While there were no playoff implications on the line, the Los Angeles Rams hosted the Arizona Cardinals in Week 17 needing a win to finish with a winning season. It was also the team’s final game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, adding extra motivation for the Rams to come away with a win.
They were able to do exactly that, beating the Cardinals in every facet of the game to earn a 31-24 victory to finish the year at 9-7.
The Rams received the opening kickoff and immediately started working the ball down the field. They were forced to kick a field goal to take an early 3-0 lead though.
Arizona’s offense couldn’t do much early, but the Rams did them a favor by calling a fake punt in their own territory. When they didn’t get the first down, it set Kyler Murray up with great field position and he cashed in with a touchdown one play later to give his team a 7-3 lead.
The Rams offense settled in a bit from there though and put a touchdown drive together to regain the lead. Malcolm Brown punched it in from three yards out to cap off an 11-play, 50-yard drive.
After a fumble by Kenyan Drake that Taylor Rapp fell on, the Rams had great field position and were able to find the end zone again on a pass from Jared Goff to a wide-open Cooper Kupp to extend the lead to 17-7.
Cory Littleton came up with the Rams’ second fumble recovery of the day on the Cardinals ensuing drive, but Greg Zuerlein missed a field goal so the Rams couldn’t add to their lead. Arizona was able to convert their field goal attempt just before the end of the first half, cutting their deficit to 17-10.
The Rams defense continued to put pressure on Murray to begin the second half, and Darious Williams came up with his second interception in as many weeks. L.A. couldn’t do anything with it though, and then the Cardinals scored on their next drive to tie the game at 17.
Needing an answer, Goff and the Rams put perhaps their best drive of the day together. He found Kupp and Brandin Cooks for third-down conversions and then capped it off with a touchdown pass to Tyler Higbee to regain the lead at 24-17 early in the fourth quarter.
Rapp then came up with his second turnover of the day and the team’s fourth by intercepting Murray on the ensuing drive, setting the offense up with an opportunity to put the game on ice. They took advantage of it as USC legend Robert Woods scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive to extend the lead to 31-17, which was a fitting final touchdown at the Coliseum for the Rams.
The Cardinals answered with a touchdown of their own to make it 31-24, but L.A. was able to run out the clock down to a minute left on their ensuing drive, and then came up with a stop to complete the victory.
