Arizona Cardinals vs St. Louis Rams: Preview, prediction
The Arizona Cardinals, in what could be their last visit, travel to St. Louis to take on the Rams and hopefully avenge their loss in Week 4.
The Arizona Cardinals are travelling east to take on the St. Louis Rams. The Rams (4-7) are coming off a blowout loss to the AFC North leading Cincinnati Bengals, 31-7. The Arizona Cardinals (8-2) survived on the road against NFC West foe San Francisco 49ers team, 19-13.
History: The Cardinals and the Rams have faced each other 76 times in the regular season, with the Cardinals playing 28 of these games as the St. Louis Cardinals and 13 of these as the Chicago Cardinals. The Arizona Cardinals have an all time 36-38-2 record against the St. Louis Rams. The latest win against the Rams came in Week 15 of last season. The Arizona Cardinals won by a score of 12-6 in a game where back up quarterback Drew Stanton injured is knee which ended his 2014 season. The Arizona Cardinals also lost earlier this season, at home, to the Rams 24-22, in a game where the offense failed to capitalize in the red zone on 5 separate occasions.
What: Arizona Cardinals at St. Louis Rams
Where: Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis, MO
When: 11:00 AM Arizona Time (1:00 PM EST)
TV: Fox
Radio: Arizona Sports 98.7 FM
Keys to victory:
While Carson Palmer last week didn’t exactly light up the 49ers defense as we all expected him to, he still managed to lead the team to victory. Palmer finished the day 24-40 for 271 yards and 1 rushing touchdown. Don’t expect that to happen this week. I’m sure Palmer remembers the last game against the Rams where he led the offense to 5 trips to the red zone and came away with 0 touchdowns and 5 field goals. With the exceptions of last week, the offense has been clicking for the past few weeks and should get back to being able to move the ball consistently down the field.
For the most part, the offensive line has done a good job protecting Palmer as they only surrendered one sack last week. There could have been more sacks if Palmer wasn’t quick to get rid of the ball. Early this week Bruce Arians announced that Ted Larsen would remain the starter over Johnathan Cooper as he has been playing better. The offensive line will have a tough job this week protecting Palmer from a formidable Rams pass rush.
Receivers John Brown and Michael Floyd are both still nursing hamstring injuries. At the nd of Friday’s practive John Brown was listed as “probable” to play and Michael Floyd was listed as “questionable.” While Floyd’s availability will most likely be a game time decision, the Cardinals should still be able to drive the ball down the field with the rest of the receiving corp. In the last game against the Rams, many of the receivers had productive games. Larry Fitzgerald caught 7 passes for 99 yards, John Brown 75 yards on 7 catches and Michael Floyd finished the day with 59 yards on 5 passes. If the receivers are able to get to the end zone this time around the Cardinals should be able to leave St. Louis with a win.