INGLEWOOD — If the decision for the Rams to play their starters in Sunday’s regular-season finale was about getting back in rhythm ahead of the postseason, about erasing the bad vibes of two consecutive losses before another one could end their year, you can give their performance in a 37-20 win against the Arizona Cardinals an incomplete grade.
Three straight touchdowns to close the game did give the Rams some reason for optimism. After trailing by four, the Rams clamped down on defense, the four-man pass rush getting home. And the offense seemed to have enough, with tight end Tyler Higbee and running backs Kyren Williams and Blake Corum breaking big plays to put the Rams over the top.
“You go down (four) points, you’re thinking, ‘What the hell is going on?’” Head coach Sean McVay said. “And the guys just found a way to dig deep. Competitive greatness, being at your best when your best is required, that’s what it was. That’s what those guys did today.”
But it wasn’t supposed to be this hard for these Rams (12-5) against these Cardinals (3-14). Not after the Rams beat this team by 28 points four weeks ago. Not after McVay decided his best players needed to be on the field this week instead of resting ahead of wild-card weekend, in which the Rams will travel to face the Carolina Panthers (8-9) on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. PT.
But the Rams played the same kind of inconsistent football that irked McVay so much in last week’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons. The type where the offense opened with two straight empty possessions in the red zone, put 10 quick points on the board before half to take the lead, then went three-and-out twice to open the second half and allow the Cardinals to retake the lead.
The type where the defense gets a stop on the Cardinals’ first drive of the third quarter, only for special teams – of course, special teams – allowed a fake-punt conversion. Elijah Demercado was so open in the middle of the field that the pass from punter Matt Haack could hang in the air for a seeming eternity before coming down for a 28-yard completion.
On the very next play, Michael Wilson beat Ahkello Witherspoon deep for a 43-yard touchdown. When Josiah Deguara toe-tapped in the end zone to give the Cardinals the lead one possession later, the crowd of 72,004 at SoFi Stadium was fully uncomfortable.
“We obviously didn’t start the second half the way we wanted to on offense, really defense, special teams, all of it. It was kind of a –,” Stafford said, leaning his head back and widening his eyes to make his point. “They did a nice job opening the half, we did not. But there’s a lot of football to be played. We knew that.”
The second half wasn’t all that different than the first, when it took some time for the offense to find its footing. After a Josaiah Stewart strip-sack gave the Rams the ball at the Arizona 23-yard line on their opening possession, the Rams couldn’t pick up a first down.
Then the Rams’ second drive was all kinds of strange.
Xavier Smith dove to save a tipped ball and turn it into a first down, but a tipped ball a couple plays later was almost intercepted. A holding call against guard Justin Dedich wiped out a deep completion to Puka Nacua. Tight end Colby Parkinson dropped an easy pass on the goal line, then a false start by Coleman Shelton led to settling for another field goal.
About all the Rams had going for them early was the consistency of their pass rush. The group delivered quarterback pressures on 12 of Arizona’s first 14 dropbacks, while Stewart, Byron Young and Desjuan Johnson contributed first-half sacks.
Eventually, the Rams found their footing on offense. The group converted six of their first eight attempts on third down, with Williams and Higbee – back for the first time in six weeks following an ankle injury – delivering conversions to move the four-minute drill at the end of the half.
Once at the goal line, the Rams went to Nacua, once on a screen pass ruled just short upon review and then again on a fourth-and-goal fade ball. His defender grabbed his jersey and smacked his facemask, but Nacua went up strong with his right arm and came down with the one-handed touchdown.
Combined with a Witherspoon chase-down interception that set the Rams up for an end-of-half field goal, the Rams had a 10-point lead and – finally – some momentum going into halftime.
But that quickly stalled, as previously covered. It took a couple enough-is-enough drives by the offense ending in touchdowns to Parkinson and Higbee, paired with more disruption by the pass rush, for the Rams to finally put the Cardinals away.
It’s that fourth quarter that the Rams will hold onto, scoring 20 straight points and forcing two punts and a turnover on downs.
“I feel like we locked in,” defensive tackle Kobie Turner said. “That fourth quarter, that was exactly who we are. So I look forward to taking that into the postseason with us.”
Whether or not it will be enough to carry the Rams through January remains to be seen. The Panthers did beat this team in Week 13, 31-28, as the offense turned the ball over three times and the defense gave up 4.1 yards per carry.
The Rams will have to play better than they did against the Cardinals to move past Carolina this postseason. But the fourth quarter did provide something for the players to work with, especially with veterans Davante Adams and Quentin Lake expected back for the wild-card round.
“It was an awesome job of being able to just settle in, do the things that we needed,” McVay said. “I like where we’re at right now and now we move forward and what a great opportunity we’ve got to go to Carolina and see what the hell we can do. But it was a good day for the Rams, a lot of good learning opps.”