Hopefully the second round of the playoffs will be a bit more exciting than the first.
Posted at 12:15 a.m.
The Arizona Cardinals suffered the same fate as the New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers: they were beaten in the first round of the tournament 34-11 by the Rams on Monday night in Los Angeles .
The very first playoff game in history to be presented on a Monday night will have served to show us that Kyler Murray and the Cardinals are still far from forming a legitimate contender for the Super Bowl. They fell short in most of their most important games this season, and the trend continued on Monday.
Already trailing 14-0 midway through the second quarter, Murray finished off his team by blundering in his end zone. Pressed by a Rams player, he stupidly threw the ball in the air to avoid conceding a safety touchdown. Instead, he gave away a touchdown… Cornerback David Long Jr. intercepted the loose ball before scoring a three-yard major.
Murray threw a second interception shortly after the first, but the game was pretty much over already anyway. With a 21-0 lead, Aaron Donald, Von Miller and the rest of the Rams defensive front knew the Cardinals would have to rely mostly on their aerial play from that point on and so were able to focus on exercising pressure on Murray.
Chase Edmonds and James Conner, the Cards’ two main running backs, finished the game with a total of 12 carries for 47 yards. The Rams’ defense is most vulnerable on the ground, but the Cardinals’ deficit has forced their offense to become one-dimensional. It should also be noted that Conner was playing despite a rib injury which was clearly causing him pain.
Murray really didn’t play well in his first career playoff game. He couldn’t count on his receiving ace, DeAndre Hopkins, of course, but his passes lacked precision and he didn’t seem in control of the situation at all. Christian Kirk and Zach Ertz, his two main targets, had only 51 and 21 yards.
Part of the doubts erased
He may not have proven beyond doubt that he can be a winning quarterback in the playoffs, but Matthew Stafford certainly reassured the Rams’ top management with his performance on Monday night. The quarterback had lost his first three career playoff games with the Detroit Lions and his first season in Los Angeles was uneven.
PHOTO JAE C. HONG, ASSOCIATED PRESS Matthew Stafford, des Rams de Los Angeles
The Rams mostly used their rushing game (38 carries against 18 assists), but Stafford made no mistakes and finished the game with 202 yards and 2 touchdowns. Odell Beckham Jr. and Cooper Kupp caught both touchdown passes. Stafford played with confidence throughout the game.
Playing his second game since returning to action after a six-month hiatus with a torn Achilles tendon, Cam Akers rushed for 55 yards, while former Patriots Sony Michel won. 58. These two players make a good pair of running backs whose styles of play complement each other very well.
Akers was also involved in a harsh collision with safety Budda Baker, who was taken to hospital for tests after lying on the ground for long minutes. The Cardinals player suffered a concussion, but reportedly hasn’t lost feeling in his arms and legs. It’s the kind of contact that reminds us just how violent and dangerous football can be. Fortunately, Baker seems to have avoided the worst.
On his return to the game after two and a half months of absence, JJ Watt was rather discreet. He still managed a tackle for a loss of yards. The Cards defensive end had undergone shoulder surgery.
Date with Brady and the Bucs
For the second year in a row, Kliff Kingsbury’s team experienced a serious downturn after a very good start to the season. The Cardinals had missed the tournament after crashing down the stretch in 2020 and, after losing four of their last five games of the season, they were no match for the Rams.
Hopkins’ absence obviously didn’t help their cause, but it’s far from certain that the Cards would have stayed up much later had the wide end been healthy. Against top-flight teams, they are rarely of caliber.
The Rams will now turn their attention to Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, who they will visit next Sunday in Tampa Bay. If the ankle injury suffered by Tristan Wirfs, who is the Bucs’ best offensive lineman, prevents him from playing, Brady may have his hands full against players like Donald, Miller and Leonard Floyd.
Unlike the Cardinals, the Buccaneers should rely on their ground game.
In the other National Conference semifinal, the San Francisco 49ers will be in Green Bay to face Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, who will play their first game of the tournament on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. in the first round after finishing first in the National in the regular season.
The Tennessee Titans also earned a first-round bye in the American and host Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. dominated their first game in the playoffs, the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday at 6:30 p.m. The Chiefs had eliminated the Bills in the conference finals last year.
