Our takeaways from the Cardinals 30-23 loss to L.A. in Week 14
There have been a lot of really dumb and dumber coaching decisions by Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury over the past three seasons.
Monday night was enough to make Lloyd Christmas blush.
Kingbury’s terrible play calling came early and often in the 30-23 loss at home to the Los Angeles Rams, the third straight home loss for the Cardinals.
In the first quarter, the Cardinals led 3-0 and had the ball 2nd and goal. Instead of handing the ball to wrecking ball running back James Conner (who scored two touchdowns later on), a pass play was called. Quarterback Kyler Murray had the ball tipped by Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald and intercepted at the goal line by Ernest Jones. The Rams marched the ball down the field and scored the game’s first touchdown.
That was a coaching decision combined with very poor execution that cost the Cardinals 7 points on offense and eventually turned into 7 points for the opponent. Remember the final score?
Poor coaching and bad execution was the theme of the night for the Cardinals, who lost control of the number one overall seed in the NFC playoff picture and now sit third in the conference.
The offensive line could not handle the Rams defensive pressure at all. Aaron Donald wreaked so much havoc that Cardinals guard Max Garcia may want to consider an early retirement. He’ll at least have some lasting nightmares of 99 in white after this one.
Star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins figured to have a huge night when the Rams announced before the game that their shutdown cornerback Jalen Ramsey was on the Covid list and would miss the game. Instead, Hopkins caught just five balls on 12 targets for 54 yards, and had a crushing drop on a fourth down inside the red zone in the 3rd quarter.
The Cardinals turned the ball over on downs twice and Kyler Murray threw two interceptions. I consider that two giveaways from bad coaching decisions and two giveaways due to poor play from the quarterback. Don’t get me wrong, those two interceptions from Murray were terrible passes that should’ve never left his hand.
On defense, the Cardinals put very little pressure on Rams quarterback Matt Stafford, who picked apart the usually reliable Arizona secondary for 287 yards, 3 touchdowns and a passer rating of 139.2.
Cardinals edge rusher Chandler Jones was once again held in check. He made one play late in the game forcing an incomplete pass but otherwise had no impact. It seems like a guy in a contract season — who wanted to be traded or paid — should show up and try to make a difference in these divisional December games.
Let’s get back to the coaching mistakes because that’s what truly cost the Cardinals this game and perhaps a home game in the playoffs.
A truly stupid decision that stung at the time and came back to bite the Cardinals happened with 5:25 left in the third quarter. The Cardinals were down 14 but drove down to the red zone and had a chance to put up points with plenty of time remaining. Kingsbury calls a deep shot to AJ Green on 2nd down (incomplete) and then a Conner run on third down. Those two play calls were completely backwards thinking and blew up in the Cardinals face. Kingsbury then tried to save face by going for it on fourth down instead of kicking the short field goal and it only compounded his earlier mistakes. Hopkins dropped the pass and the Cardinals came away empty on an 11 play drive. Brutal.
Offensive line penalties killed the Cardinals all night. Guards Sean Harlow and Max Garcia could not handle the best defensive player in the NFL, Aaron Donald. They should’ve had help from a blocking running back. Donald forced Kyler Murray into bad throws or scrambles all night and one of his worst performances of the season. That’s on the coaching staff.
The end of the game remains a mystery to many.
The Cardinals trailed by 10 points with a minute to play. Murray took a sack on third down with no timeouts, causing the game clock to tick away until kicker Matt Prater put his fourth field goal attempt through the uprights. Arizona trailed by 7 with 37 seconds to play and needed a miracle.
They got half the miracle on the ensuing onside kick. Rookie linebacker Zaven Collins recovered it and the Cardinals needed a touchdown to tie. A holding penalty on Harlow followed by a false start on tackle Kelvin Beachum quickly marched the Cards offense the wrong way.
Murray found Conner on a short gain on the next play. Oh by the way, Conner appeared to get hurt on the play.
The very next thing for the Cardinals to do was to spike the ball and stop the clock for one last Hail Mary attempt. Everyone at home watching knew that, everyone in the building knew that — well, everyone except the 11 offensive players on the field for the Cardinals.
Instead of killing the clock, Kyler Murray killed the mood by taking the snap and running the wrong way for his life. None of his lineman thought to block anyone. Receivers didn’t run routes. Murray was sacked by Donald on the final play of the game (Donald also sacked Murray on the very first play of the game for a bookend dominant performance).
This loss was a beginning to end master class in dumb decision-making.
The Cardinals get the Lions on the road next Sunday to try to get right with four games left on the schedule.
