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01/04 18:34 CST Stafford throws 4 more touchdown passes, and Rams beat
Cardinals 37-20 to secure No. 5 NFC seed
Stafford throws 4 more touchdown passes, and Rams beat Cardinals 37-20 to
secure No. 5 NFC seed
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) --- Matthew Stafford passed for 259 yards and threw two
of his four touchdown passes to Colby Parkinson, and the Los Angeles Rams
secured the No. 5 seed in the NFC playoffs with a 37-20 victory over the
Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
Tyler Higbee returned from injury with five receptions for 91 yards and a key
fourth-quarter TD for the Rams (12-5), who will visit the NFC South champion
Carolina Panthers (8-9) in the wild-card round.
Puka Nacua made a one-handed TD grab among his 10 catches for 76 yards for the
Rams, who snapped their first two-game skid of the season. Stafford passed Dan
Marino for seventh place on the NFL's career TD passes list while finishing his
MVP-caliber season leading the NFL with 4,707 yards passing and 46 TDs --- the
second most in league history by a quarterback at least 37 years old.
Sean McVay's team clinched its third straight playoff berth last month, but the
Rams blew the No. 1 overall seed with road losses to Seattle and Atlanta in
their past two games. Now they'll have to win in Charlotte, where they lost
31-28 on Nov. 30.
McVay went against his usual policy and didn't rest his starters for the
relatively meaningless regular-season finale because he wanted his team to snap
out of its costly two-game slump.
The Rams didn't return to top form while making major mistakes on defense and
special teams yet again --- and even falling behind in the third quarter.
But Stafford snapped his offense back into form and scored 21 unanswered points
to avoid another embarrassing defeat by the Rams, who won at least 12 games for
the third time in McVay's nine years in charge. They made it to the Super Bowl
the previous two times.
Jacoby Brissett passed for 243 yards and hit Michael Wilson with a 43-yard TD
pass in the second half for Arizona, which finished coach Jonathan Gannon's
third season with nine consecutive losses and 14 of 15. Wilson finished with 99
yards receiving to top 1,000 in a season for the first time.
Trey McBride made seven catches to extend his NFL single-season record for a
tight end to 126 receptions for the Cardinals, who lost 14 games in a season
for the first time in the history of a franchise that started in Chicago in
1920.
Josiah Deguara caught a go-ahead TD pass in the third quarter from Brissett,
who started the Cardinals' final 12 games after a foot injury sidelined Kyler
Murray. The former No. 1 pick's future is up in the air in Phoenix, along with
the fates of Gannon and his staff.
The Rams still didn't find urgency in their final regular-season game until
deep in the second half.
Neither team could reach the end zone before the Rams made an 18-play, 74-yard
drive culminating in a high-risk call by McVay on fourth down: Nacua made his
one-handed TD catch off a fade from Stafford 1:22 before halftime.
The Cardinals answered after halftime with two electrifying plays: Emari
Demercado caught a 28-yard pass from punter Matt Haack on fourth down from the
Arizona 29, immediately followed by Wilson's 43-yard TD catch.
Arizona mounted a steady 76-yard drive moments later, capped by Deguara's first
TD catch since 2021 to spark grumbling in SoFi Stadium.
Falling behind 20-16 finally sparked the Rams, who quickly drove for
Parkinson's catch-and-run TD from 21 yards. Los Angeles made another six-play
TD drive moments later ending in the first TD catch since Nov. 2 by Higbee, the
10-year veteran who returned from a six-game injury absence.
Parkinson added a 1-yard TD catch with 4:15 to play.
Injuries Cardinals: Rookie CB Will Johnson and LB Channing Tindall injured their knees in the first half. Rams: WR Jordan Whittington injured his knee while making a tackle on special teams in the first quarter and didn't return. ... Special teams standout Shaun Dolac hurt his knee. Up next Cardinals: Determining the futures of Murray and the coaching staff before making a high pick in the draft. Rams: A chance to atone for their rain-soaked loss at Carolina on Nov. 30. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL |
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