A Win Over the Rams. Still 1.5 Back. Still Losing by 8.7 a Game.

Arizona beat the Rams 18-16 on Sunday, snapping a four-game skid and keeping the playoff conversation alive—barely. At 2-4, the Cardinals sit 1.5 games behind the last wild card with 11 to play. Chad Ryland, named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week, was apparently the difference in a two-point game, which tells you something about the margin this team is operating on.

The win came with footnotes. Davante Adams left with a hamstring injury that will cost him six to ten weeks. The Rams' new kicker went out with a knee. Arizona won the game, but the opponent was also falling apart around them. That's not a knock—two points is two points—but it's worth noting before anyone reads too much into the result.

The number that keeps coming back is -8.7 points per game. That's the season average, and it's also the average over the last ten games. The win over Los Angeles doesn't move it. This team beat the Rams in Week 1 too, then dropped four straight by a combined margin that swamped any good feeling from that opener. The pattern in 2025 was the same: competitive enough to keep you watching, not good enough to actually win. One narrow escape doesn't change the underlying math. Denver is next.