National Football League

Los Angeles Rams, Stafford prove mettle in crucial win over Cardinals

Updated Dec. 14, 2021 5:54 p.m. ET

Los Angeles' longest-tenured professional football team rammed its way back to the top of the NFC's contenders list by collecting perhaps its biggest win of the season on the road against a formidable Arizona Cardinals squad.

It was an emphatic statement performance from top to bottom. The Rams' defense turned into the dominant force it was primed to be on paper after acquiring Von Miller. The D-line fused together to form a five-pronged wrecking crew, and Aaron Donald was irrepressible as its captain. He collected three sacks, and Greg Gaines added another as the group kept Kyler Murray on his toes all night.

Meanwhile, though the squad's secondary surrendered 383 yards to Murray's right arm, it coaxed him into two costly interceptions and jarred the ball loose on another possession.

And Matthew Stafford was every bit the gunslinger Sean McVay envisioned upon acquiring the QB.

Stafford and McVay's partnership was entirely too much for Vance Joseph's defensive unit to handle. Stafford uncorked on the Cards' secondary, dropping loads of dimes to his receivers and ending with 287 passing yards and three TDs on an uber-efficient 76.7% completion rate.

The win elevated the Rams to a 9-4 record, just one spot below the Cardinals (10-3). And L.A. moved to 6-0 when Stafford avoids the interception bug. The Rams have scored 30 points in back-to-back games and recorded their second straight outing without a turnover.

The Cards, meanwhile, committed multiple turnovers for just the fourth time this season, and Murray finished without a rushing or passing TD, marking just the second time he has done so in 2021.

How much did this win mean for the City of Angels?

In Nick Wright's summation, the performance and win were the biggest of Stafford's career.

"[We] already knew he'd never won a playoff game, and not only that, he'd never won a Week 17 'win-and-you're-in game,'" Wright said Tuesday on "First Things First."

"He played one game in Week 17 about six years ago against the Packers with the division on the line, and he lost it. This was the biggest win of his career. That cuts both ways: The fact that a game in early December can be the biggest win of your career speaks to the lack of big games he has played in. But if they had lost yesterday, the division would've been over."

In Chris Broussard's view, the Rams showed themselves as a viable Super Bowl threat on Monday.

"I have them below Tampa Bay and Green Bay," Broussard said. "But I would put the Rams right there beneath them, ahead of the Cardinals. Obviously, we saw what happened last night. … As good as Arizona is, that's why everybody doesn't believe in them. I wouldn't be shocked to see the Rams winning the NFC.

"Two things that made me believe: Matt Stafford delivered in a big game against a very good team, and the defense for the Rams –– for the first time in a long time –– looked like the unit they were last year."

Stafford was indeed as calm as can be in the clutch. The emergence of a big-name, big-play receiver helped his cause tremendously.

Since joining the Rams from Cleveland, Odell Beckham Jr. has looked like an entirely different version of himself. He has hauled in 15 receptions for 204 receiving yards along with three TDs in four games with the Rams. With the Browns, he pulled in 17 catches for 232 yards and failed to reach the end zone in six games.

He looks happy as ever to be receiving care packages from a new sender, and he has made the most of his recent stretch of games following a quiet debut.

But while Monday's game score is already final, the Rams and Cardinals will be locked in a back-and-forth battle for the remainder of the season as they vie for the NFC West's top spot.

For Arizona, its four remaining opponents have a combined 22-29-1 record, and the Cards are tied for 25th in terms of strength of schedule. The Rams' upcoming opponents have a combined record of 26-26, and Los Angeles' strength of schedule is tied for 14th in difficulty.

If the two squads have an even record by season's end, the team with the better winning percentage in divisional matchups will emerge victorious (they already split their regular-season series). The Cards are 4-1 in games of the sort, meaning L.A. would have to win both of its remaining conference games (it's 2-2 so far) and Arizona would have to lose its last one to tie in that metric.

If those records end up split down the middle, the next tiebreaker is winning percentage against common opponents.

It's going to be a dogfight as the final stretch to February ensues, but one thing is clear: On Monday, the Rams showed that a big dog is coming to the brouhaha.