With Kyler Murray at the top of his game, the Cardinals proved they can be a good team

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Kyler Murray recently turned 27, but he brushed off a suggestion during preseason camp that he might be creeping toward veteran status in the NFL.

“I'm still young,” he said, grinning.

Not really. But honestly, that's a very good thing for the Arizona Cardinals.

Now in his sixth season, the former No. 1 overall pick is at the top of his game. His performance in Sunday's 41-10 win over the Los Angeles Rams was one of the best of his career. He completed 17 of 21 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns while also running for 59 yards.

He's making great decisions. He's making great throws. He's got a solid offensive line blocking for him. He's got a second-year coach in Jonathan Gannon who believes in him.

Life is pretty good these days.

“Great game," Murray said on Sunday. "Marvelous work out there. Great team effort on offense, defense and special teams. We had a great week of practice. I expect to come out here and play like this when you’ve prepared and you’ve got a great feel for it.”

Murray wasn't the only player who had a big day. Rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. caught his first two NFL touchdown passes and had 130 yards receiving. James Conner ran for 122 yards.

The Cardinals (1-1) are a work in progress, but the win was an important step against an NFC West rival that's given them loads of trouble over the past decade. The Cardinals had lost nine straight at home to the Rams.

For a franchise that endured back-to-back 4-13 seasons in 2022 and 2023, it was a positive sign.

The Cardinals' defense isn't filled with a lot of well-known names, but it cobbled together an effective performance. Arizona put pressure on Matthew Stafford with five sacks after having just 33 last season, which ranked near the bottom of the NFL. They're very good at safety with Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson and have a strong group of linebackers, led by Kyzir White and Mack Wilson.

The Murray-to-Harrison combination looks like it could be dynamite as the two touchdowns showed on Sunday. But there are still some chemistry issues to work out. All of Murray's four incompletions came on Harrison targets. Both players say they're just now beginning to understand how to best play with each other.

“We left a lot of meat on the bone,” Gannon said.

Edge rusher Dennis Gardeck had one of the best games of his career with three sacks, providing the kind of consistent pressure on an opposing quarterback that the team has sorely missed over the past year. The 30-year-old is a fan favorite in the desert, making the team in 2018 as an undrafted free agent after playing in college at Sioux Falls (South Dakota), a Division II school at the time. He worked his way up, beginning as a special teams ace before developing into a starter.

Receiver Greg Dortch had a quiet day with two catches for 11 yards, but that's mostly because Murray has so many options that someone is going to be left out each week. Baker got turned around on one of the Rams' few big gains, losing the ball in the air before recovering to make the tackle.

Gannon said the Cardinals came out of Sunday fairly healthy. Rookie DL Darius Robinson (calf) has to miss at least two more games before he's eligible to come off injured reserve.

31 — The 41-10 final score was the biggest margin of victory for the Cardinals since 2016, when they beat the Rams 44-6.

The Cardinals host another tough opponent in the Detroit Lions on Sunday. It's the second game of three straight at State Farm Stadium.

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Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride (85) celebrates the touchdown by running back James Conner during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Arizona Cardinals running back James Conner (6) celebrates in the end zone his touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray leaves the field after an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. The Arizona Cardinals won 41-10. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A fuel spill is “highly probable” after a New Zealand navy ship grounded, caught fire and sank off the coast of Samoa, the Pacific island nation's acting prime minister said late Sunday.

All 75 people on board the HMNZS Manawanui were taken to safety on life boats. The ship, one of only nine in New Zealand's navy, was the first the country has lost at sea since World War II.

Officials in Samoa are assessing the environmental impact in the area where the ship sank on Sunday morning, acting Prime Minister Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio said in a statement.

The vessel's passengers — including civilian scientists and foreign military personnel — evacuated in “challenging conditions” and darkness, New Zealand’s Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding told reporters. The vessel was about a mile from shore when it grounded on a reef and began taking on water, and it took five hours for the first survivors to reach land, he said.

One person was treated in hospital for minor injuries and has been discharged, the military said. Up to 17 others sustained lacerations, contusions, or suspected concussions. An Air Force plane carrying 72 of those on board the ship touched down at an air base in Auckland on Monday night.

New Zealand will hold a court of inquiry into the loss of the ship. The cause of the accident is not known, but Defence Minister Judith Collins told 1News on Monday that she had been told a loss of power to the vessel had led to its grounding.

The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel had been in service for New Zealand since 2019, but was 20 years old and had previously belonged to Norway, Collins said. It was surveying a reef off the coast of Upolu, Samoa’s most populous island, when it ran aground on the reef.

Photos and videos taken from the shore appeared to show the ship listing before disappearing completely below the waves, with a large plume of smoke rising where it sank. Collins said Sunday that she did not expect the vessel could be salvaged.

“This is a ship that unfortunately is pretty much gone,” she told reporters.

There was “a lot of fuel” on the ship and efforts had turned to assessing the potential environmental impact, Collins told Radio New Zealand Monday. New Zealand “would obviously have to front up” if there was a spill, she added.

The military said the ship, purchased for $100 million NZ dollars ($61 million) in 2018, was not covered by insurance.

The state of New Zealand’s aging military hardware has prompted warnings from the defense agency, which in a March report described the navy as “extremely fragile,” with ships idle due to problems retaining the staff needed to service and maintain them. Of the navy’s eight remaining ships, five are currently operational.

Golding said the HMNZS Manawanui underwent its usual maintenance before the deployment. The ship’s captain was an experienced commander who had worked on the vessel for two years, he said.

Smoke rises from the sinking HMNZS Manawanui in Upolu, Samoa, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2022. (Dave Poole via AP)

This image released by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), shows HMNZS Manawanui at the Three Kings islands off the coast New Zealand, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Petty Officer Chris Weissenborn/NZDF via AP)

In this image released by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), HMNZS Manawanui arrives in Funafuti Lagoon, Tuvalu, on Sept. 7, 2022. (PO Christopher Weissenborn/NZDF via AP)