Marvin Harrison Jr. catches first 2 NFL touchdowns and Cardinals roll past Rams 41-10
Kyler Murray threw for 266 yards and three touchdowns, rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. caught his first two NFL touchdown passes and the Arizona Cardinals rolled past the Los Angeles Rams 41-10 on Sunday.
The Cardinals' offense — highlighted by the Murray-to-Harrison combo — dazzled on the way to a 24-3 halftime lead.
Murray found Harrison for a 23-yard touchdown on the first drive, a 60-yard touchdown on the second drive and then somehow evaded three Rams defenders before hitting tight end Elijah Higgins on an 18-yard touchdown on the third drive for a 21-0 advantage.
Arizona (1-1) snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Rams (0-2) at State Farm Stadium, and won for just the third time in 16 tries in the NFC West rivalry.
James Conner ran for a five-yard score on the first drive of the third quarter, high-stepping into the end zone for a 31-3 lead. Conner finished with 122 yards rushing and the 29-year-old passed 5,000 yards on the ground for his career. Harrison had 130 yards receiving.
Dennis Gardeck had a pair of sacks. Matt Prater booted two field goals, including one from 57 yards that made it 34-3.
While Arizona's offense was thriving, Los Angeles was sputtering. Matthew Stafford was sacked three times in the first half and the Rams couldn't find the end zone. On the final play of the second quarter, coach Sean McVay elected to go for a touchdown from the 4-yard line instead of kicking a field goal, but Stafford's pass sailed well over Tyler Johnson's head and out the back of the end zone.
To make matters worse, star receiver Cooper Kupp left in the second quarter with an ankle injury and didn't return. The Rams have had a rough run of injuries through the first two weeks, putting three key players on injured reserve this week.
Stafford finished 19 of 27 passing for 216 yards.
Harrison's first NFL touchdown catch wasn't easy. The rookie receiver made a tough snag in the back of the end zone, getting both feet down and hanging on to the football as he fell to the ground.
The rookie — who was the No. 4 overall pick out of Ohio State — was back at it again on the next drive. Murray rolled out to his right before hitting the wide open receiver and the Cardinals had a 14-0 lead barely six minutes into the game. Harrison became just the 13th receiver since 1991 to have at least 130 yards receiving in the first quarter.
Harrison was much more productive than in his debut last week, when he caught just one pass for 4 yards in a loss to the Bills.
The Cardinals went up 21-0 early in the second quarter after Murray made three defenders miss, weaving through traffic before firing to Higgins, who was streaking across the back of the end zone and made a sliding catch.
Rams: S John Johnson III (shoulder) left the game in the second half.
Rams: Host the San Francisco 49ers next Sunday.
Cardinals: Host the Detroit Lions next Sunday.