CARDINALS REPORT CARD
Cardinals insider Katherine Fitzgerald hands out her position-by-position grades for the Cardinals following their season-ending game Sunday against the Rams: Passing offense: C+ Quarterback Kyler Murray did not have his best game overall, but he still threw for 325 yards. He was 26 of 42 with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Damiere Byrd led Cardinals receivers with 74 yards on seven catches. Byrd and tight end Dan Arnold accounted for the two touchdowns. Rushing offense: C The Cardinals finished with just 71 yards on the ground, running back Kenyan Drake accounting for 61 of them. The Cardinals opted to rely on Drake for nearly the whole game. David Johnson did not have a single carry, and Chase Edmonds had just one, a loss of one yard. Pass defense: C The Cardinals did not intercept quarterback Jared Goff once, as he threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns. Tight end Tyler Higbee, and and wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods all found the end zone for Los Angeles. Patrick Peterson and Chandler Jones each tallied two pass breakups. Rush defense: BThe Rams finished with 424 net yards of offense, but mostly went through the air to get there. Todd Gurley was the leading rusher, with 68 yards on 20 carries, but it was Malcolm Brown who scored the Rams' lone rushing touchdown. The Cardinals defense racked up seven tackles for loss, including four on the Rams' first 12 plays. Special teams: B+ Kicker Zane Gonzalez was good from 31-yards out and perfect on extra points. Punter Andy Lee averaged 50.3 yards a punt. The special teams unit also successfully shut down an unusual fake punt attempt by the Rams, from their own 17-yard line early in the quarter. Coaching: BKliff Kingsbury was perhaps limited by Murray's injury as far as what he felt he could call, but worked to play to Murray's strengths. That mostly showed up in Murray having fewer called runs, gaining zero yards on just two carries. Kingsbury's most interesting call involved a couple of reverses with Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk, but only resulting in a six-yard gain. The inability to move in the final minute was a rough look for an offense that hopes to move more quickly.