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Cards VS Rams could be brutal-----
Sunday's game against the Rams in Glendale could become a very brutal battle that will be decided in the trenches. I say that for a couple of reasons.
First, the Rams have diligently worked to build a defensive front seven that is young, extremely talented, and now is beginning to believe in themselves. As if to punctuate that last point, they used a game-ending goal line stand to not only stop the 'Niners Sunday, but they forced a fumble and recovered for the win with no time left on the clock.
If the previous paragraph was not warning enough that this upcoming game might be seriously tough, a young and talented Dallas defensive front exposed the weakness in our interior offensive line, and exploited it pretty darned well last Sunday. Seeing that, (and knowing that the Rams defense sacked Kaepernic 7 or 8 times last week), one can easily wonder if the Cardinals can keep a much less mobile Carson Palmer up-right and healthy this weekend.
This seems to point to an offense consisting of short, quick passes, which will only subject Palmer to more targets for the Rams defensive front. Barring that, is a game of screens and draws, which is not something that we have thus far shown a real proficiency for; or a more greater reliance on the run, which not only would result in a brutal war in the trenches, but could pile further injury on top of an already hurting Ellington.
In any event, the coaching staff will be challenged this week to find ways to keep from turning the ball over to the Rams ferocious defense. The results could be brutal, and costly for the Cards. The Cardinals coaching staff, and their offensive line will more than earn their pay this week I fear.
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I can't imagine anyone is thinking this game will be easy. The Rams absolutely destroyed our offensive line last year in the first game.
To think they added Aaron Donald to a D-line that has Robert Quinn and Chris Long already on it, is downright scary. They have played better in recent weeks, and have already won games against SF and Seattle.
The screen pass has worked well for us and I would like to see Arians and Company make these D-Lineman run. Plenty of screens to WRs, Ellington, and maybe throw Grice one or two
. If our defense does the job and can force quick 3 and outs, I think our offense can wear down the Rams' D.
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Maybe I'm wrong but I will say what I said in RMFN's post. I think we win by at least 2 touchdowns. Yes the Rams have a decent defense but this isn't Levi's stadium where half the crowd goes home at halftime to get out of the sun. Also, the 9ers are a very sad sack team right now and the Hawks weren't exactly setting the world on fire when the Rams beat them at home.
The Rams' have a terrific, young d-line but they got eight sacks on a team that is playing with no heart and a coach that's just mailing it in. They did little to adjust to the Rams' pass rush and just looked like crap. I'll be back to eat crow if I'm wrong, but I just don't see it happening. This is the game that the Rams come back to Earth and the Cardinals put the hammer down on a much lesser team.
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Don't think you're giving them enough credit Redneck. I'm not worried about winning so much as keeping Palmer alive. We could probably win this game with Stanton.
But the Rams have a ferocious pass rush and we have two bad guards, which happens to be where they attack from. Their stunts are going to work our guards hard all day.
One lucky hit on Palmer and our season is finished, whether we win this game or not--and we probably win in most scenarios.
Frankly, I don't trust either guard to keep Palmer healthy. But I do trust BA enough to pray we run a lot, use whatever screens we have, and get the ball out of Palmer's hands quick. I don't even want to see any deep stuff. Palmer getting laid out isn't worth their sorry team.
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Question ????
If Kap doesn't fumble that ball at the 1foot line , how much hand wringing would there be right now??????
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Confused about the question.
I think SF sucks frankly. Defensively they're good. People keep saying when they get players back they're fine, but their problem isn't on defense, it's on offense. With all the weapons they have they suck bad. They have multiple weapons on offense, more than we do. They have a really bad offensive line though. It's bad. Kaep can spin a ball, but their OL sucks major ass.
However if you mean hand wringing over the Rams, from our perspective, I'm still stressing even if they lose that game. They sacked that mofo 8 times dude. And he's a lot more mobile than Palmer back there. They beat him up, I saw the game, he took a beating, and when he wasn't sacked he was harassed and stressed. If Palmer has to endure that he will either get hurt or throw INTs, there's no question in my mind. I just trust BA to get him out of it.
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Don't get me wrong, I don't trust our guards either and yes, I've seen their pass rush as well. It's as good as it gets. But BA is a pretty creative guy and I trust he's going to be game planning like a mofo (that's good football lingo, huh?) to offset it a bit. Like you, I hope we run a lot and utilize the screen. We will still take our shots down field, however, (BA can't help himself) and we'll have some success.
On the other hand, the Rams offense isn't very good and their D will be on the field a lot on Sunday. As Cardinal fans, we know what that can do to a defense.
I'm no coach, but I trust ours and nothing that I've seen so far out of him tells me they will be playing scared. Again, I may be wrong, but I think the Cards come out of this one flying high.
Like you said though, it only takes one lucky hit. Of course, you can say that about any game. We shall see. Palmer's proven pretty tough so far.
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Half of their sack total came from 1 game.. before that they were as inept at getting to the QB as we are.
Amazing, after one good game they are suddenly the second coming of the steel curtain.
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I think we're more talented than the Rams in most every position group, but their D Line is formidable. Unless our crack squad of Larsen, Sendlein, and Fanaika crumble under the pressure, we should be okay. Then again....
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All games in our division are physical. That's a given. Doesn't matter who is playing who.
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The strength of the Rams D is the outside rush. We will match up well with our tackles. I hope Cooper comes back this game because he has the feet to match up well against both stunts and their inside rush. Play calling will be huge in this game. We can't let the Rams D be able to just tee off on Palmer. I believe we win this game because we have better coaching.
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Seven other teams only allowed them to get to their QB less than once a game. The fumble at the end of the game really wasn't caused by the Ram defense. If you watch the snap there was a poor exchange between Kap and his center. He never really quite got a good grip on the ball which was the real cause of the fumble. It actually rolled up his center's back a bit before he got his hands on it. The Rams had nothing to do with it other than recovering it.
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ANY NFL team should ALWAYS be EXTREMELY wary of ANY division football game just because of the familiarity and the out-sized impact it has on the playoff picture.
This is universal.
Having said that it's not about the Rams it's about the Cardinals, show up and they will be fine, get some kind of idea in their head they are all that and bad things ALWAYS happen.
Stay hungry.
