The Los Angeles Rams came back in the battle for the NFC West crown with an impressive 30:20 win over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 14. The home side, in turn, must now tremble twice.
The Cardinals finished their first drive of the game with a 53-yard field goal from Matt Prater. They then held the guests at 3-and-out and then marched into the Red Zone. There, however, superstar Aaron Donald stepped on the scene and decisively forged a pass from Kyler Murray over the middle towards tight end Zach Ertz, so that the leather landed in the arms of linebacker Earnest Jones – interception deep in the red zone!
The Rams immediately took advantage of this mistake and turned the game around – after ten plays Matthew Stafford finally fired a laser at Odell Beckham on a slant route into the end zone for a touchdown. A little later, kicker Matt Guy increased the Rams’ lead with a 55-yard field goal.
A wild final phase of the first half followed. The Cardinals got into the red zone once more and this time running back James Conner ran from 1 to the end zone to equalize on 4th and goal despite contact in the backfield by Donald. Both sides then added field goals in the final 40 seconds – break time: 13:13.
In the second half, the Rams turned it up. After less than two minutes in the third quarter, Stafford fired a 52-yard touchdown pass to Van Jefferson, whose father Shawn Jefferson is the Cardinals’ wide receivers coach, after play action and a rollout. A little later Murray threw an interception to edge rusher Leonard Floyd and as a result the Rams even increased to a 14-point lead through a remarkable 4-yard touchdown pass from Stafford in a very narrow window to Kupp in the end zone.
The Rams then managed to stop in their own red zone at 4th Down – aided by an extremely rare drop from wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. The Rams punted the ball back before the end of the quarter.
