The Los Angeles Rams went into the season as the preseason Super Bowl favorites. They are now 2-4 after an unnecessary roughness flag on cornerback Josh Wallace set up Chad Ryland’s 43-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Arizona Cardinals an 18-16 win at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.

But the flag itself is what people are talking about. It came on Arizona’s first snap after Matthew Stafford’s late touchdown pass and the extra point that followed had given Los Angeles its first lead since the second quarter.

The Flag That Put the Arizona Cardinals in Field Goal Range

The Rams, who rank 14th on PFN’s Offense Impact Metric, trailed 15-9 when they took over at their own 14 with 2:48 left. Stafford hit Puka Nacua for gains of 16 and 43 yards on an eight-play, 86-yard drive and finished it with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson with 47 seconds remaining.

Punter Ethan Evans added the go-ahead extra point. He was kicking because Blake Grupe hurt his knee making a tackle early in the game.

Arizona started at its own 35 after a touchback. On the first play, Jacoby Brissett found Jalen Brooks for 21 yards across midfield. Brooks had dropped a potential first-down pass a few minutes earlier.

As he came down from his leap, his helmet made contact with Wallace’s shoulder pad while Wallace, playing zone coverage, leaned in for the hit. The 15-yard penalty moved the ball to the Los Angeles 29 with 41 seconds left. After three runs, Ryland made his sixth field goal in six tries, which gave him all 18 of Arizona’s points.

On Fox’s broadcast, analyst Greg Olsen repeatedly disagreed with the flag, saying, “It looked, to me, like Brooks is just landing on Wallace’s right shoulder.” Rules analyst Mike Pereira said there was contact on the play but questioned whether it was forcible enough, and concluded, “For me, that’s one I do not think needs to be called.”

Fans See a Pattern Beyond Sunday

NFL analyst Jon Ledyard gave a blunt verdict on it, and fans took aim at the league’s officiating as a whole.

Ledyard wrote, “Changed the game. Embarrassing for the league.”

Several fans aimed their frustration at past Sunday’s crew and at the league itself. One fan wrote, “The NFL has an officiating problem and it’s quickly becoming a liability.”

Another fan wrote, “It’s EVERY – SINGLE – WEEK. It’s funny at this point.”

The Rams have been through this before this season, and with the same player. Against the Denver Broncos on Sept. 27, a pass interference call on Wallace wiped out a potential interception with 1:09 left and Los Angeles up 26-23.

Denver scored a touchdown six plays later and won 30-26. On Sept. 30, Rams head coach Sean McVay said the league had told him Wallace should not have been flagged.

Another fan focused on when Sunday’s flag came, writing, “Yet another close game and yet another BS call at the end.”

Others went after the officials directly. One fan wrote, “If someone doesn’t lose their job over that there’s a huge problem. That was one of the worst officiating calls I’ve ever seen in sports.”

Another fan went a step further, writing, “Rigged and yet again no one will face consequences.”

And another fan looked at the whole season, writing, “I think I’m done watching the NFL. The referees this year has made the product unwatchable.”

The Los Angeles Rams’ Own Errors and What Comes Next

Not everyone put the loss on the officials alone. OutKick’s Dan Zaksheske pointed out that the Rams jumped offside on the Brooks play itself, which gave Brissett a free play to throw downfield. He also noted that the completion came against a defense protecting a late lead against a team with no timeouts left.

The offense struggled before that final drive, too. It scored nine points in the first 59 minutes, and Arizona sacked Stafford three times. He finished 25 of 33 for 222 yards and two touchdowns.

The Rams’ defense held the Cardinals without a touchdown on five trips to the red zone, and McVay said afterward that it did enough to keep Los Angeles in the game. He also laid out the task ahead, saying that “we have to be able to not beat ourselves before we figure out how to even come away with some of the results.”

Fox Sports called the result the biggest upset of the season, with Arizona a 12.5-point underdog. It was the Cardinals’ first win over an NFC West opponent since the 2024 season, and it lifted them to 2-4 as well.

The Rams play at the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 25, and the Cardinals host the Broncos the same day. The two teams meet again in Glendale on Nov. 15.