Murray, Cardinals losing grasp on their season with 37-14 loss to Rams

GLENDALE, Ariz. —  Kyler Murray spent time on the sideline working on his grip after throwing a couple of errant first-half passes.

It didn’t seem to help, and with a woeful performance at home, the Arizona Cardinals may be seeing coach Jonathan Gannon’s first season at the helm slip through their clutches.

Murray had his worst game since returning from a torn ACL and the rest of Cardinals were equally ineffective in an ugly 37-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday — their eighth loss in nine games.

“When you get beat like that, nothing was good enough,” Gannon said.

The Cardinals (2-10) had a built-in excuse to start Gannon’s first season with Murray still recovering from a torn ACL suffered last December. Josh Dobbs had some good moments in Murray’s place, but was mostly ineffective before being traded to Minnesota on Oct. 31.

Murrays’ return the following week sparked optimism in the desert and the two-time Pro Bowler was superb in his 2023 debut, leading the Cardinals on a game-winning drive in the closing minutes of a 25-23 victory over Atlanta.

The Rams (5-6) have been Arizona’s nemesis in recent years, yet it looked as if the Cardinals might stand their ground with an opening scoring drive capped by Murray’s 2-yard TD run.

They spent the rest of the game stumbling and bumbling their way to a 13th loss in the past 15 games against the Rams.

“It wasn’t good football,” said Murray, 1-8 against the Rams in his career. “We didn’t execute and they got the better of us. There’s pretty much nothing left to say.”

Los Angeles dominated both sides of the ball, outgaining Arizona 457-292. Matthew Stafford was an efficient 25 for 33 for 229 yards and four touchdowns. The Rams ran for 228 yards at 6.9 yards per carry.

Murray threw for 256 yards and a touchdown on 27 of 45 passing, but most of it came with the game already out of reach. His TD run was his only rushing attempt of the game.

Forced to play catch-up, the Cardinals had 73 yards rushing on 15 carries.

“We didn’t match their level of effort and enthusiasm throughout the game and that falls solely on me,” Gannon said. “When you get beat like that, we’ve got to give a good hard look at how we set up the week because that wasn’t competitive in my mind.”

It might not have been so bad had the Cardinals been able to get out of their own way.

Matt Prater’s 57-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the first half following Jalen Thompson’s interception of Stafford was erased by an illegal formation penalty and a 10-second runoff.

The Cardinals were successful on a fake punt at their 28 in the third quarter, only to commit a series of penalties that put them in a third-and-37 before punting.

Prater also badly missed another 56-yard field goal in the third quarter.

“We’re just not executing,” said Cardinals receiver Marquise Brown, who had six catches for 88 yards. “We’ve all got to be on the same page. It’s a game of inches, so you’ve got to execute.”

The Cardinals didn’t and now they’re running out of time to grab some positive momentum.