James Conner’s big plays saves a Cardinals win over the Chargers in ugly game

Kyler Murray couldn’t get anything going and the Arizona Cardinals’ offense was stuck. Fortunately for Arizona, James Conner came to bail his team out.

With less than two minutes left and the Cardinals trailing the Los Angeles Chargers 15-14, Conner took a short pass, turned upfield and picked up 33 yards to get the Cardinals into field-goal range. Chad Ryland hit the game-winner as time expired and Arizona escaped with a 17-15 win.

It was an ugly night for both offenses. The Chargers didn’t score a touchdown but led inside of the two-minute warning because the Cardinals weren’t any better. Justin Herbert had 349 passing yards but couldn’t find the end zone. Murray, as has been the case most of the season, didn’t produce many yards in the passing game.

But Conner, a tough-running veteran, saved his team. He had 101 yards rushing, 51 receiving and he helped the Cardinals put off any criticism of their offense due to the win.

“He’s a dog, he’s a workhorse,” Murray told ESPN after the game. “One of our leaders, one of our captains. A guy that comes to work every day, leaves it all out there for the guys. Can’t say enough about that dude, man. He’s a great teammate, great person.”

A lackluster first half

For all of the supposed star power at quarterback for the lesser of the two Monday night games there was very little excitement in the first half.

The Chargers didn’t score a touchdown. They had a good shot at one when Jalen Reagor caught a long pass from Justin Herbert, but Cardinals cornerback Starling Thomas V punched out the ball just before Reagor scored, and it was recovered by Arizona in the end zone.

The Cardinals were supposed to be a good offense this season, but that hasn’t been the case. It showed in another sluggish half to start the game, though they got a touchdown on a short catch by Greg Dortch. Kyler Murray had just 74 yards passing in the first half.

It was a dull first half between two mediocre teams going up against a better matchup, and on top of it the game was steaming only for ESPN+ subscribers. It probably wasn’t what the NFL had in mind when it was scheduled.

Kyler Murray gives Cardinals the lead

There wasn’t much more reason for people to subscribe to a streaming service as the second half started. Midway through the third quarter, the Cardinals had third-and-1, so they substituted backup quarterback Clayton Tune just to run a sneak. He was stopped on third down, then stopped again on fourth. That’s how the night was going for both teams.

Finally there was a big highlight. Early in the fourth quarter, Murray scrambled to his left, beat linebacker Junior Colson to the sideline and ran past him for a 44-yard touchdown. Murray’s passing wasn’t good on Monday night and it hasn’t been all season, but he can still use his speed to run past people. Like his other long touchdown run this season, Murray seemed to start his celebration a few yards past the line of scrimmage, knowing he was gone.

Even though the Chargers hadn’t scored a touchdown deep into the fourth quarter, the Cardinals hadn’t done enough to put them away. Los Angeles got a field goal, a stop and then started on a long drive. The Chargers picked up a big fourth down, going for it instead of trying for a go-ahead field goal, to keep the drive alive. That fourth down allowed Los Angeles to eat up most of the rest of the clock. The Chargers got a field goal with 1:54 left to take a 15-14 lead.

Arizona still had all three timeouts, but didn’t have much going on offense all game. On the second play of the drive, Marvin Harrison Jr., who has had a slow start to his rookie season, dropped a pass downfield but there was a questionable unnecessary roughness penalty on cornerback Cam Hart for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Harrison.

That set up Conner’s big play that led to the game-winning field goal. The Cardinals improved to 3-4, the Chargers fell to 3-3 and had to be wondering how they let that game slip away.