Arizona Cardinals’ 2021 meetings with Los Angeles Rams, by the numbers

A divisional matchup in the playoffs means we’ve got the healthiest sample size possible from the regular season.

That’s what the Wild Card showdown between the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams provides us.

Arizona smoked the Rams 37-20 in Week 4 on the road while the Cardinals were handled at home in a Week 14 30-23 loss.

What were some of the biggest takeaways from these two games ahead of the playoff game?

Here are a few, by the numbers:

216

In the Cardinals’ win, Arizona rushed for a season-high 216 yards. That was the only time the Cardinals broke 200 yards rushing this year and one of three times they topped at least 150. Arizona won all three of those games.

2

In both games, the winner did not turn the ball over and the loser gave it away twice, with each turnover margin at 2-0.

383

Despite this matchup featuring two of the best quarterbacks in the NFC, Kyler Murray’s 383 passing yards in the Week 14 loss was the only time either signal caller broke 300 yards.

3

The Rams have been the better team at getting to the quarterback. Aaron Donald’s three sacks in the Rams’ win matched the Cardinals’ team total that game, while Los Angeles bested Arizona 3-0 in sacks for the Cardinals’ win. Arizona, however, was ahead in quarterback hits 9-8.

91.6%

The kicking game has been on point. Kickers Matt Gay and Matt Prater combined to make 11 of their 12 field goal attempts (91.6%). Gay had the lone miss from 46 yards and all 11 extra points were converted by the duo.

8

Of these two teams’ 17 total red zone trips, eight of them did not result in a touchdown. Arizona was 5-for-9 while the Rams were 4-of-8.

5

Arizona’s defense gave the Rams five first downs off penalties in the two games compared to just one allowed for LA.

117

Penalty yards were 117-76 Cardinals. The Rams were the second-best team in the regular season for total penalty yards while Arizona was the seventh-worst.

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