The Cardinals played in a prime time game for the first time this season on Monday night.
The defense bent (allowing almost 400 yards of offense), but never broke against the Chargers in a 17-15 win.
Kicker Chad Ryland hit the game winner as time expired from 32 yards out.
The Chargers never found the end zone because the Cardinals defense made stops when it needed to.
Kyler Murray and the offense looked mundane for most of the game. But, Murray had a 44 yard rushing touchdown to open the fourth quarter and James Connor made big plays on the ground and in the air down the stretch.
Before the game, Jonathan Gannon challenged his team to be more physical. They answered the call.
The pass rush is still a concern for the Cardinals, but this game showed a level of physicality that wasn’t present through the first six weeks. That’s a building block that this team can lean on moving forward.
Arizona is now 3-4 (2-2 in the division). Next week they travel to Miami to play the Dolphins.
Jordan Spurgeon
