Arizona Cardinals Come Up Short in Loss to St. Louis Rams
Sep 8, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald (11) catches a touchdown pass as St. Louis Rams cornerback Cortland Finnegan (31) attempts to defend during the second half at Edward Jones Dome. The Rams defeated the Cardinals 27-24. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports
It was a tough, physical, and emotional game in St. Louis. Unfortunately the Arizona Cardinals came up short 27-24. You couldn’t have asked for a better game, lots of momentum swings and passion.
The offense played really well, Carson Palmer threw for 327 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. All three wide receivers had great days, Larry Fitzgerald finished with two touchdowns and 80 yards receiving while Michael Floyd had four catches for 82 yards. One of those catches was a spectacular one-handed grab with the defender draped all over him. Andre Roberts finished with a not to shabby eight receptions for 97 yards. Roberts was the favorite target on third down coming up with some huge grabs. Fans have to be ecstatic with the offense’s showing today.
Levi Brown played horribly giving up three sacks, two of which caused fumbles. One of those fumbles was crucial with the Cardinals having the lead and being in Rams’ territory it gave the Rams terrific field position which led to them ultimately tying the game with a Greg Zuerlein field goal. Everyone else did their job on the line holding up and opening lanes for the running backs. Rashard Mendenhall ran well not great, but well enough for the Rams to respect the running game. He finished the game with 16 carries and 60 yards. Alfonso Smith had 10 carries for 26 yards, so overall the Cardinals ran the ball 26 times for 86 yards which is okay, but still lots of room for improvement.
Tyrann Mathieu had a great debut forcing a fumble on a play that looked like it was going to go for an easy six points. His final stat line was seven tackles and a forced fumble quite a day. The defense didn’t look very strong today and were eaten alive by Jared Cook and Sam Bradford. Cook the tight end finished with an 141 yards and two touchdowns. The Cardinals’ defense did force two fumbles and had a pick six but just didn’t have an answer for Cook. They came up big holding the Rams to two field goals after the offense had turned the ball over.
Javier Arenas had a day to forget making two terrible decisions to take the ball out of the end zone setting up terrible field position for the offense. The Cardinals have a lot to fix on the defensive side of the ball, and with Calvin Johnson and Reggie Bush coming to town next week they better do it fast.