The Arizona Cardinals, coming into Sunday, had little to no shot of defeating the high-octane offense in the Los Angeles Rams, especially since L.A. was coming off one of the more embarrassing losses of the season.
Aside from Matthew Stafford coming into State Farm Stadium with a chip on their shoulder, the Rams were aided by the fact that the Cardinals were missing key defensive starters all over the field. At least one starter from each position group (defensive line, linebacker, and secondary) was inactive.
This played a huge part in Stafford completing 22-of-31 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns. Seven of the completions were to Puka Nacua, who broke out on Sunday for 167 yards and a pair of scores.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Arizona pass rush was only able to generate five quarterback pressures on 31 dropbacks against Stafford. The 37-year-old Hall of Fame hopeful had all the time in the world to throw.
The L.A. running game also had its way with the Cardinals’ defense, as the unit put up one of its best performances of the season. Blake Corum and Kyren Williams combined for 212 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
A huge reason for this breakout performance was due to one of the injuries that Arizona had coming into Sunday. Rookie defensive lineman Walter Nolen III missed his second consecutive game with a knee injury that he suffered two weeks prior in the team’s loss at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Selected at pick No. 16 of this year’s draft, Nolen has been dominant in the trenches. The only issue is that he has been plagued by injuries; after all, he didn’t make his debut until Week 9 as he was dealing with a calf problem. In his season debut, he recorded his first career sack while dominating until he suffered the knee injury that we were talking about.
While there was more than one issue against the Rams, the fact that Matthew Stafford was pressured only five times over the course of the game is unbelievable. It just goes to show how important Nolen is when it comes to freeing up other guys on the line, such as Josh Sweat and Calais Campbell.
The Cardinals have already been eliminated from playoff contention, and the team is jockeying for a top-five draft pick in the 2026 draft.
It must be nice for general manager Monti Ossenfort to know that his first-round pick from this past year has looked like a hit thus far, despite only playing a few games. It is abundantly clear that he makes a difference on that defensive front. It’s just a matter of whether he can stay healthy.