Arizona Cardinals hammered at home by Los Angeles Rams and RB Kyren Williams

Three factors that contributed to a dud of a Week 12 game for the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday were a defensive performance that was far from that of last week's valiant effort in Houston, a judgment call by the Cardinals coaching staff on a fourth down in the second quarter that backfired in a big way and Los Angeles Rams running back Kyren Williams slicing through the Cardinals defense like a knife through warm butter, repeating his performance against them in Week 6.

Those things contributed to a 37-14 loss to the Rams at a silent State Farm Stadium, the eighth loss in the past nine games for the Cardinals. A week after their defense forced potential NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud into throwing three interceptions, Arizona's defense couldn't stop Williams with any consistency. And Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford picked apart the secondary, often with plenty of time to throw and when not in need of time, getting the ball out quickly.

Williams finished with two touchdowns, 143 rushing yards on just 16 carries and 61 receiving yards, out-performing even the production from his 158 rushing yards against the Cardinals the first time the two teams played this season. One of his runs went for 56 yards and set up a field goal in the third quarter.

There were also four penalties at inopportune times for the Cardinals' offensive line, but that is another story.

The Cardinals trailed 14-8 in the second quarter and faced a fourth-and-2 from their own 48-yard line. A decision to punt would have forced the Rams to go a much further distance with under two minutes to play to get a score, but the Cardinals decided to go for the first down.

Last week, the Cardinals didn't execute two crucial fourth downs against Houston. Head coach Jonathan Gannon cited the desire to win the game with those calls in the fourth quarter.

But Sunday's big missed fourth down came with an entire half to play, Kyler Murray's pass for tight end Trey McBride incomplete for a turnover. Then the Rams marched down the field in 57 seconds, scoring a touchdown in four plays when Stafford dumped a screen pass to Williams who took it 15 yards for the score.

The Cardinals trailed 21-8 at halftime, a 56-yard Matt Prater field goal negated by a holding penalty on tight end Geoff Swaim as the first-half clock expired.

That came after the defense got its only turnover, safety Jalen Thompson's second interception in as many games.

The Cardinals haven't been completely dominated by opponents often in their 2-10 season. On Sunday, however, they were. Los Angeles racked up 457 yards of total offense, the Rams' rushing attack racking up 228 yards and a 6.9 yards-per-carry average.

Stafford threw four touchdown passes as part of his 25-for-33, 229-yard afternoon.