GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals aren't going to start talking about must-win games in mid-October.
Even so, the prospect of a third straight lost season makes Monday night's matchup against the improving Los Angeles Chargers particularly important.
The Cardinals (2-4) have shown promise during coach Jonathan Gannon's second season, but still haven't won back-to-back games since 2021. Arizona's back at square one in that pursuit, coming off a 34-13 loss to Green Bay one week after beating the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers.
“We have to remain positive, because we know what we have in here,” Murray said. “It's not like we're at rock bottom. No one's given up on what we can accomplish. I've got full faith and confidence in all the guys in the locker room.”
The Cardinals have had a tough schedule and that continues on Monday with the Chargers (3-2), who have one of the NFL's best defenses.
Gannon said the Cardinals need to focus mostly on themselves.
“We need to do more collectively to win more games, so that’s (where) all our energy and focus right now is what do we control (and) how that impacts beating the Chargers on Monday night,” Gannon said. "That’s where our headspace is at.”
The Chargers are coming off a 23-16 win over the Broncos that was a step in the right direction for their offense. Now they'll get to go against a Cardinals defense that's been one of the worst in the league.
Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert wasn't taking anything for granted.
“They do a lot of great things,” Herbert said. “They’re going to play a bunch of different coverages and they find a way to to make them all work. When you turn on the tape you see a great disguise plan and a whole lot of coverages that they’re pretty sound.”
The Cardinals are banged up on the defensive line with veteran starters Justin Jones (triceps) and Bilal Nichols (stinger) out for the season. It's one reason Arizona has struggled to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
The injuries have put more pressure on others like Roy Lopez and Dante Stills. A sixth-round pick last year out of West Virginia, Stills has grown into a solid player.
“We just keep looking for consistency from him,” Gannon said. “When he does it right, he’s really, really good and that’s all of our guys. He’ll have a good week and play well.”
Now that Herbert's high ankle sprain is behind him and the offensive line is somewhat healthy, the Chargers are beginning to show signs of reaching their potential on offense.
Herbert threw for a season high 237 yards last week at Denver, but the offense remained balanced (38 passes, 37 runs). Herbert completed passes to nine players, and he could have another new target this week. DJ Chark has started practicing after being on injured reserve since the start of the season.
The Chargers have the league’s third-highest run rate at 52.4% and will be facing the NFL’s fourth-worst run defense. J.K. Dobbins is second in the AFC with 438 rushing yards and had a career-high 25 carries last week.
Jim Harbaugh was 6-0 as a coach on “Monday Night Football” during his four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers.
After briefly leaving the sideline last week due to an irregular heartbeat, Harbaugh said on Wednesday that his stress test back normal and that his heart is back in rhythm.
Before last Sunday at Denver, the last time Harbaugh had felt an irregular heartbeat on the sideline was during a Monday night game in 2012 when the 49ers took on the Chicago Bears.
Cardinals running back James Conner has been productive on Monday nights, scoring six touchdowns in six games. That includes three games with the Cardinals in which he's had 293 total yards and four touchdowns.
The 29-year-old Conner leads the Cardinals with 403 yards rushing this season.
Murray's scrambling. He is third among quarterbacks in scramble yards (150) on 16 runs.
The Chargers have already faced prolific scramblers in Justin Fields (Pittsburgh), Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City) and Bo Nix (Denver). Nix had six scrambles for 61 yards last week, with many coming in the fourth quarter after the Chargers built a 23-0 lead.
“You have to treat those type of quarterbacks like running backs. You go tackle them," Harbaugh said. “Kyler is good or better than a lot of running backs. It is something we can get better at, especially when there are free runners.”
AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy in El Segundo, California, contributed to this report.
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Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Greg Dortch (4) loses control of the ball and fumbles during the second half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Green Bay. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Los Angeles Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins (27) runs with the football during the first half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) passes against the San Francisco 49ers during the second half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to hundreds of victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades.
The settlement with 1,353 people who allege that they were abused by local Catholic priests is the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese, according to experts. The accusers were able to sue after California approved a law that opened a three-year window in 2020 for cases that exceeded the statute of limitations.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has previously paid $740 million to victims. With the settlement announced Wednesday, the total payout will be more than $1.5 billion.
Attorneys still need to get approval for the settlement from all plaintiffs to finalize it, the Plaintiffs’ Liaison Committee said.
The agreement brings to an end most sexual abuse litigation against the largest archdiocese in the United States, though a few lawsuits against the church are still pending, attorneys for the victims say.
Here are some things to know about the settlement:
Negotiations began in 2022, lead plaintiff attorney Morgan Stewart said Thursday.
Attorneys wanted their clients to get the highest settlement possible while allowing the archdiocese to survive financially, Steward said. California is one of at least 15 states that have extended the window for people to sue institutions over long-ago abuse, leading to thousands of new cases that have forced several archdioceses to declare bankruptcy, including San Francisco and Oakland.
California's law also allowed triple damages in cases where abuse resulted from a “cover-up” of previous assaults by an employee or volunteer.
“One of our goals was to avoid the bankruptcy process that has befallen so many other dioceses,” Stewart said.
The plaintiffs were abused 30, 40, or 50 years ago, Steward said.
“These survivors have suffered for decades in the aftermath of the abuse,” Stewart told the Los Angeles Times. “Dozens of the survivors have died. They are aging, and many of those with knowledge of the abuse within the church are too. It was time to get this resolved.”
The archdiocese has pledged to better protect its church members while paying hundreds of millions of dollars in various settlements.
Archbishop José H. Gomez apologized in a statement.
“My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered,” the archbishop added. “I believe that we have come to a resolution of these claims that will provide just compensation to the survivor-victims of these past abuses.”
Gomez said that the new settlement would be paid through “reserves, investments and loans, along with other archdiocesan assets and payments that will be made by religious orders and others named in the litigation.”
More than 300 priests who worked in the archdiocese in Los Angeles have been accused of sexually abusing minors over decades.
One of those priests was Michael Baker, who was convicted of child molestation in 2007 and paroled in 2011. In 2013, the archdiocese agreed to pay nearly $10 million to settle four cases alleging abuse by the now-defrocked priest.
Confidential files show that Baker met with then-Archbishop Roger Mahony in 1986 and confessed to molesting two boys over a nearly seven-year period.
Mahony removed Baker from ministry and sent him for psychological treatment, but the priest returned to ministry and was allowed to be alone with boys. The priest wasn’t removed from ministry until 2000 after serving in nine parishes.
Authorities believe that Baker molested more than 40 children during his years as a priest, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The church now enforces strict background and reporting requirements on priests and has extensive training programs for staff and volunteers to protect young people, said Gomez, who succeeded Mahony after he retired as archbishop of Los Angeles in 2011. Mahony remains a cardinal.
“Today, as a result of these reforms, new cases of sexual misconduct by priests and clergy involving minors are rare in the Archdiocese,” Gomez told the Los Angeles Times. “No one who has been found to have harmed a minor is serving in ministry at this time. And I promise: We will remain vigilant.”
As part of the new settlement, the archdiocese will disclose more of the files it kept that documented abuse by priests.
“I’m not excusing anything, but the fact remains that today the archdiocese is a much, much different place than it was 40, 50, 60 years ago,” said Kirk Dillman, an attorney representing the archdiocese. “The understanding of abuse is much different and more sophisticated than it was then. So we have put in place programs beginning in the 1990s, zero-tolerance policy.”
FILE - People attend a memorial service outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in Los Angeles Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Television news crews report the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in Los Angeles, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
