http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/f4/rams-24-cards-22-the-good-the-bad-amp-the-ugly-226782.html
Rams-24 Cards-22: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
In a 16 game season you're going to win and you're going to lose. I can handle losing but I can't handle losing to a vastly inferior team. The Rams couldn't score more than 10 against the Redskins and were basically shutout at home against Pittsburgh but today, they didn't squander one single opportunity and we gave them a lot today. They didn't earn this win but we sure earned the loss.
The Good
Chris Johnson-83 yards on 16 carries for an average of 5.2 yards. Take away the 21 yard run he had and he still was rushing on a 4ypc clip but apparently that wasn't good enough to get the ball with only 2 yards to go.
Fitz-Another near 100 yard game but 1 play nearly spoils the entire day he had. His fumble was huge.
Floyd-Great to see him get some catches in.
Cat-Man-He was called on to keep us in the game and he did. Sadly, they didn't give him a chance to come through late in the game.
The Bad
Defense-Looked brilliant at times and down right awful at times. The end of the game allowing Gurley to run on them like that was disheartening. When we needed them to step up, they didn't and on the Rams last TD drive, after a long offensive drive by us, there was no excuse to fall apart against such a mediocre offense.
Red Zone Offense- The reason why this isn't in the ugly column is because at least we came away with points but otherwise, it was horrible. 1 TD other than the one we got and the game turns out differently.
David Johnson-2 terrible plays by him in the 1st quarter set the tone for this game. The fumble on the opening kickoff and then dropping a sure TD that would have tied the game.
Offensive Line-They've been great all year until today. 4 sacks and Palmer was hurried most of the game which caused him to make bad throws even when he had time. They even screwed up when we got a deep pass interference. An don't get me started on the ole' play at times. They need to fix this.
Final Drive Play Calling-I admit I was a little hard on BA at the end but for God's sake what stupid play calling. 2nd and 2 and driving for a potential winning score and he throws it 3 straight times. This is Andy Reid stupidity. While I'll give him the 2nd down screen that was just busted up by a lineman, the next 2 play calls are inexcusable. 2 deep throws when all we needed was 2 yards.
Get the 1st down then go deep if you want. Get into FG range then go deep all day but 2 yards is all we needed and he simply crapped the bed. Some blame Palmer but he was hurried so much today that it's no wonder he made bad throws. We have a goal line play where Shipley comes in and plays fullback and we run it up the gut.
We have a 200lb RB behind a 300lb offensive lineman. If you can't get 2 yards on the ground then I don't know what else to say. If we run twice up the gut and fail then so be it. Hell, if you're going to pass it, why not go short slants or something and not these deep outs.
Carson Palmer-Yes he had a big number day but an interception on a grossly under thrown ball that should have been a TD as Brown his both his men edged out. And, at times, he looked scared rushing his throws, especially on those misses late.
The Ugly
3 Turnovers-Can't be -3 in the turnover column and expect to win. But turnovers I can handle. The 17 points off of turnover to a garbage offense I can't. And the fumble on the kickoff set the tone.
Officiating-Let me say I am not blaming this loss on the officials. Not one iota, however, their performance really didn't do us any favors. The missed late hit calls and when they finally do throw a flag on one, they pick it up even though it was blatant but the big play was the fumble. Late in the 3rd with the Rams deep and the Cards down by 5, Foles passed to Cunningham and he is hit immediately by CC and a couple of other troops and he clearly fumbles and we recover inside the 5.
That could have been a game changing turnover especially if we score there but the officials say forward progress was stopped even though anyone with 1 working eye could see that he was still moving was one of the worst calls I've ever seen. Horrible call. What's even more horrible is that there was no whistle signifying forward progress was stopped. BS call if there ever was one.
That's all I have. I hate losing but hate it worse when we lose to
an inferior team. Completely destroys any advantage we had over Seattle and, believe it or not, puts the Rams 1 game back of us. Another win by them and another loss by us and guess what? They are in first.
And the schedule doesn't get any easier as we have the Detroit, Pittsburgh, then Baltimore, 2 of those on the road. I said that I would put this team up against any in the league and I still feel that way. Hopefully we can learn from this and move on from here. On to Detroit with them on a short week and we better come out firing next week.
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I'll add this to '
The Good' list...
Palmer's ACL remains intact!
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Didn't cost us the game. But how do you not make those calls? Blatant and everyone saw them except the ref. And picking up the flag and not making the call made it worse.
Can't stand when refs don't call a fair game.
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That INT was more luck than anything, but hey, he made the play! Jenkins is finally earning some of the accolades the announcers were giving him in his rookie year.
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Can't win them all.
Not scoring in the redzone, drops, & turnovers killed us.
Clean up the mistakes & get ready for the next game.
Hopefully we can win in St. Louis for our next matchup.
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I'm sorry... I'm seeing a lot of people convincing themselves how good we really are because of how close we came to winning and can't help but laugh.
We were at home, a sizable favorite against a team the entire board was universally mocking (for good reason considering how AWFUL the Rams looked the last two weeks)... who we beat 3 straight times and LOST. How that shows ANYTHING but this team might not be as good as we thought it was prior to today is beyond me.
The Rams were mediocre at best coming into today's game and still are... and we lost to them, AT HOME. There's nothing good about that, IMO. If this was a road game we lost in this fashion... or a game we lost by 2 to the Hawks/Pack, I'd get your comments, but that isn't what happened.
We played like crap and lost a division game at home to a
mediocre opponent. That sucks any way you cut it, especially as you head out for the next 6 of 8 on the road.
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Arians said guys blew their assignments on Gurley's long runs, which makes sense. They held him in check until the Rams got up by 9. I think guys tried to make plays on their own instead of within the scheme and the Cards paid for it.
Or, it could be that Gurley is really good. Probably a combo of the two.
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That loss will haunt the Cardinals.
It pretty much tells us that we are not an elite team as elite teams do not lose games like that.
It also confirms to me in my own opinion what I have thought for a long long time.
In my opinion and I know I am going to get a lot of crap for saying this.
the NFL is fixed.
Yeah I said it.
I believe that the NFL monkey's with games to keep them interesting. To make more money.
It plays favorites I believe and those favorites change and are based on some kind of idiotic plan that will maximize fan interest.
I believe I've seen this across a wide spectrum of teams it just simply can't be that they are that inept that fumble call where it said forward progress was stopped is just one example of many.
That call is hard to fathom and it's not like good teams would not rise above something like that or that we couldn't and shouldn't have risen above it we should have.
It does however mean that my days as an NFL fan are over.
I'm done and maybe I'm completely off base but why would I waste my time on a sport that I don't believe has any integrity?
Good question and my answer is I won't.
I really do care about the Cardinals and wish them well and I wish everyone on this board well and I hope that I am wrong because I would frankly rather be wrong than face the possibility that I'm right.
I can't ignore my eyes though and my own eyes tell me that in my opinion I'm right about this and it's just not worth my time anymore.
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In reality, CD, is while it would be easier to mock you, I find myself halfway feelings what you're saying. I'm of the belief that officials are human and being human they can and will make mistakes. However the way yesterday's game was officiated makes you wonder.
I mean some of those calls were blatant. It's like they were given marching orders to see that the Cards aren't undefeated after yesterday. Sure a lot of what we did wrong was self inflicted, the officiating certainly was head shakingly strange.
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Disappointing loss yesterday because I don't think the better team won. Tip my cap to the Rams as they took advantage of our mistakes. They needed a flawless game, and for us to cough up a few boneheaded plays. They did that.
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They may have looked mediocre, but they played a good game and beat us when it mattered. We put up a lot of yards, but their D did their job and held on key 3rd downs and in the red zone. Have to give them credit for that. Their offense was unimpressive for the most part, but capitalized on the opportunities they got. Our D is not what it was, and it sucks that I don't feel as confident in them getting the key stops you need in tight games like this as I did in previous years.
