Monday Night Football: Los Angeles Rams hold off Arizona Cardinals to win crucial playoff hunt
Odell Beckham Jr., Van Jefferson and Cooper Kupp each had contact touches and Stafford finished with 287 yards after 23 of 30 attempts.
The game continues Kupp’s stellar season – the 28-year-old leads the league in yards received and won another 123 points on Monday.
After the game, Stafford called Kupp “awesome.”
The Rams have been without a bunch of their key players after they were placed on the Subs/Covid-19 roster. Some of the absentees included star corner kick Jalen Ramsey, who started running back to Darrell Henderson, started right-handling Rob Havenstein and finished tight Tyler Higbee. Ramsey said in a tweet that he feels “fine/normal.”
The result prevented the 10-3 Cardinals from becoming the first team to claim a playoff spot this season and means the Rams are now just one game behind leaders NFC West by a score of 9-4.
The Rams defense was able to slow Cards quarterback Kyler Murray and the rest of the attack sizzled in Arizona.
Defensive superstar Aaron Donald completed three back kicks – including one to win at timeout in the fourth round – while Leonard Floyd and Ernest Jones were both able to intercept Murray once.
“We’ve always talked about competitive greatness and this guy is the epitome of competitive greatness. Really proud of Aaron (Donald). Not surprised at all.”
Increase
In addition to the Rams players added to the Subs/Covid-19 roster, the NFL reported an overall increase in the number of positive cases around the league.
Monday saw 37 positive Covid-19 tests from players around the NFL, a federation source told CNN. ESPN’s Adam Schefter was the first to report that number.
During the two-week period from November 14 to 27, the last publicly available test data from the NFL showed 29 positive tests from players.
A memo Monday from the NFL obtained by CNN states that Level 1 and Level 2 personnel who have been previously immunized and are eligible under CDC guidelines must receive a booster shot no later than December 27. This rule does not apply to NFL players. Level 1 and Level 2 staff are coaches and anyone who has direct contact with players.
On December 2, the league announced that 94.4% of its players had been vaccinated along with “nearly 100%” of other NFL staff.
