INGLEWOOD, CA — Between the two of them, the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers have just one victory this season SoFi Stadium.
The upstart Arizona Cardinals, meanwhile, are 2-0 at the Super Bowl 61 site on Feb. 14.
Their surprising 18-16 win over the Rams on Sunday, Oct. 18, doesn’t mean they’re going to the Super Bowl, of course. This franchise, which also happened to dispatch the Chargers here in the season opener, just needed something to feel good about again.
They were on a four-game skid, facing a growing fallout from the fans, lost multiple players to injuries and were still coming to grips with the trade of wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., the No.4 overall draft pick in 2024, to the Houston Texans.
The Cardinals likely aren’t over
their suffering just yet but call this victory a well-earned reprieve. If only for the next 24 hours. And even that is probably too long for them to be celebrating.
Still, they learned something about themselves by beating the Rams, even though they had to do it with six field goals from kicker Chad Ryland and one last giant gotta-have-it possession at the end.
“It means these guys are a resilient group,” said Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur, whose 2-4 team is now in third place in the NFC West, tied but ahead of his buddy, Rams coach Sean McVay, whose club is also 2-4.
“We’re learning how to play 60 minutes, and we hadn’t done that yet," LaFleur said. "Right, wrong or indifferent, people might disagree with me, but there’s been times where I think we’ve looked like a pretty good football team.”
The Cardinals looked and played well enough to stun the Rams, holding them to just 107 total yards in the first half. Quarterback Matthew Stafford had just 72 passing yards before finishing with 222 and two touchdowns. Still, coordinator Nick Rallis’ defense was rock solid and more unpredictable than usual, which is always good.
Arizona sacked Stafford three times for minus-28 yards, and he was hit seven times. Jacoby Brissett wasn’t sacked once as the Cardinals outgained the Rams 338-286 and found a way to hold nearly a 10-minute advantage in time of possession.
For a stretch, the Cardinals weren’t the “three-and-out machine” as LaFleur previously had referred to his offense. They went on three consecutive scoring drives with 12-, 15- and 14-play possessions that breathed like back into everyone wearing red and white.
“We were sustaining drives and keeping the other team off the field — and the defense played great today,” Brissett said. “Those drives not only create a sense of confidence for myself, but it also gives our defense tons of confidence as well.”
Speaking of confidence, LaFleur has plenty of that in Ryland, who was 6-for-6 on field goals of 34, 30, 22, 38, 27 and 43 yards as time expired to lift the Cardinals.
“Chad’s a stud,” the coach said, smiling. “He’s so funny, too, on the sideline. He’s in it and yeah, he’s a stud.”
So was seldom-used wide receiver Jalen Brooks. After Stafford led the Rams to a 16-15 lead on a 6-yard touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson, the Cardinals took over with just 47 seconds left to play, and Brooks got it going by hauling in a clutch 21-yard reception. Brooks was rocked on the play by cornerback Josh Wallace, who was flagged for unnecessary roughness.
Suddenly, Arizona was in field goal range.
“I tell the receivers all the time we’ve got to be resilient, we’ve got to be reliable,” said Brooks, who had dropped a pass on a similar route earlier in the fourth quarter. “It feels good, but I know I’ve definitely got to be better on the third down a couple series before that.”
Even though they won, the Cardinals know they still must get better, too. This game didn’t save the season by any stretch. It wasn’t enough to start bringing all the fans back, either. Far from it.
But with the franchise set to honor Hall of Fame wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald by retiring his No. 11 jersey and inducting him into their Ring of Honor on coming Oct. 25 against the visiting Denver Broncos, it’s a chance to keep some positive momentum flowing.
“It’s one game,” LaFleur said. “It’s a total reset next week. It’s a 1-0 league, a one-week-at-a-time league. But it truly feels like one we can build on.”
We’ll learn soon enough how long the good time lasts.
Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic .Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. on Roc and Manuch with Jimmy B on ESPN 620 (KTAR-AM) and every Thursday on the Doug Franz Unplugged podcast via Apple or Spotify.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cardinals can win at SoFi Stadium, but can they win anywhere else?
