TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — James Conner isn't a guy who says much, so when the Cardinals running back opens his mouth, teammates listen.
His speech on Sunday might have helped save Arizona's season.
“I was just telling them to push all their chips in for this week — that we’re still on a mission," Conner said. “Just tell the guys don’t take anything for granted and just play good football. Push all your chips into this week, give it all you got.”
The Cardinals (3-4) responded, rallying for a 17-15 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night. Quarterback Kyler Murray ran for a 44-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter and led the game-winning drive over the final two minutes, capped by Chad Ryland's 32-yard field goal as time expired.
Conner was a big part of the win, too. He backed up his speech the night before with one of his best games of the season, running for 101 yards and catching two passes for 51 yards. One of his receptions resulted in a bruising 33-yard gain on the final drive that put the Cardinals into field goal range.
“He’s a safety valve,” Murray said. “Since I’ve been playing with James, I’ve known what type of back he is. Obviously, he’s underrated around the world in the league and how he’s viewed, but I know there’s nothing he can’t do in my eyes.”
Conner is sixth in the NFL with 504 rushing yards. The 29-year-old is coming off his first 1,000-yard season.
At 3-4, the Cardinals are still in relatively good position in the NFC West. They trail division leader Seattle by one game and are tied with San Francisco. Plus, they’re already 2-0 in the division with wins over the 49ers and Rams.
The much-maligned Cardinals defense had a gritty performance, giving up 395 total yards but keeping the Chargers out of the end zone. Los Angeles settled for five field goals.
“It means everything,” linebacker Kyzir White said. “I feel like we had a great defensive performance. It still could be a lot better but we played bend-but-don’t-break defense (Sunday night) and came out with the victory, so can’t be mad about that.”
It's fair to wonder how long the injury-plagued group can keep this up. The Cardinals learned on Tuesday that linebacker Dennis Gardeck (knee) is out of the season after getting hurt in the second half against the Chargers. He's fourth prominent defensive player who's done for the year.
For now, defensive coordinator Nick Rallis has this group competing, which might be enough to keep the Cardinals in playoff contention.
The Cardinals' offense is moving the ball but struggling to score. Arizona is averaging 18.2 points over the past five games, with a 2-3 record over that span.
Considering the Cardinals are so beat up on defense, they need the offense to improve.
It was a good day for the Cardinals' specialists, including punter Blake Gillikin and Ryland.
GIllikin had four punts that landed inside the 20-yard line. Coach Jonathan Gannon said that was a major reason Los Angeles didn't score a touchdown.
Ryland — filling in for the injured Matt Prater — has two game-winning field goals in the past three games.
Rookie WR Marvin Harrison Jr. had a quiet game in his return from a concussion. He caught three passes for 21 yards. He also dropped a pass on the final drive of the fourth quarter, but the Cardinals got bailed out after Chargers defensive back Cam Hart was flagged for unnecessary roughness.
Gardeck (knee) is out for the season with a torn ACL. ... CB Sean Murphy-Bunting (neck) left in the first half and didn't return. Gannon said he's still being evaluated. ... DL Darius Robinson (calf) could make his debut on Sunday after missing the first seven games.
12 — Murray has now led 12 game-winning drives in his career, four of those in 15 starts over the last two seasons.
The Cardinals have a short week to prepare for a cross-country trip. They play at Miami on Sunday.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon greets tight end Trey McBride (85) before an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Glendale Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin )
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) runs from Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Junior Colson (25) during a 44-yard touchdown run in the second half of an NFL football game, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Glendale Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Arizona Cardinals running back James Conner warms up before an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, in Glendale Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin )
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — President Joe Biden tore into his predecessor on Tuesday, suggesting that global leaders are terrified of what Donald Trump's return to the White House could do to democratic rule around the world.
“Every international meeting I attend,” Biden said, specifically referencing his whirlwind trip to Germany last week, “They pull me aside — one leader after the other, quietly — and say, ‘Joe, he can’t win.’ My democracy is at stake.”
His voice rising, Biden then asked if, “America walks away, who leads the world? Who? Name me a country.”
The comments came during what was supposed to be a rather staid speech on health care in New Hampshire. They were a dose of unfiltered politics at an event otherwise focused on Biden’s policy legacy with the race to replace him just two weeks from concluding. And they made clear that the president also sees not having Trump succeed him as an important piece of how he might go down in history.
After the speech, Biden went to a campaign office to support New Hampshire Democratic candidates and continued his broadsides against Trump, even saying at one point, “We’ve got to lock him up.” Some supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris — who replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in July — have yelled that during her rallies.
That line drew applause from those assembled at the campaign office, but Biden quickly corrected himself: “Lock him out, that's what we have to do."
Biden didn't mention Harris much during his comments, though he noted that she'd been endorsed by some high-profile Republicans. That includes former Rep. Liz Cheney, the GOP's onetime No. 3 in the House and daughter of ex-Vice President Dick Cheney. Instead, Biden continued to focus on Trump, slamming him for being proud about being friends with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and joking that Trump “believes in the free press like I believe I can climb Mt. Everest.”
He said Trump and supporters of his “Make America Great Again” movement have “anti-democratic” attitudes toward the way the Constitution functions and “virtually no regard” for it.
“Think about what happens if Donald Trump were to win this election," Biden said, adding, “He’s not joking about it, he’s deadly earnest” and "It’s a serious, serious problem."
“We must win," Biden said.
Biden was in New Hampshire's capital of Concord with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the last candidate he beat to win the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. They both appeared at Concord Community College to trumpet the Department of Health and Human Services finding that almost 1.5 million Medicare enrollees saved nearly $1 billion on prescription drugs during the first half of the year.
Much of those savings came as a result of a cap on out-of-pocket drug costs created by the sweeping climate and health care law that the Biden administration helped carry through Congress in 2022. It put an annual maximum of $3,500 that recipients of Medicare, the government's health insurance coverage plans for seniors, pay for their prescriptions while making recommended vaccines for older Americans, like immunization for shingles, free.
Biden said that seniors aren't the only ones benefitting from the savings: “It's also saving taxpayers billions of dollars."
Next year, the drug cost cap for Medicare recipients falls to $2,000 per year, which will save some of the sickest Americans more. But the change has come at a price for others – it’s contributed to rising drug plan premiums that the government has tried to keep down by paying insurers billions of dollars from the Medicare trust fund. Still, some insurers have raised plan prices significantly – or pulled plans from markets.
The legislation is expected to deliver major savings in other ways, though, for taxpayers and Medicare enrollees in the long term.
For the first time ever, the federal government will negotiate the price of 10 of Medicare’s costliest drugs. The negotiated list prices, announced in August, will take effect in 2026. Taxpayers spend more than $50 billion yearly on the 10 drugs, which include popular blood thinners Xarelto and Eliquis and diabetes drugs Jardiance and Januvia.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that Medicare drug pricing negotiations will save taxpayers $3.7 billion in the first year.
But his championing of lower drug prices was overshadowed by the warnings Biden offered about Trump.
“No president has ever been like this guy. He’s a genuine threat to our democracy.”
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Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Amanda Seitz and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden, center left, is escorted by Col. Paul Pawluk, Vice Commander, 89th Airlift Wing, center right, as he walks from Marine One before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
President Joe Biden, left, is escorted by Col. Paul Pawluk, Vice Commander, 89th Airlift Wing, right, as he walks from Marine One before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-N.H., speaks before President Joe Biden arrives to deliver remarks on lowering the cost of prescription drugs, at NHTI Concord Community College, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on lowering the cost of prescription drugs, at NHTI Concord Community College, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on lowering the cost of prescription drugs, at NHTI Concord Community College, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
