Notable Numbers from Cardinals' Monday Night Playoff Loss
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The stars were aligned for the Arizona Cardinals.
Despite losing the NFC West to the Los Angeles Rams, Arizona fancied their chances of winning the third and final meeting with the Rams at SoFi Stadium for a variety of reasons.
The Cardinals, tied with the league's best road record at 8-1 in the regular season, were night and day different when playing away from State Farm Stadium. Heading into the games as underdogs, the Cardinals were a superb 6-0 when not labeled as betting favorites.
Also take into account the road team had won the previous two meetings between the teams, and it's likely the Cardinals may have preferred to play their playoff game on the road, embracing the road-warrior mentality.
However, reality quickly smacked Arizona in the face, as the Cardinals suffered a 34-11 loss in a game where the team was out of sorts from the start.
Offensively, quarterback Kyler Murray was unable to establish any rhythm with the ball in his hands. Arizona's desire to decommit from a previously successful rushing attack didn't help, either.
On defense, the Cardinals were again unable to force any turnovers while allowing the Rams to score two touchdowns in their first three possessions.
Arizona now enters an offseason where the team will undoubtedly undergo change, as the question becomes how much change will be needed in order to continue to improve.
Yet for now, the Cardinals will need to come to terms with their efforts in a brutal end to their season at the hands of their division rivals.
Notable Numbers
13: Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford completed only 13 passes on Monday night, his lowest of the 2021 season and tied for the least amount of completions for Stafford since Week 5 of the 2018 season, where he completed 14 passes in a win against the Green Bay Packers. Of course, he attempted only 17.
In his last two games against the Cardinals, Stafford has a combined completion percentage of 76.6 with five touchdowns and no interceptions.
0: The Cardinals ended their night by failing to convert any of their nine third-down conversions. Arizona became the eighth team in the Super Bowl era to hit that number or worse on third down in a playoff game.
Of their 12 possessions, eight ended with three plays or fewer. That includes one at the end of each half.
30: The Cardinals had more than 30 points scored against them Monday and allowed a total of 72 points over their last two games (both to NFC West opponents) and an average of 29.3 points in their last six games to end the season.
40.9: Kyler Murray finished with his worst passer rating of the season, an astounding 40.9 after completing only 55.9% of his passes and throwing two interceptions.
One of those interceptions, a three-yard score by Rams cornerback David Long Jr., was the shortest pick-6 in postseason history.
28: The Cardinals fell behind early to a massive deficit and were unable to dig themselves out of the hole in which they created in the early stages of the game. Arizona allowed 28 unanswered points to begin their Wild Card meeting, while the Rams pushed the overall league record to 83-0 this year when teams were leading by 21 points or more.
3: With their loss to Los Angeles on Monday, the Cardinals have now completed three straight seasons where their season has ended in a loss to the Rams. In 2020, it was a 18-7 defeat that eliminated the Cardinals from postseason contention, while 2019 ended with a 31-24 loss and Arizona finished 5-10-1.
All three season-ending losses came on the road.
