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Recap: Cardinals Trounce the Rams in LA: 44-6

Despite an injured David Johnson, the Cardinals offense and defense ended the season on a high note

Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Cardinals fans present in the Coliseum today got to see Drew Stanton finish the game for Carson Palmer but for once, it was in relief after a blowout victory, rather than subbing for injury.

The big story of the day, however, was in fact injury-related, as superstar running back David Johnson left the game early in the first quarter with a knee injury after being bent backwards by two Ram defenders.

Early results, so far, have seemed to trend positively toward Johnson not suffering a serious knee injury.

After watching the video, Johnson not tearing his ACL would be another miracle for the Cardinals.

Los Angeles was unable to stop Arizona's pass rush all day, with Arizona racking up sacks from Markus Golden, Calais Campbell, Chandler Jones and even D.J. Swearinger.

On the Rams side, there were little positives.  Six sacks on the day of Jared Goff and hardly any offensive production from their starters.  It was so bad, the Rams pulled their offense off of the field to convert a pass on 4th down and then left their punt unit on the field to attempt to run a play.

When your special teams get more yards than your offense, it's not a good day to say the least.  Young DB's Harlan Miller and Justin Bethel had interceptions as well, the latter for six.

Arizona was dominant on offense as well, with Palmer throwing for 3 touchdowns, with Larry Fitzgerald catching one of them to take the lead for receptions in the NFL with 107.  J.J. Nelson continued to showcase himself as a playmaker and Kerwynn Williams was adequate in relief of Johnson.

It wasn't all fun and games, as the special teams did let up a huge error early on in the game in blocking a Matt Wile punt, but Catanzaro hit all his field goals and they were solid throughout overall.

But the defense was the story today.  And while there will be many more stories as we enter the offseason, including Amos Jones' status, Larry Fitzgerald debating retirement, the multiple free agents and free agency and the draft, the Cardinals went out with a dominant win.

In a down season like this one, that's all their fans could have asked for.