The numbers behind the Cardinals’ get-right game over the Rams

TEMPE — The Arizona Cardinals pulled off another massive upset on Sunday with their win over the Los Angeles Rams.

After four weeks of losing, question marks and an overabundance of frustration, Monday feels almost like a reset.

Sitting 2-4 on the year and third in the NFC West, hope remains for the franchise under first-year head coach Mike LaFleur.

A look at the most telling — and surprising — numbers that came out of this past weekend’s tilt.

There’s just something about L.A.

When the Cardinals play at SoFi Stadium, good things happen (or at least this year they do).

Arizona is now 2-0 in games played at SoFi Stadium this year. That’s more wins than both the Rams and Los Angeles Chargers combined (one).

For LaFleur, who spent three seasons in L.A., he’s now just the third head coach in NFL history to have his first two career wins come on the road at the same stadium, joining Rick Venturi and Cliff Battles, per NFL Research.

Sometimes you just need a familiar setting, right?

More rare air for the Cardinals

It’s one thing to win a football game. It’s another to do so with zero touchdowns scored.

The Cardinals did both on Sunday.

It is just the second road win over the last 90 seasons in which the Cardinals scored zero touchdowns.

The irony of it all? The first time came in 2014 against the Rams in St. Louis.

What a wild stat.

Letting them loose!

Of the issues surrounding the defense this year, not sending enough blitzes was among the biggest given the inconsistent pass rusher Arizona has put on tape early on this year.

That changed in a big way on Sunday, though.

After posting no more than a 30.3% blitz rate through the first five weeks, Rallis sent the dogs behind a 41.7% mark against the Rams.

Entering play Monday, that is the sixth-highest rate of the week across the NFL.

And Budda Baker continues to be one of the biggest beneficiaries.

Notching another sack in L.A., Baker paces the team with 3.5. He has six total pressures across 19 pass rushes with a rate of 31.6% this year.

The safety’s three pressures on Matthew Stafford on seven blitzes are tied for his second-highest single-game pressure total since at least 2018.

“Tell Nick to call me on some pressures,” Baker said with a smile on Monday. “It’s definitely nice to get in the backfield a little bit, but kudos to our defensive players and everyone doing their jobs.

“There are certain things that guys have to sacrifice to make other players get the plays. … We’re just taking it one play at a time and trying to get the ball back to the offense.”

It wasn’t just Baker getting after the quarterback, either.

With each passing week, Josh Sweat looks like he’s getting more and more settled.

His two-sack effort on Sunday was the latest example. It won’t show up on the stat sheet but his strip sack of Matthew Stafford on a two-point conversion try ended up being the margin of victory for Arizona.

There’s no telling if Sweat will remain a Cardinal through the trade deadline as he reportedly seeks a new contract and could be on the move for the right price.

If that is really where Arizona is headed, performances like that are only going to up the return for Sweat.

Add in strong play from linebackers Mack Wilson Sr. and Cody Simon, and just 18 points scored for the top-rated offense, and it was a banner day all around for the defense.

“I just saw clear minds. I saw 11 as one. I saw cleats in the ground,” LaFleur said Monday. “I thought they were just working together in unison. It was really cool. It was reminiscent of what I felt like I saw in 2024 and maybe even in the early parts of last year in terms of just something that did not look fun for the opposing offense.

“I know there were times in 2024 that it was not fun having to go against that squad and that’s what it looked like to me and hopefully we are even better than that.”

The records continue to stack up for Trey McBride

It’s more surprising when tight end Trey McBride isn’t setting new franchise or NFL records at this rate.

Reeling in seven catches against the Rams on Sunday, the tight end became the first player in NFL history to record at least seven receptions in each of his first six games of the season.

He’s also now tied with Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce for the longest streak of games with at least seven catches at eight.

Trey McPlay stays living up to the hype.

Knight moves

Arizona’s run game hasn’t lived up to offseason expectations by any means.

Rookie Jeremiyah Love has dealt with ankle issues and has been held back because of them. His out status on Sunday was the latest development in the wrong direction for the rookie.

Veteran Tyler Allgeier hasn’t made the most of his touches, either, especially looking at last week with Love sidelined.

You know who did? Bam Knight.

Despite Allgeier looking like the leader out of the backfield, it was Knight setting the tone with 80 yards on 15 carries.

Even more importantly, he ripped off a pair of explosive runs, something that has eluded the Cardinals more times than not this year.

Now, it also helped that the offensive line looked better than it has on that side of the ball, but Knight still deserves a ton of credit for helping Arizona get more out of its ground game.

He had 33 yards over expected on Sunday, compared to Allgeier’s -22.

If Love has to miss any more time as he works to get back to 100%, or continues to be limited out of the backfield, Knight should squarely be in the mix.

“He’s a stud. He’s a tough dude. He’s a tough tackle,” LaFleur said. “I’ve seen it in a green jersey over in New York and then got to see it yesterday. He ran hard. I thought the guys did a great job. I thought everyone was connected.”

That being said, there’s still plenty to clean up in the run game, especially on downhill direct runs.

A glaring streak snapped

Before Arizona’s win over L.A., the Cardinals hadn’t won a divisional game since Week 16 of 2024.

That’s eight-straight losses to NFC West foes — highlighted by a 0-6 record in 2025 — before Arizona’s victory on Sunday.

The Cardinals’ next opportunity against the division comes in Week 9 against the Seattle Seahawks.

Not a winning stat

The Cardinals got out of L.A. with a win despite five red zone trips and zero touchdowns.

If Arizona hopes to keep stacking wins, that is one stat that must be flipped.

And after looking things over, there’s one big area to clean up.

“We weren’t efficient in our runs at all down there. Got to do a better job scheming some stuff up right there,” LaFleur said of the lack of red zone success. “I thought we had great efficiency (between the 20-yard lines) all day.

“It’s just when we got inside the 20s. We know that’s not sustainable. We can’t kick six field goals and expect to win football games. But I think those are — I don’t want to call them easy fixes because there are no easy fixes — but we’ll clean that up.”

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