The Arizona Cardinals earned a massive upset victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 6, making waves through the NFL landscape and giving Mike LaFleur's side their second win of the regular season.
The dust is still settling on Sunday's action at SoFi Stadium — here's our winners and losers:
Winner: Nick Rallis
Talk about a job-saving performance.
Rallis' unit entered this week as one of the worst in the league and faced a matchup against a highly potent Rams offense. If things had gone south for Arizona's defense yet again after giving up four straight of 30+ points, the Cardinals very well could have fired Rallis after this week and it would have been justified.
Yet that wasn't the case. Rallis called an incredible game, dialing up pressure and limiting the Rams to just 16 points at SoFi Stadium. Arizona stopped Los Angeles on fourth down twice and forced a turnover on Sunday.
The Cardinals got the upset win, though Arizona almost more importantly showed signs of life on Sunday.
If they can perform like this on a more consistent basis, Arizona will be the sneaky team many had hoped for.
Loser: Mike LaFleur's Red Zone Offense
The Cardinals continue to do the tough things consistently with piecing together sustainable drives between the 20-yard lines. However, Arizona's red zone struggles have been well documented this season, and their trip to SoFi Stadium didn't produce any better results.
LaFleur ultimately settled for all field goals on the afternoon, marking the first time since 2017 where the Cardinals won a game without scoring a touchdown. Arizona went into the red zone a whopping five times with no touchdowns.
That was good enough this week, though there's clearly larger issues at hand. The Cardinals nearly lost as a result of their inability to punch it in for six if not for a game-saving drive at the end of action.
It's better to learn from wins as opposed to losses, though Arizona's biggest problem on the offensive side of the ball nearly cost them.
Winner: Chad Ryland
Ryland's job security has been quietly discussed this season, especially after missing two kicks earlier in the team's schedule to compound chatter from training camp/preseason.
However, when the game was on the line and the Cardinals' field goal unit being rushed to the field with no timeouts, Ryland buried home a 43-yard game-winning field goal to seal the biggest upset of Week 6.
Knocking home game-winning kicks is something Ryland's done on multiple occasions previously, though the overall consistency of the Cardinals' kicker has been questioned over the last calendar year.
It was good to see Ryland come through when the Cardinals needed him most — not only on the final drive, but also scoring every single point for Arizona on six different field goals.
Loser: Carson Beck
There's plenty of Cardinals fans who are itching to see Beck take the field, and after spending a third-round pick on the quarterback, perhaps rightfully so. With that said, Beck has an uphill climb to reaching the field with two veterans in Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew ahead of him.
Beck was inactive yet again, only serving as an emergency third quarterback while the FOX broadcast mentioned a conversation with LaFleur where the head coach said the Cardinals wanted to see Beck "at the right time."
That time, especially after an upset win over Los Angeles, now feels delayed.
Our previous prediction of Week 12 for Beck's first action looks more and more realistic, as the Cardinals' rookie needed losses to pile — quickly — to make starting sooner rather than later a realistic possibility.
Brissett by no means played incredible, but a win in LaFleur's eyes only stretches Brissett's wiggle room before change comes at quarterback.
Winner: Budda Baker
Baker's been picked on by opposing offenses this year in coverage, though Baker probably had his best game to date in Los Angeles.
Baker notched his third sack of the season, filled in quickly on run stops numerous times and made an impressive pass break-up to prevent a Rams touchdown early in action.
There's been a lot of talk about Baker being on the downswing of his career and even emerging as a potential trade candidate, though the tenured leader of Arizona's defense and face of the franchise quickly put those talks to bed.
As long as Baker continues to roam near the front seven and can shoot into gaps to disrupt plays before they begin, he'll succeed.
Loser: Tyler Allgeier
Allgeier was expected to take a big step up with Jeremiyah Love out, though that was anything but the case.
Bam Knight outshined the heftier-paid Allgeier in nearly every way possible, gaining 80 yards on 15 carries (5.3 yards per carry) compared to Allgeier's 38 yards on 18 attempts (2.1 yards per carry). Knight looked the more explosive out of the backfield duo by a wide margin and if Love is to miss another week, it will be Knight who likely gets the lead role in carries.
Allgeier simply is better suited for short-yardage scenarios and pass protection duties whereas Knight is the more dynamic player with the ball in his hands.
Allgeier's not a massive loser, though it was a bit disappointing to see him overshadowed by another Cardinals backup running back.
Winner: Josh Sweat
Sweat just might be coming alive.
After an incredibly slow start to the season, Sweat's last few weeks have slowly but surely seen him work his way back to his old form. Tonight marked his second sack in three weeks while also pairing four tackles and two quarterback hits against the Rams.
Sweat's had plenty of noise surrounding his name to begin 2026, and rightfully so. However, today was a big step forward in getting the Cardinals' edge rusher back to the pass rush production fans were desperately hoping to see.
More Winners/Losers (But to Lesser Extents)
- Michael Wilson? Loser. Since Marvin Harrison Jr. was traded Wilson's been a background character in Arizona's offense. After the Cardinals were confident enough to deal their former first-round pick, they were hoping the recently paid Wilson would be able to help shoulder some of the load. Just four receptions on seven targets for 32 yards isn't the production Arizona is looking for.
- Jacoby Brissett? Winner. This is only by default thanks to the win. Brissett did just enough to give Arizona a chance to win but by no means was impressive. With that said, the upset victory bought Brissett more time in his current starting seat, even if it was just by one game.
- Darius Robinson? Winner. The former first-round pick is quietly piecing together a strong season and again gave the Cardinals quality play in the trenches with multiple hits on the quarterback tonight.
- Bam Knight? Winner. He took full advantage of his opportunity today and looked very much like the preseason/camp hero he was for Arizona earlier in the year. He justified the Cardinals' belief in him both then and now.
- Cody Simon/Denzel Burke? Winners. The second-year Ohio State duo on defense forced and recovered the only Arizona turnover of the day, which came in the second half and may have preserved the Cardinals' win in the moment.
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