Cardinals vs. Rams Week 6: Chad Ryland Drills Six Field Goals, Buzzer-Beater Stuns Sean McVay's Rams

Chad Ryland did not need a touchdown. The Arizona Cardinals had spent a month getting dunked on, arrived at SoFi Stadium as double-digit underdogs on a four-game losing streak, went 0 for 5 in the red zone, and still left Los Angeles with a win because their kicker refused to miss.

Ryland's sixth field goal, a 43-yarder as time expired, gave Arizona an 18-16 upset of the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, 47 seconds after the Rams had grabbed a 16-15 lead. Ryland scored every Cardinals point, and new coach Mike LaFleur beat his former boss, Sean McVay, in their first meeting.

Kickers, Fumbles and a Two-Point Heist

The Rams lost the special teams war in the first quarter and never got it back. New Rams kicker Blake Grupe made a 44-yarder on Los Angeles' opening scoring drive, then hurt his knee making a tackle on Devin Duvernay's 40-yard kickoff return.

That mattered right away. Matthew Stafford hit Blake Corum for a 15-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and without Grupe, Los Angeles went for two. Josh Sweat blew up the try with a blindside sack, Stafford fumbled, and defensive lineman L.J. Collier scooped it up and rumbled the other way before being dragged down around the Rams' 35, with cornerback Kei'Trel Clark racing up beside him and begging for a pitch.

"I was trying, but ayyy, he's a big man, he was being greedy," Clark said.

"Nah man, get a block," Collier said. "I played running back in high school."

Meanwhile, it was Ryland o'clock all half. Field goals of 34, 30 and 22 yards had it tied 9-9 at the break, and after halftime the Cardinals simply took the ball and refused to give it back. Arizona opened the third quarter with a 15-play drive that ate 8:35, forced a Rams turnover on downs, then put together a 14-play march that burned 8:11. Both ended in Ryland kicks, from 38 and 27 yards, for a 15-9 lead.

The Rams' fourth quarter played like a blooper reel. Stafford survived an 11-yard sack-fumble, then Cody Simon punched the ball away from Tyler Higbee deep in Arizona territory and Denzel Burke recovered. The next Los Angeles possession died on downs in Cardinals territory, too.

Then it got weird. The Rams took over at their own 14 with 2:48 left, Stafford hit Puka Nacua for 43 yards, and Colby Parkinson was initially ruled down at the 1 on a 6-yard catch before replay awarded him the touchdown with 47 seconds left. Punter Ethan Evans, attempting the first placekick of his career, made the extra point for a 16-15 lead. According to the AP, 29 extra seconds were put back on the clock, and they came back to haunt Los Angeles.

"Thank God he did score," LaFleur said.

Ryland, Sweat and a Defense That Finally Showed Up

Ryland's line, six for six from 34, 30, 22, 38, 27 and 43 yards, is the obvious headline, and the NFL later named him NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.

But the defense deserves a statue, too. A unit that had allowed 148 points over its previous four games held the Rams, who came in leading the NFL in total offense, to 286 yards. Arizona sacked Stafford three times, with Sweat and Budda Baker getting one apiece. Per the team, it was the first time since Week 1 that the defense had not allowed 30-plus points.

"There ain't no telling what I can do if we are actually in the game," said Sweat, who was credited with a team-high four pressures. "People think I forgot how to play football."

Jacoby Brissett was steady rather than spectacular, going 24 of 35 for 218 yards without taking a sack. With rookie Jeremiyah Love out, Bam Knight ran for 80 yards on 15 carries while battling cramps, and Trey McBride caught seven passes for 53 yards.

The Catch That Set Up the Kick

Jalen Brooks had dropped a third-down pass earlier in the fourth quarter, forcing a punt. Brissett went right back to him on the first play of the final drive, and Brooks held on to a 21-yard catch over the middle while absorbing a hit from Josh Wallace. Wallace drew a 15-yard unnecessary roughness flag, and Arizona was suddenly at the Los Angeles 29. Three snaps later, Ryland ended it.

"I literally told him I was like, 'Bro, I'm coming back to you,'" Brissett said.

Numbers From a Touchdown-Free Upset

• 0 for 5: Arizona in the red zone. Five trips, zero touchdowns, and it didn't matter.
• 34:52: Arizona's time of possession, built on those two second-half marathons.
• 66: Combined margin of Arizona's four straight losses coming in, per the AP.
• 16: McVay's wins in 19 meetings with Arizona before Sunday, per the AP.
• 2: Per the Cardinals, citing Next Gen Stats, Arizona has now won a road game without a touchdown just twice in franchise history. The other was a 12-6 win at St. Louis in 2014.

SoFi: Arizona's Happy Place, the Rams' Haunted House

Arizona is 2-4, and both wins came at SoFi, the first over the Chargers in Week 1. A road stadium as the NFL's strangest home-field advantage is a very 2026 Cardinals plot twist. Per the team, it was also their first NFC West win since the 2024 season.

"These guys are a resilient group," LaFleur said. "We're learning how to play 60 minutes, and we hadn't done that yet."

The Rams are the louder story, and not in a fun way. The preseason Super Bowl favorites, as the AP described them, are 2-4 with three losses in their last four games, and this one came at home against a rebuilding team. Davante Adams also hobbled off favoring his left knee late, and McVay offered no postgame update.

"There were some gutsy individual efforts that I am appreciative of, but collectively, even if we had come away with the result, it's not good enough," McVay said. "We've got to figure it out, and it starts with me."

Stafford threw for 222 yards and two touchdowns on 25-of-33 passing, and Nacua had six catches for 80 yards, half of them on the final drive. Arizona hosts Denver next Sunday, while the Rams head to Las Vegas.

If You're Going to Kick It

The Cardinals' red zone offense still needs serious work, and LaFleur knows it. But on a day when Arizona's touchdown total matched its sack total allowed, a big fat zero, the coach had the perfect summary for an afternoon built entirely on one right leg.

"If you're going to kick it, you might as well make it," LaFleur said.

Six times, as it turns out. Somewhere, every fantasy manager who started Ryland is still screaming.

Stats from the official box score and play-by-play via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press and AZCardinals.com.