By the numbers: Cardinals’ get-right win over Patriots

The Arizona Cardinals’ 30-17 win over the New England Patriots was headlined by a dominant defense and rushing attack the visitor had few answers for.

But while those are the overarching takeaways from Sunday’s win, which for now keeps the Cardinals’ playoff hopes alive, there was much more behind the had-to-have-it victory.

Let’s dig in:

D-Rob gets home

It certainly felt like a long time coming, but Cardinals rookie defensive lineman Darius Robinson notched his first career sack on Sunday.

Looking to stop New England on a third-and-one in the second quarter, Robinson got in the backfield in a hurry before taking quarterback Drake Maye to the ground.

The sack was a prime example of why the Cardinals used their No. 27 pick on the Missouri alum this past April.

Robison also recorded a QB hit and three tackles on the afternoon.

It’s been a roller coaster of a rookie season for the lineman, but with each game, he’s looking more and more comfortable as the snaps pile up.

Turnovers? What turnovers?

For the first time in four games, quarterback Kyler Murray didn’t give the ball away to the other team. His interception streak ends at three games.

But man was it close, with a roughing the passer call negating a would-be disaster of a pick deep in Arizona territory.

Kyler Murray knows he messed up on his would-be interception. “Can’t do that.”

He was thankful for the flag that negated it. pic.twitter.com/Z0LiJwmJcj

— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) December 16, 2024

Murray postgame said he was trying to make a play and got hit in the head while also acknowledging he’s got to do a better job of protecting the ball.

“Can’t do that,” he added.

Murray ended the game with an efficient 76.7% completion percentage to go along with 224 passing yards.

It was a clean sheet across the board for the rest of the offense turnover-wise, while the defense gave Arizona the win in the takeaway battle with a Sean Murphy-Bunting interception in the third quarter.

Another zero to be proud of

The Cardinals offensive line had been inconsistent to say the least in recent weeks, giving up eight sacks across the team’s three-game losing streak.

Before that stretch, Murray had been sacked 15 times across 10 games.

On Sunday, though, the line got back on track behind zero sacks paired with a dominant run game that totaled 163 yards and two scores on 32 rushing attempts.

Left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. also got back to his normal self with zero penalties. If not for Hjalte Froholdt’s hold, the line would have been clean there, too.

Cashed in on the money downs

Throughout Arizona’s three-game losing streak, it was dreadful on third down, converting just 12 of 37 tries (32.4%).

Against New England, the Cardinals nearly hit that mark with a 10-for-15 conversion rate (67%). That includes six straight third-down pickups to end the game.

“I think that was the key, staying on schedule,” Murray said. “When you get to third down, staying on the field I think that’s the key. It is hard to stop when you stay on third down.”

And as successful as the offense was, the defense was leaps and bounds better on money downs.

On top of stopping New England on all six of its third-down attempts, Arizona also had a massive fourth-down stop in the red zone in the third quarter. At the time, it was only a 16-3 advantage for the Cardinals.

That’s the goal

After going 0-for-3 post-bye on goal-to-go situations — an area of the field the Cardinals had excelled at not that long ago — Arizona is now 3-for-3 these past two weeks thanks to a pair of successful trips on Sunday.

If you’re going to be a team to be reckoned with, you’ve got to handle business when it counts the most.

That success helped pave the way for Arizona’s first 30-point effort since Week 10’s win over the New York Jets.

“We had a good week of practice,” running back James Conner said when asked about Arizona’s scoring effort. “Any Sunday, we’re capable of doing big things. We just have to have a better week of practice next week and keep it rolling.”

James Conner

The section speaks for itself. Conner posted his fifth 100-yard game of the season –and his first since Week 9 — in Sunday’s win.

Arizona’s now 4-1 this season when Conner runs for at least 100 yards. The performance also helped the running back move into fifth in franchise history for rushing yards with 3,547 in 55 games as a Cardinal.

The veteran running back fresh off a new contract extension also posted his first multi-touchdown game of the year with a pair of fourth-quarter scores.

“He’s a horse,” Murray said. “Obviously, he’s hard to stop once he gets going. I thought he was going to crib on (the 53-yard run in the first quarter). That might be the fastest I’ve probably seen him run in a long time. It’s great to see him get going.

“It’s hard to get everybody the ball. Everybody wants to play great and have great performances, but that’s part of this game. It’s an unselfish group, and sometimes it’s somebody else’s day and it’s somebody else’s day today, so I was happy for him.”

Palardy party

Michael Palardy looked just fine in his first game filling in for the injured Blake Gillikin.

The new Cardinal averaged 48.5 yards per his two punts with a long of 54.

He also proved his worth as a holder for kicker Chad Ryland.

Nothing but net

Speaking of Ryland, the kicker was flawless on Sunday, converting all three of his field-goal attempts and extra points.

It was the first time since the bye week that Ryland didn’t have a miss.

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