The Arizona Cardinals nice opening drive came up empty and set tone for the first half
The Arizona Cardinals won the opening toss and took the ball down the field thanks to some very nice Carson Palmer passes. Leave it to kicker Phil Dawson to screw that up.
Dawson missed a 32-yard field goal after taking the opening drive from their own 21-yard line. In that drive Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald caught a pass for the 202nd consecutive game.
However on third and nine, receiver John Brown didn’t run up field to try to reach the first down marker. Instead he ran back in and came up short setting up the field goal.
Meanwhile the Los Angeles Rams went down and scored on a field goal on their first drive after converting a few big third down plays. The Cardinals, after doing nothing on their second offensive drive, clamped down on defense and held the Rams to a three and out on their second drive.
The Cardinals started their third offensive drive with 39 seconds left in the first quarter. It didn’t go well. A delay of game and then a batted ball started the drive. J.J. Nelson caught a pass on third down and had a first down but had to come back for the ball.
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The second quarter didn’t start off so well for the Cardinals either. The Rams took the ball down the field but could only once again muster a field goal.
Both defenses played well until one offensive mistake by the Cardinals and the snowball effect took place. Quarterback Carson Palmer threw an interception after getting hit hard.
One play after the interception, Rams running back Todd Gurley ran the ball in from 18-yards for a touchdown. It was 13-0 in the blink of an eye.
On that interception, Palmer injured his left arm. He jogged to the locker room not moving the arm. Enter Drew Stanton.
Stanton picked up a first down and moved the ball a little downfield but ultimately the cardinals were forced to punt again. The Rams meanwhile marched down the field for a Jared Goff rushing touchdown to put the game nearly out of reach at 20-0.
We all thought that was the end of the half basically. Nope. Stanton threw a really bad interception and put the Rams immediately back into scoring position.
Chandler Jones saved the day with a sack of Goff. However just enough time for a Rams 53-yard field goal by Greg Zuerlein.