Arizona Cardinals: Turnovers killer in 24-22 loss to Rams

The Arizona Cardinals lose their first game of the season to the St. Louis Rams 24-22

I knew something was going to be different today when I woke up and noticed how cloudy it was outside.  It was ominous looking and I turned to my son and told him I think it’s about to pour.  Less than three seconds later, it did.  There was only a 20 percent chance of rain.  It would be that kind of day for the Arizona Cardinals too.

The Arizona Cardinals came out and turned the ball over on the opening kickoff en route to a 24-22 loss to the St. Louis Rams.  Amazingly, the Cardinals still had a chance to win at the end.

I mentioned the rain because two weeks ago the Phoenix-area had a 100 percent chance of rain and it barely sprinkled.  That was almost no talk of rain in the Phoenix-area up until this morning.  Go figure.  However it started pouring bad news on the Cardinals immediately on Sunday afternoon.

Running back David Johnson fumbled the opening kickoff and the Rams quickly capitalized to go up 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.  The Cardinals could only muster field goals all day until the fourth quarter.

Also coming up with a case of the fumbles on Sunday was the usually reliable receiver Larry Fitzgerald.  Fitz made a great catch but had the ball jarred loose on a drive that looked promising at the time.  Quarterback Carson Palmer also threw an interception but that was just a slightly underthrown jump ball in the end zone.

The Cardinals went into the half down just 10-9, so they had to be feeling good knowing they had played fairly poorly on both sides of the ball and still managed to be down just one point.  Rams running back Todd Gurley though had a field day rushing for 146 yards.  The Cards never had an answer for him.

Going into the fourth quarter, the Cardinals trailed 17-12 but you still felt like the Cards could pull it out despite the three turnovers on offense and no takeaways on defense.  As I said earlier, they still had their chances.

They scored a touchdown with just over four minutes left in a the game to make it a 24-22 game.  The Cardinals made a defensive stop and got the ball back with 3:03 remaining.  Unfortunately they could not convert a short third or fourth down in Rams territory and gave the ball back to the Rams.

However, as it had been most of the afternoon, the Cardinals could not stop Gurley.  He spun off 20 and 30-yard runs in the final drive to seal the deal and send the Cards home with their first loss of the season.