Odell Beckham Jr., Van Jefferson and Cooper Kupp each had touchdown receptions and Stafford finished with 287 yards on 23-of-30 attempts.
The game continues Kupp’s excellent season — the 28-year-old wide receiver leads the league in receiving yards and racked up another 123 on Monday.
After the game, Stafford called Kupp “fantastic.”
The Rams were without a host of their important players after they were placed on the Reserve/Covid-19 list. Some of the absentees included star cornerback Jalen Ramsey, starting running back Darrell Henderson, starting right tackle Rob Havenstein and tight end Tyler Higbee. Ramsey said in a tweet that he feels “fine/normal.”
The result prevented the now 10-3 Cardinals from becoming the first team to clinch a playoff spot this season and means the Rams are now just one game behind the NFC West leaders at 9-4.
The Rams defense was able to slow down Cards quarterback Kyler Murray and the rest of the red-hot Arizona offense.
Superstar defensive lineman Aaron Donald finished with three sacks — including one to clinch the victory as time expired in the fourth quarter — while Leonard Floyd and Ernest Jones both intercepted Murray once.
“We talk about competitive greatness all the time and this guy is the epitome of competitive greatness. Really proud of Aaron (Donald). Not at all surprised.”
Uptick
In addition to the Rams players added to the Reserve/Covid-19 list, the NFL reported an overall increase in the number of positive cases around the league.
Monday saw 37 positive Covid-19 tests from players around the NFL, a league source tells CNN. ESPN’s Adam Schefter was first to report that figure.
In the two-week span between November 14-27, the last publicly released testing data from the NFL showed 29 positive tests from players.
A Monday memo from the NFL that CNN obtained says that Tier 1 and Tier 2 staff who have previously been vaccinated and are eligible under CDC guidelines must receive a booster shot no later than December 27. This mandate does not apply to NFL players. Tier 1 and Tier 2 staff are coaches and anyone that has direct contact with players.
On December 2, the league stated that 94.4% of its players were vaccinated along with “nearly 100%” of other NFL personnel.