Rams put a rush on Murray and Cardinals

INGLEWOOD (News4usonline) – The NFC Wild Card playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Arizona Cardinals was dominated by defense.

It was the Rams defense that did all of the dominating. And before Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals knew what hit them, the Rams had walked out of SoFi Stadium with a 34-11 win. 

Rams head coach Sean McVay was asked afterward if this was his team’s finest defensive performance this season. He agreed. 

“I think so. I mean, they played really well overall I think,” McVay said. “But, what they did in the first half, I think they held them to 40 yards. I think it was one of the best performances in playoff history in the first — you know, being able to hold a really explosive offense like that, to be able to get a defensive touchdown, a couple turnovers. Just so pleased with those guys and got a great challenge going against (Buccaneers QB) Tom Brady next week.”

The expected fireworks show between the Rams and the Cardinals turned one-sided because the Rams defense put the clamps on Murray early. The Rams held Arizona to just 40 yards in total offense. Murray finished the first half with only 28 passing yards and was a minus 1 yard in rushing the football.

Murray finished the game with 137 passing yards (19 of 34) and a passer rating of 40.9. That’s something totally different than what Murray was able to do against the Rams in the previous two times the teams played each other during the regular season. 

In Week 4, minus the presence of Von Miller, Murray kind of did what he wanted to do against the Rams, going 24 of 32 and throwing for 268 yards with two touchdowns in the Cardinals’ 37-20 win. He had a 120.0 rating in that game.

And then in a 30-23 loss, Murray still managed to sling the ball all over the football field for 383 passing yards. He also had 61 yards rushing. Miller, Aaron Donald and the Rams defense would have none of that this time around, taking the game to Murray and forcing the third-year quarterback into a game he’d rather forget.    

His response to the loss?

“Disappointed,” Murray remarked. “(We) prepare all week, all season to be where we are, and then again weren’t competitive at all. It’s disappointing that we didn’t make it a game and come out and play the football we know we’re capable of playing. That’s really the most disappointing part. Losing is one thing, but when you don’t even make it competitive, it’s another thing. So, that’s just disappointing.”   

What the Rams were able to do against a quarterback who passed for 3,87 yards and rushed for an additional 423 yards during the regular season, was nothing short of spectacular. The Rams held Arizona to 182 yards in total offense in the rubber match game between the two teams. The Cardinals had only 60 yards rushing the football.  

“It was great, man. Of course, our objective was to try to keep Kyler contained,” Miller said. “It sounds simple but it’s really tough to do. Kyler is a helluva player, man. And when you’re playing with AD (Aaron Donald) and Leonard Floyd, we were ready to get it done today. And Greg Gaines, too.”  

Take away Murray and his explosive running and passing, and the Cardinals become a pedestrian football team. Well, that’s exactly what the Rams did. It started with a sack from Miller in the first quarter. Another sack of Murray by Donald and Gaines in the second quarter started to magnify what the Rams were doing on defense.

When linebacker Troy Reeder burst through the Arizona offensive line to force Murray into a pick-six interception that was returned by David Long Jr., the handwriting was all over the wall. By the time the Rams walked into the locker room at halftime with a 21-0 advantage they looked every bit the superior team in this game.

The methodical domination of the Rams came in multiple blue waves.

Midway into the third quarter, the Rams had built a 28-0 lead over the Cardinals. The game was over at that point. But the tone was set shortly after kickoff in the first quarter. The Rams defense came out and made a statement, forcing Murray and the Cardinals to go three and out on their first series.

For Murray, it would be downhill from there because the Rams simply would not allow him to get comfortable and took away what he wanted to do.

“We were assuming that Kyler was going to come out on fire,” Miller said. “He definitely tried it, but we played great team ball. We stopped the run early. We had a great pass rush early, [the] offense was scoring the ball. I think it just created a situation that was really tough for him.”      

Offensively, quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Rams offense did enough to help put the game away with 14 early points before Long’s interception return gave the team an almost insurmountable lead.  

Their first series stalled. Stafford was even sacked on third down. But the Rams got it going on their second drive of the ballgame. Operating in a 10-play drive, Stafford capped off the series with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Odell Beckham in the back of the endzone.

The catch by Beckham was one that the veteran wide receiver pulled out of his back pocket as he climbed the ladder to make the grab over Arizona cornerback Marco Wilson. That score seemed to have kickstarted Stafford and the Rams’ offense.

With Murray and the Arizona offense being stifled by the Rams defense, Stafford and company started to put things in motion in the second quarter. Murray and Arizona had three drives in the first quarter. All three series for the Cardinals went nowhere.

With the Rams taking a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, it marked the 11th time this season that Los Angeles has held an opponent to zero points in the opening period of a game.

Blanking the Cardinals in the first quarter was a tone-setter for the Rams’ defense. Miller, who the team traded for midway into the season, recorded the first sack of the night for the Rams, getting to Murray in the first quarter. In keeping up with that theme, Donald and Gaines joined the party with their takedown of Murray.

Getting to Murray really should not come as a surprise. The Rams registered seven sacks of Murray during the regular season. As Los Angeles moved out to a 14-0 lead, the Rams defense looked like it had Murray and the Cardinals offense shook.