Harrison Jr. catches first two NFL TDs, Murray shines as Cardinals roll past Rams

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray was asked about his thoughts during that spectacular play in the first half. You know, the one where he had a Houdini-like scramble to avoid trouble before figuring out a way to pick up a big gain.

Murray thought for a moment, then a little grin crossed his face.

Which one?

There were plenty of highlights to choose from in a spectacular day for the Cardinals' offense. Murray threw for 266 yards and three touchdowns, rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. caught his first two NFL touchdown passes and the Cardinals rolled past the Los Angeles Rams 41-10 on Sunday.

“He was lights out," Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said of Murray. “He's a premium player for a reason. You take him against anybody. That's how I feel and that's what he did today.”

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. Murray completed 17 of 21 passes and also ran for 59 yards.

Harrison had 130 yards receiving.

The rookie 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.

“I never lacked confidence in myself or the rest of the team," Harrison said. “I'll continue to get better each week and continue to grow.”

Dennis Gardeck had three 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.

“Disappointing day," Stafford said. “Not the way we wanted to come out here and play. No question about that. But it's not going to define us as a team or our season. We'll go back to work.”

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. McVay said postgame he wasn't sure about the extent of Kupp's injury.

Stafford finished 19 of 27 passing for 216 yards.

“There's not anything positive I can take from today,” McVay said. “Anytime something like this occurs you've got to look inward first and foremost. Didn't do nearly a good enough job. There are so many things we have to go back and look at. It was an incredibly humbling three-hour window.”

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.

“I've played for a long time — you want to get your guys the ball early so they feel like in the game," Murray said. “Get them going. Get their juices flowing. I thought we did a good job of that today.”

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.

Injuries

Rams: S John Johnson III (shoulder) left the game in the second half.

Up Next

Rams: Host the San Francisco 49ers next Sunday.

Cardinals: Host the Detroit Lions next Sunday.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL