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Cardinals' offense found a second dimension with 216 rushing yards against Rams

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona Cardinals running backs Chase Edmonds and James Conner have talked with their line about the offense being more than just the high-flying, dynamo of a passing game.

In Sunday's 37-20 beat down of the Los Angeles Rams in SoFi Stadium, the Cardinals showed what their offense looks like when the passing game and running game are clicking together.

Arizona ran for 216 yards with 170 of those yards and two touchdowns belonging to the running backs, who complemented quarterback Kyler Murray's 268 passing yards and two touchdown passes.

"It's another element," center Rodney Hudson said. "When you run the ball like we did [Sunday], it makes it hard for teams to hone in on what you're doing. Being two dimensional, the run game helped the pass as well as the pass helping the run, so I think we played a good complementary game today."

Murray said Sunday's game plan was the best he's seen during his time in the NFL. Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury called the running plan designed by Sean Kugler, Arizona's run game coordinator and offensive line coach, "tremendous."

Four players ran the ball including Murray and rookie receiver Rondale Moore. Edmonds finished with 120 yards, including a career-high 54-yard run, and Conner had 50 on 18 carries.

"One thing that we focused on really this whole week was that we knew that at some point in this game, we might have to run the ball effectively and finish the game," Edmonds said. "I think we kind of came into a situation like that last week against Jacksonville and I believe Kyler ended up throwing for a first down.

"One thing that me and James and the O-line just talked about is that we got to get rid of this Air Raid kind of terminology, and really just find a way to win the game in the fourth quarter because, obviously, when you're playing tremendous opponents like the Rams, that's what you got to do. That's really playoff football. That's December football, and it's something that I think we just got to continue to work on as offense."

The Cardinals have the sixth-best running game in the league and the fourth-best passing offense. They've combined for the second-best offense overall, one that's as dynamic and diverse -- seven different players had a reception Sunday with three having 66 or 67 yards -- as any in the NFL.

And it's all helped take the early lead in the NFC West race. The Cardinals are the 13th team in the Super Bowl era to start 4-0 while scoring at least 30 points in each of the first four games. They've established themselves as one of the early teams to beat this season because of how diverse they are on offense.

"It's dangerous as far as the weapons that we have," Murray said. "Me being able to move the ball, our O-Line blocked their ass off [Sunday], the defense played well. You saw a little bit of it today. We had some flashes of some of the old stuff, many penalties and stuff like that, but for the most part we overcame."