with a season-high six receptions, picking up 96 yards through the air. If this is the smallest glimpse of his capabilities, it appears the rookie is headed for a year-two jump.

Trey McBride

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

While he appeared despondent with himself on the sidelines following the game-sealing pick that was targeted to him, it's impossible to place the blame for the loss on McBride, who delivered a truly brilliant performance once again.

The Defense

Once again, defensive coordinator Nick Rallis' defense showed 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 outstanding. Cornerback Garrett Williams had another great game, with two PBU's, 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.

While they didn't record a sack, there was constant pressure in Stafford's face, and he was forced off schedule regularly - a good sign for Arizona's defensive line, though not as productive as could be desired.

The Bad

Offensive Play-calling

Not to hammer a point too heavily, but Arizona's offensive play-calling was, at best inconsistent. It's easy to sit from an outsider's perspective and pass wrongful judgment on an offensive coordinator, but it was tough to watch Drew Petzing dial up running back swing passes on long downs.

Early in the game, there were multiple instances of passes thrown behind the line to gain on third downs, a hefty dose of short, ineffective passes, and run plays up the middle that were consistently stuffed.

There was a notable improvement in that department in an excellent third quarter showing, 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-sealing play. While not 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 near 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 go to the air?

Even if a touchdown was achieved on said play, it would have provided Los Angeles a game-tying/winning opportunity.

Hindsight is 20-20, and I don't pretend to know more than a professional coach, but I can't come up with a reason why not to simply hand that ball to Carter, who had been gashing the Rams' defense on the final drive to begin with. It was a mistake of a decision, plain and simple.

The Offensive Line

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

But unfortunately, the Rams' defensive line - particularly passrushers like Jared Verse and Braden Fiske - lived in Murray's face.

While some of the onus could be on Murray's inability to break contain, he was terrorized all night, and the Cardinals' O-line did him few favors, at least in pass protection. Ultimately, 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.

The Ugly

Kyler Murray

This game was, by no means, Murray's worst showing 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 an additional 32. He was more proficient on downfield throws than had been seen from the 27-year-old in the previous five-plus weeks.

Unfortunately, he tossed two costly interceptions. Now, neither of these interceptions were quite as poor a play as some of the previous few.

On one, he was immediately chased out of the pocket, and he gave Harrison a chance to make a catch. On the other, he hit McBride in the helmet. Inaccurate throws, perhaps, 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 contain himself on crucial downs.

He tripped over his own lineman's feet, ran straight backwards, and then stood still in the pocket while under pressure, rather than escaping the pocket and making a play. Granted, he shouldn't have to do so as frequently as was needed on Saturday.

As before mentioned, the o-line struggled to stop Los Angeles. It was not solely on the quarterback's shoulders, but it did seem as if he almost aided the defense on a few of his sacks.

With that said, these are the types of games that need to be won. It was a team effort, with multiple factors contributing. Overall, I'd even admitMurray played a very solid game, but there were mistakes, and they were very costly ones.

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