Friday 12 December 2014 07:06, UK
The Arizona Cardinals tied the franchise mark for wins in a season after a gritty 12-6 victory over the St Louis Rams on Thursday.
The Cardinals won a defensive contest in a game devoid of touchdowns to improve to 11-3 this term.
They consolidated their lead in the NFC West ahead of defending Super Bowl champions Seattle (9-4) and all but secured at least a wild-card playoff spot with two regular season games left. The loss eliminated the Rams (6-8) from playoff contention.
But it was not all good news for Arizona, who lost quarterback Drew Stanton to a knee injury when he was sacked in the third quarter, replaced by third-string Ryan Lindley.
Arizona's first-choice quarterback Carson Palmer had also suffered a season-ending knee injury in November.
Stanton completed 12-of-20 passes for 109 yards before departing and there was no immediate word on the seriousness of his injury.
After holding their opponents scoreless the past two weeks, the Rams again played strong defence, giving up just four field goals, but on this occasion their offense did not do enough.
"That's one of the best wins I've ever been a part of," Arizona coach Bruce Arians said after the first NFL game without a touchdown in two years.
"Our defense was outstanding. Everybody wanted to talk all that stuff about how great their defense is. I think they saw a good defense tonight. It was in red-and-white. I thought our defensive line whipped their offensive line pretty solid.
"I'm very, very proud of our guys. It was a great team victory. I love it when nobody says you've got a chance to win. There's an 11-3 team and a team that's always 8-and-8. You figure it out."
