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Cardinals’ strong defensive effort leads to 17-15 victory over Chargers

Arizona Cardinals receiver Greg Dortch (4) celebrates his touchdown against the Los Angeles Chargers at State Farm Stadium. © Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Arizona Cardinals defense did not allow a single touchdown and the Arizona rushing attack dominated to lead the Cardinals to a 17-15 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football.

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Chad Ryland connected on a 32-yard walk-off field goal to improve Arizona’s record 3-4, good for second place in the underwhelming NFC West by way of head-to-head tiebreaker with the San Francisco 49ers (3-4) and one game back from first behind the 4-3 Seattle Seahawks.

James Conner rushed 19 times for 101 yards and caught two passes for 51 yards, including a 33-yard reception on the final possession to set up Ryland for the game winner. In total, Arizona outgained the Chargers 181-59 on the ground. Kyler Murray had a 44-yard rushing touchdown and 64 rushing yards total. Through the air, Murray went 14-for-26 for only 145 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

For the Chargers, Justin Herbert had a great game even with a lot of wide receivers out, completing 27-of-39 passes for 349 yards. Tight end Will Dissly had a game-high eight receptions for 81 yards. J.K. Dobbins, who was fifth in the NFL in rushing yards per game entering today, only had 40 rushing yards on 14 carries. Los Angeles dropped to 3-3 on the season and only scored by way of five field goals by Cameron Dicker.

The Cardinals defense, which came into today severely depleted on the defensive line, had three sacks, five tackles for loss and allowed only 2.7 yards per rush for the game. Outside linebacker Dennis Gardeck (knee) and cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting (neck) were both injured during the game and did not return.

The Chargers, who were without Joey Bosa due to injury, only had one tackle for loss and zero sacks on Murray.

2 turnovers, no score in 1st quarter

The Cardinals received the opening kickoff, and Murray picked up a few big gains with his legs. On the first play after crossing midfield, Murray through an interception to Chargers defensive lineman Teair Tart, who attempted to run it back, but was stripped from behind by Conner. Cardinals wide receiver Michael Wilson recovered the ball at the Arizona 28. The Cardinals then were forced to punt the ball away, and the Chargers took over at their own 12 after a 54-yard punt with 10:56 remaining in the first quarter.

Los Angeles then appeared to be driving and Herbert threw a 42-yard bomb to Jalen Reagor inside the 5-yard line, but the ball was punched by Cardinals cornerback Starling Thomas V and went through the end zone, giving the Cardinals the ball at their own 20 with 7:27 to go in the first.

The Cardinals once again crossed midfield, but had to punt it away after Greg Dortch dropped a short slant on third-and-10 from the Chargers 46. LA took over at its 10-yard line with four minutes to go in the first.

At the end of the first quarter, the game was tied 0-0 and the Chargers had the ball at their own 47. For Los Angeles, Herbert was 6-for-6 for 101 yards, and Dissly had three catches for 39 yards. Dobbins rushes four times for 11 yards.

Meanwhile, Murray was only 2-for-8 with 18 yards and an interception. Conner had five carries for 28 yards.

Cardinals take lead in second quarter

The Chargers advanced the ball to the Arizona 41. After a textbook pass breakup by rookie cornerback Max Melton on third and long, Los Angeles decided to kick a 59-yard field goal with 11:59 remaining in the first half instead of punting it. Dicker drilled it, tying a Chargers record for longest field goal in franchise history and giving LA a 3-0 lead.

The Cardinals caught a break on their next drive when Conner had the ball punched out on a 21-yard screen pass. Trey McBride was able to recover the fumble at the Arizona 43. Arizona then marched down to the red zone riding this momentum from Conner. Murray found Dortch on a speed out from five yards out for the first touchdown of the game, putting Arizona ahead 7-3 with 5:40 to go in the second quarter. This capped off a 10-play, 79-yard drive in which Murray went 5-for-5 for 43 yards.

The Chargers went three-and-out on their next drive after great pressure from Gardeck led to a pass way short of the line to gain on third and long. Arizona took over at its 27-yard line after the punt with just over four minutes left in the second quarter.

Arizona put itself in a difficult position coming out of the two-minute warning after losing six yards on a trick play where Conner took the snap and faked the pitch to Murray on an end around, but was stuffed. After a 14-yard rush by Emari Demercado, the Cardinals punted it to the Los Angeles 11 with 1:46 remaining.

Following the punt, Herbert found Joshua Palmer twice to quickly move the ball to midfield. With no timeouts left for LA, Cardinals defensive lineman Ben Stille, who was elevated from the practice squad earlier today, sacked Herbert for four yards, forcing the Chargers to spike the ball on third down with three seconds left at their own 32. Dicker connected on a 50-yard field goal to cut the Arizona lead to 7-6 as time expired in the first half.

Murray was 9-for-16 for 74 yards, a touchdown and an interception in the first half. Conner rushed 10 times for 46 yards, and McBride had four receptions for 39 yards.

Herbert completed 13-of-18 passes for 172 yards, and Dissly reeled in six catches for 59 yards through halftime. The Cardinals held Dobbins to only six carries for 14 yards.

Chargers re-take lead after slow-paced 3rd quarter

The Chargers looked to get Dobbins going after receiving the second-half kickoff with three-straight runs to open the half. Just before crossing midfield, a holding penalty set the Chargers back and a sack by Naquan Jones on second down forced a third and 28. A nice punt pinned Arizona at its seven-yard line with 10:25 remaining in the third quarter.

Arizona was driving after it got the ball back, but ended up turning it over on downs from the LA 45 with 6:06 to go in the quarter after running tw0-straight QB sneaks with backup quarterback Clayton Tune for no gain on third and fourth and short.

After a 10-play, 45-yard drive, Los Angeles made a 28-yard field goal with 40 seconds left in the third quarter. Dante Stills came up with the third sack of the game for Arizona on second down to force Los Angeles into a difficult third and long, which it didn’t convert, ending up with the field goal to give the Chargers a 9-7 lead.

At the end of the third quarter, the Cardinals had the ball on their own 46 for a second-and-9. Murray only had 90 yards passing on 11-of-19 completions, while Conner was dominating with 77 rushing yards on 15 carries.

Herbert was 18-for-26 for 240 yards for Los Angeles, and Dobbins rushed 11 times for 37 yards.

Murray, Conner’s big plays lead Arizona to victory

Following a 10-yard completion to Marvin Harrison Jr., Murray scrambled 44 yards with no resistance for a walk-in touchdown to give Arizona a 14-9 lead with 14:14 to go in the game.

Los Angeles hit another field goal, this time from 47 yards out, after only a five-play drive that took 2:05. Arizona then got possession back with up 14-12.with 12:09 remaining.

After a few big plays, Murray was unable to connect with Wilson on third-and-10 from the Los Angeles 45. Blake Gillikin had a perfect 44-yard punt to the Chargers 1-yard line to pin them deep in their territory with 10:06 left.

The field position did not matter for Herbert, who continued to look dialed in. Arizona forced the Chargers into a fourth-and-1 with four minutes to go from the Arizona 30, but they were able to convert after a two-yard rush by Haasan Haskins. Right before the two-minute warning, Herbert threw an incomplete pass to bring up a fourth-and-4 from the Arizona 22. Dicker drilled a 40-yard field goal, his fifth of the game, to give the Chargers a 15-14 advantage with 1:54 remaining. This capped a 15-play, 77-yard drive that spanned 8:12.

Arizona started off the next drive with two-straight incompletions, but Chargers cornerback Cam Hart was called for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty for hitting Harrison in the head. The very next play, Conner took a screen pass 33 yards to the Los Angeles 22, setting them up in perfect position for a field goal. Conner picked up another first down to make Los Angeles burn its final timeout and allow Arizona just to kneel down and call a timeout right before time expired from the Los Angeles 14 to allow for Ryland’s game-winning kick, which he eassily converted.

Next Up

The Cardinals will travel to Miami to take on the Dolphins (2-4) next Sunday, as Miami is expected to get back quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

Fans react to Cardinals Monday Night Football win over Chargers

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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau

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