Chad Ryland’s steady leg and Jacoby Brissett’s control carry Cardinals past Chargers 26-14

The game turned on Arizona’s patience

For a while, this looked like it might stay narrow all day. Jeremiyah Love opened the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run at 8:49 of the first quarter, and the Chargers answered with Omarion Hampton’s 8-yard touchdown rush at 4:22. That early exchange produced the only tie after the opening Arizona score, and from there the Cardinals started building the sort of advantage that comes less from one huge swing than from repeated nudges in the right direction.

Those nudges kept coming off Chad Ryland’s right foot. His 27-yard field goal with 6:51 left in the second quarter moved Arizona back in front, and his 44-yarder at 0:00 of the half gave the Cardinals a 13-7 edge that felt meaningful because Los Angeles had not shown much ability to string together possessions. Ryland added a 34-yarder at 7:25 of the third quarter for a 16-7 lead, the Chargers answered through Justin Herbert’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Ladd McConkey at 6:03, and that became the game’s last real opening for Los Angeles.

Arizona closed it with the cleanest sequence of the afternoon. After McConkey cut the margin to 16-14, Jacoby Brissett found Trey McBride for a 3-yard touchdown at 11:44 of the fourth quarter, restoring a two-score lead. Ryland’s 49-yard field goal with 2:33 left finished the scoring at 26-14. The Chargers had made it interesting for a moment, but Arizona never let the game become chaotic.

Brissett gave Arizona the shape of the day

The Cardinals’ quarterback line tells a lot about how this unfolded. Brissett went 27 of 37 for 277 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, and Arizona surrendered only one sack for no lost yardage. That is not just efficiency; it is control. The Cardinals ran 72 offensive plays to the Chargers’ 51, produced 23 first downs to Los Angeles’ 17 and held the ball for 37:31. When a road team owns that much of the afternoon, it usually means the quarterback kept the game on schedule.

Brissett had help all over the stat sheet. McBride was his most productive target with nine catches for 95 yards and the fourth-quarter touchdown, while Kendrick Bourne added eight receptions for 75 yards and Michael Wilson chipped in five for 56. Marvin Harrison Jr. caught only one pass, but it went for 33 yards, Arizona’s longest reception of the day. On the ground, Tyler Allgeier’s 61 yards on 17 carries and Love’s 41 yards and touchdown on 11 carries gave the Cardinals enough balance to keep moving between passing and rushing first downs.

Ryland deserves his own paragraph because Arizona’s offense was productive without always being ruthless. The Cardinals went 2-for-5 in the red zone, which left points on the table, but Ryland made sure stalled drives still counted. He finished 4-for-5 on field goals, hit from 27, 44, 34 and 49 yards, and scored 14 points by himself. Arizona did not bury the Chargers early, but it never wasted the chance to widen the gap.

Los Angeles had flashes, not enough footholds

The Chargers’ best offensive moments were good enough to keep the score respectable, but not frequent enough to bend the game. Herbert completed 17 of 27 passes for 209 yards, a touchdown and an interception. McConkey was the sharpest threat with five catches for 82 yards and the third-quarter score, and David Njoku matched him with five receptions while adding 58 yards. Yet the larger team numbers explain the frustration: Los Angeles managed 268 total yards, converted only 2 of 8 third downs and came up empty on all three fourth-down attempts.

That lack of staying power put enormous pressure on every possession, and the Chargers did not play a clean enough game for that bargain. They turned the ball over twice, losing a Hampton fumble and throwing one interception, while Arizona committed none. They also allowed three sacks for 22 yards. The Cardinals’ pressure and disruption were spread around rather than concentrated in one takeover performance: Jordan Burch and Dante Stills each had a sack, Jack Gibbens and Budda Baker split another, Andrew Wingard had the interception and Will Johnson recovered the fumble.

There were still reasons Los Angeles stayed close into the second half. Hampton’s touchdown run answered Arizona’s opening strike, and the McConkey touchdown made it a one-possession game at 16-14. The Chargers also finished with touchdowns on both of their scoring drives. But on a day when Arizona possessed the ball for more than 37 minutes, those isolated successes were not enough. The Chargers needed more drives, more conversions and fewer empty endings.

Our take: Arizona looked reliable, and both teams left clear work behind

Our take: this was a sturdy Arizona win because the profile travels well. The Cardinals protected the football, got accurate quarterback play, spread targets to McBride, Bourne and Wilson, and paired that with a meaningful possession edge. That is a strong formula. The caveat is just as plain in the numbers: eight penalties for 111 yards and a 2-for-5 day in the red zone are the kinds of leaks that can shorten a margin in a hurry. Arizona was better than the Chargers on Sunday, but it also gave away enough yardage and enough finishing chances to imagine an even cleaner version of this performance.

Our take: the Chargers’ to-do list starts with extending games on offense rather than chasing them. A team that runs only 51 plays, holds the ball for 22:29, converts 2 of 8 third downs and 0 of 3 fourth downs is asking for a very thin path to victory. The two turnovers made that path thinner. More consistent help for Herbert would matter too; Los Angeles rushed for 81 yards, with Hampton leading the backs at 43, and once Arizona kept winning possessions, the Chargers never had enough offensive volume to lean on McConkey and Njoku for long stretches. This result did not feel fluky. It felt earned by the team that controlled more of the day.

Scoring moments

1. Period 1 · 8:49

   Jeremiyah Love 5 Yd Rush (Chad Ryland Kick)

2. Period 1 · 4:22

   Omarion Hampton 8 Yd Rush (Cameron Dicker Kick)

3. Period 2 · 6:51

   Chad Ryland 27 Yd Field Goal

4. Period 2 · 0:00

   Chad Ryland 44 Yd Field Goal

5. Period 3 · 7:25

   Chad Ryland 34 Yd Field Goal

6. Period 3 · 6:03

   Ladd McConkey 8 Yd pass from Justin Herbert (Cameron Dicker Kick)

7. Period 4 · 11:44

   Trey McBride 3 Yd pass from Jacoby Brissett (Chad Ryland Kick)

8. Period 4 · 2:33

   Chad Ryland 49 Yd Field Goal