Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray threw a profession excessive 58 passes on Sunday towards the Los Angeles Rams, and it appeared like far too many for the offense to have the success it wanted to win.
The Cardinals (1-2) misplaced 20-12, dominating in time of possession however unable to attain a landing for his or her eleventh loss up to now 12 conferences towards the Rams. It was additionally their eighth straight residence loss to Los Angeles.
A win appeared inside attain, however the Cardinals merely weren’t adequate on offense to stage one other comeback, as they did final week at Las Vegas.
A 13-6 halftime deficit will need to have felt comforting, nonetheless. In spite of everything, being down 20-0 towards the Raiders final week and 23-7 to Kansas Metropolis in Week 1 seemed a lot worse. And simply as they did in what turned out to be an exciting additional time win over the Raiders, the Cardinals turned issues round on offense and protection after a sluggish begin.
Solely they received area targets, not touchdowns.
“If I knew why we have now sluggish begins, I would allow you to guys know,” Cardinals security Budda Baker advised reporters.
The Rams, who went three-and-out on three consecutive drives between the second and third quarters, discovered a rhythm on offense with the bottom recreation, and a 14-yard Cam Akers landing run gave them sufficient of a cushion for the win.
The Cardinals dragged out drives that did not result in the tip zone, they misplaced veteran broad receiver AJ Inexperienced to a knee harm that additional depleted that group, and Professional Bowl operating again James Conner had his third straight recreation during which he was not an element.
“Shut, little issues which might be all fixable, which is encouraging this early within the season. However I simply suppose consistency on offense is what we’re combating for,” Kingsbury stated. “We’ve got actually good gamers and I like what we’re doing schematically. We have to verify we’re maximizing the gamers and determining precisely who we’re.”
Murray stays in pocket
Murray was efficient together with his legs towards the Raiders, extending performs and placing factors on the scoreboard with a landing run and two-point conversion run.
However on Sunday, Murray did not run the ball till late within the fourth quarter, a two-yard carry and a six-yard run after wanting downfield for a receiver.
At occasions Murray appeared too locked in on good good friend and high receiving risk Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, and whereas Brown had a giant recreation statistically, some throws his method did not work out.
Murray stated him operating the ball isnt simply being cellular and making performs.
“It would not work like that,” Murray stated. “They’re (the Rams) good, they rush me completely different than different guys. That breaks down through the course of the sport, and that is when it is simpler for me to get out and do stuff like that.”
Protection gasped, however hangs robust
A protection that surrendered touchdowns on their opponents’ opening drives in Week 1 and Week 2 improved on Sunday, compelled into a troublesome spot after a blocked punt. The Cardinals held the Rams to a area objective after Los Angeles had the ball on the Arizona 4-yard line.
The Rams made performs in essential moments, however the Cardinals protection gave the workforce an opportunity with Baker’s compelled fumble recovered by Jalen Thompson within the fourth quarter.
Arizona gave up chunk performs of 32, 28, two for 26 yards and a 20-yard finish round for a landing. However they did not let the Rams run away on the scoreboard.
“You’ve got simply received to focus in your job and focus in your assignments, and that is what we did,” Cardinals cornerback Marco Wilson stated. “We had a terrific plan set out, we simply went on the market to execute it to the most effective of our skill.”
Sluggish begin on offense
The Cardinals began the sport on offense a lot the identical method as they did in Weeks 1 and a pair of. They could not put collectively drive within the first quarter whereas the Rams, as did the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders beforehand, put collectively early scoring drives.
“We have to determine that out. You play the world champs and spot them, go three-and-out, blocked punt, that is a troublesome option to begin the sport,” Kingsbury stated. “We have to determine that out collectively.”
An 18-play drive within the fourth quarter at Las Vegas produced a landing. In distinction, a 19-play, 75-yard drive solely resulted in a area objective, after a misfire to Zach Ertz ultimately zone and dropped go by Conner close to the objective line. A 17-play drive within the fourth quarter solely netted one other area objective, as did a 16-play third-quarter drive.
And but the Cardinals trailed by simply 4 within the third quarter. However they by no means received nearer.
“In a recreation the place it was shut and tight, we wanted ‘7,’ (from a landing),” Cardinals offensive lineman Kelvin Beachum stated. “We received down into the rating zone, it is tighter down there. So routes must be tighter, safety has to tighter, timing needs to be higher and we did not achieve this in that regard.”
Fourth-down up and down
The Cardinals transformed 4 of 5 fourth downs, however could not get one within the fourth quarter that price them a while off the clock.
After the Cardinals opted to not kick a area objective on the level, Murray threw incomplete to Brown on fourth-and-4 from the Rams’ 26-yard line with Arizona down 20-9.
“I simply did not suppose area targets would get it finished towards them,” Kingsbury stated. “I favored the play name, I favored what we had, it simply did not work out.”
Get in contact with Jose Romero at Jose.Romero@gannett.com. Discover him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM.
This text initially appeared on Arizona Republic: Evaluation: No touchdowns, no comeback for Arizona Cardinals in Week 3 loss to Rams
