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http://chicago.cbslocal.com/tale-of...e-tape-los-angeles-rams-at-arizona-cardinals/
Tale Of The Tape
Week 13 Tale Of The Tape: Los Angeles Rams At Arizona Cardinals
Quarterback
Rams
If there were any questions about the Rams being a legitimate team following their Week 11 loss at Minnesota, they were answered affirmatively with their victory over the streaking New Orleans Saints in Week 12. The Rams returned home and asserted themselves early with a pair of Jared Goff TD passes. Goff is throwing for an average of 257.4 yards per game with 18 TDs and five interceptions.
Cardinals
The Cardinals may be on the fast track to a ho-hum season because of injuries to Carson Palmer and David Johnson, but they pulled out a moderately impressive 27-24 victory over the Jaguars in Week 12 that featured a positive performance by Blaine Gabbert, who threw for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Gabbert performed well when the game was on the line and should be confident going forward.
Rams
The Rams have shown a combination of balance and explosiveness this season, and that has been the biggest key to their success this season. Running back Todd Gurley has bounced back from a poor year with 865 yards and eight rushing touchdowns, while Goff has an array of receiving targets including rookie Cooper Kupp and ex-Bill Sammy Watkins.
Cardinals
Head coach Bruce Arians has been forced to scramble this year due to the team’s serious injuries. Adrian Peterson is just a shell of what he was in his prime with the Vikings, but he does have some power. Ancient Larry Fitzgerald remains a first-rate target, having caught 72 passes, but his 10.8 yards per reception mark indicates his lack of speed. Jaron Brown and J.J. Nelson can both stretch the defense.
Defense
Rams
The Rams will run, hustle and hit on defense, but they are neither the thickest nor the strongest unit, and the belief is they can be pushed around by a physically dominant team. Linebackers Mark Barron and Alec Ogletree move extremely well and have combined for 153 tackles and 13 passes defense. Defensive lineman Aaron Donald has the quickness to beat his block and he leads the team with 6.0 sacks.
Cardinals
While the Cardinals are not as consistent on defense as Arians would like, they are capable of rising up and making key stops at big moments from time to time. The loss of strong safety Tyvon Branch to a knee injury clearly hurts, but inside backer Karlos Dansby is one of the game’s most reliable tacklers. Free safety Tyrann Mathieu is tough, aggressive and productive.
Special Teams
Rams
The Rams have had excellent success on special teams this year and they have a pair of fine returners in Tavon Austin and Pharoh Cooper. PK Greg Zuerlein has established himself as one of the league’s best, having made 32-of-34 FG attempts. Johnny Hekker is averaging 46.8 yards per punt.
Cardinals
The Cardinals pulled out their win over the Jags when veteran PK Phil Dawson connected on the game-winning 57-yard field goal with one second left. Outside of that, special teams have been a struggle and punt coverage has been poor.
Results
Los Angeles Rams: 4 out of 4
The maturation of the Rams continues, and beating a tough but flawed team on the road is one more test for Sean McVay, Goff and the defense.
http://www.ocregister.com/2017/11/28/meet-this-weeks-rams-opponent-arizona-cardinals-2/
Meet this week’s Rams opponent: Arizona Cardinals
By RICH HAMMOND
AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith, File
Of all the threats the Rams face this season, Arizona’s Blaine Gabbert might be the least likely.
Gabbert will start at quarterback for the Cardinals on Sunday when they face the Rams, and Gabbert, a former first-round pick turned journeyman, will look to continue his success against the Rams.
Gabbert has won his past two starts against the Rams, made even less likely by the fact that he did it with the struggling San Francisco 49ers. Gabbert beat the Rams in a meaningless 2015 season finale, then got their 2016 season started in an awful way with a 28-0 opening-week victory at Levi’s Stadium.
By the end of last season, Gabbert had lost his job to Colin Kaepernick, and then he signed with Arizona last May, presumably to be no more than a No. 3 quarterback behind Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton.
Then, Palmer suffered a broken arm (against the Rams) last month and Stanton hurt his knee. The Cardinals turned to Gabbert, who hasn’t done too poorly. In two starts this month (one win, one loss), Gabber has completed 44 of 72 attempts for 498 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions.
Arizona’s future at quarterback is in question, in large part because Palmer turns 38 next month, but Coach Bruce Arians said this week that Gabbert could be part of his long-term plans.
“I’m really proud of him,” Arians said. “These things don’t happen. I mean, you hope they don’t happen very often, when your top two guys go down. But we’re very blessed to have him and he has taken the bull by the horns and showing us, ‘I’m a player. I can play at this level and play very high.’”
WHO’S COACHING THE CARDINALS
Arians, a longtime muse of former Rams coach Jeff Fisher, probably didn’t like his introduction to new coach Sean McVay, as Arians and the Cardinals lost 33-0 in London last month.
The Cardinals looked all out of sorts against the Rams, who had played in the same stadium a year earlier and probably had an advantage in preparation. Since that humbling loss, the Cardinals have gone 2-2 but are coming off an impressive 27-24 victory over playoff-bound Jacksonville last week.
Arians has yet to lead the Cardinals to consecutive victories this season, and unless he turns things around quickly, Arizona (5-6) probably miss the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
BY THE NUMBERS
— 25: Number of yards Arizona’s defense held Jacksonville running back Leonard Fournette to last week. Fournette had totaled 455 yards in his previous four games.
— 2: Games in which the Cardinals have scored more than 24 points. They won both, against Tampa Bay (38-33) and Jacksonville (27-24).
— 42: Age of Cardinals kicker Phil Dawson, who made a 57-yard field goal as time expired last Sunday to beat the Jaguars.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Arizona cornerback Patrick Peterson is in his seventh NFL season, and he’s closing in on his seventh Pro Bowl selection. Peterson will, as always, provide an excellent test for the Rams’ defense.
Given that Robert Woods, the Rams’ top receiver, will be sidelined again because of a shoulder injury, Peterson likely will match up against Sammy Watkins, who enjoyed something of a resurgence last week against New Orleans when he caught four passes for 82 yards and a touchdown.
When the teams met six weeks ago in London, Watkins was held in check, with three catches for 42 yards, but the Rams spread the ball around among him, Woods and rookie Cooper Kupp.
They’ll probably look to do the same thing again this week and limit Peterson’s ability to make game-changing plays. Peterson entered this season with 20 interceptions in his first 96 NFL games, but he didn’t record his first interception of this season until two weeks ago against Houston.
WHAT DID HE SAY?
“It should be an embarrassment when you watch the film, the way we played.”
— Arians, on whether the Cardinals’ 33-0 loss to the Rams in London still lingers with the team.
