Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
No wonder BA was fed up after the game, and he didn't even have the chance to watch NFLN's pre-game hype of the Rams wherein the pundits were juxtaposing the Cardinals' 0-11 Thursday record with the Rams' recent 76-0 two-game brilliance following home wins versus the Seahawks and Broncos.
The clincher was NFLN's National Tweet poll---with numbers turning as quickly as a slot machine and resting to a 90% national vote in favor of the Rams. Even the state of Montana showed up in blue. And get this---the announcers apprised us of the fact that the national poll on Thursday Nights was on a 10 out of 11 game winning streak.
The the actual game happened---and Ram Tough was trumped in spades by Cardinal Tough. Well, what does America know after all?
The good news/bad news right off the bat for the Cardinals' offense was that Drew Stanton was looking like he was ready to get into a groove. Alas, two fine throws on the money and catches by Jaron Brown and Larry Fitzgerald were negated by holding penalties (Larsen and Sendlein). Thus the early offense woes were on full display once again this week.
The bad news/good news for the Cardinals' defense is that the Rams got out of an early down and distance jam with a 19 yard screen pass to RB Benny Cunningham, followed by a 17 yard completion over the middle to TE Cory Harkey and very quickly the Rams were marching into the red zone, where the good news was that Calais Campbell snuffed out a third and 1 Cunningham run on the 7 yard line---and unlike Falcons' coach Mike Smith on 4th and short a couple of weeks ago, Rams HC Jeff Fisher elected to kick a field goal.
That's how the game started---and rather than continue providing a play by play---let's just talk about how the game changed from there:
* On the first play of the Ram's second possession, Frostee Rucker, who had already blown up a running play in the backfield to start the game, managed to get a paw on Trey Mason's ball hand which jarred the ball loose and Larry Foote recovered.
* After moving the chains once on 2 Stepfan Taylor 3 yard runs and a nifty 11 yard draw to Kerwynn Williams, the Cardinals settled for a Chandler Catanzaro FG (23 yards).
* The next Ram drive fizzles as a result of a Kenny Britt PI call.
* Pinned down at their own 15 yard line, the next Cardinals' drive starts with an electric 49 yard pass completion up the left side to Michael Floyd. The the Cardinals run three straight times again for a first down (Ginn Jr., Taylor, Housler) and eventually the Cardinals go up 6-3 on Catanzaro's 2nd FG from 44 yards.
* After a 10 yard Mason run, three straight Hill incompletions.
* Williams runs fot 14 yards in 3 carries, Fitz catches a 16 yard pass, but two short incompletions result in a Drew Butler punt to the Rams' 7 yard line.
* Rams drive into Cardinals' territory, but Cardinals' defense pressures Hill and causes a punt---even though on one play a sack by Alex Okafor was not called when Hill attempted to pass with a knee down.
Halftime: BA quoted as saying the first 5 minutes would set the tempo for the second half
* Rams offense: 3 and out. (Key tackles: Foote, Rucker)
* Cardinals' ST: Ted Ginn Jr. returns punt 42 yards.
* Cardinals offense: three and out. BA elects not to try a 57 yard FG and the punt is fair caught at the Rams' 11 yard line.
* Rams' offense: 3 and out. (Keys: Cromartie defends deep pass to Britt, Tommy Kelly makes a nice play to thwart short pass and Larry Foote sacks Hill to force the punt.
* Cardinals' offense: Stanton throws deep left for Floyd again, gets PI for 36 yards. Taylor gets dropped for 3 yard loss, Stanton gets sack and injured on the play, Ryan Lindley throw a 6 yard completion to Michael Floyd on 3rd and
21.
* Cardinals' ST: Catanzaro connects from 51 yards, 9-3 Cardinals.
* Rams offense: 3 and out (on 3 tackles by Kevin Minter).
* Cardinals' offense: Williams gets a 19 yard scamper. Lindley goes deep INC to John Brown...Lindley nearly gets intercepted (call reversed, TO lost for Cardinals) and Butler punts down to Rams' 19 yard line.
* Rams offense: 3 and out (sack by Rucker, tackle by Rashad Johnson, disrupted pass by Campbell).
* Cardinals offense: 12 yard run by Williams, short pass to Fitzgerald for 6, INC deep right pass to John Brown.
* Cardinals ST: Butler punt to 6 yard line corralled by LS Mike Leach.
* Rams offense: 3 and out (Jared Cook stopped one yard short by Rashad Johnson and host of others).
* Cardinals' offense: 14 yard pass (off #2 TO on 3rd and 7) from Lindley to John Brown (beautiful max protection on right side). Stepfan Taylor runs for 27 yards on 4 carries, third and 5 goes INC on short pass to Brown over the middle, slightly tipped but nearly caught.
* Cardinals' STs: 46 yard FG by Catanzaro, Cardinals 12-3.
* Rams offense: Catches by Britt (15 yds,), Bailey (38 yards), 9 yard run by Austin, reverse to Bailey for 13 yards, Dan Williams encroachment, 6 yard pass to Britt---sets up 1st and goal at 7 yard line:
1st and Goal: Tre Mason for 0 yds, tackle by Campbell.
2nd and Goal: 6 yard pass to Bailey, tackle by Jerraud Powers.
3rd and Goal (1 yard line): INC off play action, all WR, TEs, RBs covered.
Fisher elects to kick the FG---Bethel nearly blocks it---Cardinals 12-6.
* Cardinals offense: 10 yards on 2 runs by Williams, second of which he carries defenders for two yards. Next 1 yard run, Williams fumbles, recovered by Jared Veldheer. Ginn Jr. tackled on WR screen.
* Cardinals ST: Drew Butler 45 yard punt to Rams' 20 (fair catch).
* Rams offense: Catches by Britt (22 yards) and Jared Cook (10 yards), INC to Bailey, 7 yard catch by Bailey, INC open slant to Bailey, 4th and 3: Batted down INC by Jerraud Powers.
* Cardinals offense: Taylor 92 yards), Taylor (2 yards), Williams (2 yards).
* Cardinals' ST: off delay of game penalty, a hurry-up punt by Butler, tackle on the spot on Austin by Justin Bethel.
* Rams offense: 3 plays ends with Patrick Peterson INT.
Takeaways:
* Cardinals were the hungrier team.
* Cardinals won both sides of the line of scrimmage.
* Cardinals' defense has an uncanny feel for how to stop the ball short of the sticks or the goal line.
* Cardinals' STs were huge in this game (Butler and Catanzaro).
* Cardinals were able to move the ball on Rams' defense via a rejuvenated running game and some timely receptions with both Drew Stanton and Ryan Lindley at QB.
* Cardinals' offensive line had their most dominant performance of the season.
* BA's emotion--and edges he uses to motivate his football team---and the special effort the coaches put into the preparations and the in-game adjustments---all stellar.
* On a personal note: a few years back I was dreaming of a day we could call the Cardinals "Cardinal Tough." That dream is becoming a reality, for this season these Cardinals are gritty, determined and super tough. Watching them play their hearts out last night was a profound joy---I would even call it a privilege.
The clincher was NFLN's National Tweet poll---with numbers turning as quickly as a slot machine and resting to a 90% national vote in favor of the Rams. Even the state of Montana showed up in blue. And get this---the announcers apprised us of the fact that the national poll on Thursday Nights was on a 10 out of 11 game winning streak.
The the actual game happened---and Ram Tough was trumped in spades by Cardinal Tough. Well, what does America know after all?
The good news/bad news right off the bat for the Cardinals' offense was that Drew Stanton was looking like he was ready to get into a groove. Alas, two fine throws on the money and catches by Jaron Brown and Larry Fitzgerald were negated by holding penalties (Larsen and Sendlein). Thus the early offense woes were on full display once again this week.
The bad news/good news for the Cardinals' defense is that the Rams got out of an early down and distance jam with a 19 yard screen pass to RB Benny Cunningham, followed by a 17 yard completion over the middle to TE Cory Harkey and very quickly the Rams were marching into the red zone, where the good news was that Calais Campbell snuffed out a third and 1 Cunningham run on the 7 yard line---and unlike Falcons' coach Mike Smith on 4th and short a couple of weeks ago, Rams HC Jeff Fisher elected to kick a field goal.
That's how the game started---and rather than continue providing a play by play---let's just talk about how the game changed from there:
* On the first play of the Ram's second possession, Frostee Rucker, who had already blown up a running play in the backfield to start the game, managed to get a paw on Trey Mason's ball hand which jarred the ball loose and Larry Foote recovered.
* After moving the chains once on 2 Stepfan Taylor 3 yard runs and a nifty 11 yard draw to Kerwynn Williams, the Cardinals settled for a Chandler Catanzaro FG (23 yards).
* The next Ram drive fizzles as a result of a Kenny Britt PI call.
* Pinned down at their own 15 yard line, the next Cardinals' drive starts with an electric 49 yard pass completion up the left side to Michael Floyd. The the Cardinals run three straight times again for a first down (Ginn Jr., Taylor, Housler) and eventually the Cardinals go up 6-3 on Catanzaro's 2nd FG from 44 yards.
* After a 10 yard Mason run, three straight Hill incompletions.
* Williams runs fot 14 yards in 3 carries, Fitz catches a 16 yard pass, but two short incompletions result in a Drew Butler punt to the Rams' 7 yard line.
* Rams drive into Cardinals' territory, but Cardinals' defense pressures Hill and causes a punt---even though on one play a sack by Alex Okafor was not called when Hill attempted to pass with a knee down.
Halftime: BA quoted as saying the first 5 minutes would set the tempo for the second half
* Rams offense: 3 and out. (Key tackles: Foote, Rucker)
* Cardinals' ST: Ted Ginn Jr. returns punt 42 yards.
* Cardinals offense: three and out. BA elects not to try a 57 yard FG and the punt is fair caught at the Rams' 11 yard line.
* Rams' offense: 3 and out. (Keys: Cromartie defends deep pass to Britt, Tommy Kelly makes a nice play to thwart short pass and Larry Foote sacks Hill to force the punt.
* Cardinals' offense: Stanton throws deep left for Floyd again, gets PI for 36 yards. Taylor gets dropped for 3 yard loss, Stanton gets sack and injured on the play, Ryan Lindley throw a 6 yard completion to Michael Floyd on 3rd and
21.
* Cardinals' ST: Catanzaro connects from 51 yards, 9-3 Cardinals.
* Rams offense: 3 and out (on 3 tackles by Kevin Minter).
* Cardinals' offense: Williams gets a 19 yard scamper. Lindley goes deep INC to John Brown...Lindley nearly gets intercepted (call reversed, TO lost for Cardinals) and Butler punts down to Rams' 19 yard line.
* Rams offense: 3 and out (sack by Rucker, tackle by Rashad Johnson, disrupted pass by Campbell).
* Cardinals offense: 12 yard run by Williams, short pass to Fitzgerald for 6, INC deep right pass to John Brown.
* Cardinals ST: Butler punt to 6 yard line corralled by LS Mike Leach.
* Rams offense: 3 and out (Jared Cook stopped one yard short by Rashad Johnson and host of others).
* Cardinals' offense: 14 yard pass (off #2 TO on 3rd and 7) from Lindley to John Brown (beautiful max protection on right side). Stepfan Taylor runs for 27 yards on 4 carries, third and 5 goes INC on short pass to Brown over the middle, slightly tipped but nearly caught.
* Cardinals' STs: 46 yard FG by Catanzaro, Cardinals 12-3.
* Rams offense: Catches by Britt (15 yds,), Bailey (38 yards), 9 yard run by Austin, reverse to Bailey for 13 yards, Dan Williams encroachment, 6 yard pass to Britt---sets up 1st and goal at 7 yard line:
1st and Goal: Tre Mason for 0 yds, tackle by Campbell.
2nd and Goal: 6 yard pass to Bailey, tackle by Jerraud Powers.
3rd and Goal (1 yard line): INC off play action, all WR, TEs, RBs covered.
Fisher elects to kick the FG---Bethel nearly blocks it---Cardinals 12-6.
* Cardinals offense: 10 yards on 2 runs by Williams, second of which he carries defenders for two yards. Next 1 yard run, Williams fumbles, recovered by Jared Veldheer. Ginn Jr. tackled on WR screen.
* Cardinals ST: Drew Butler 45 yard punt to Rams' 20 (fair catch).
* Rams offense: Catches by Britt (22 yards) and Jared Cook (10 yards), INC to Bailey, 7 yard catch by Bailey, INC open slant to Bailey, 4th and 3: Batted down INC by Jerraud Powers.
* Cardinals offense: Taylor 92 yards), Taylor (2 yards), Williams (2 yards).
* Cardinals' ST: off delay of game penalty, a hurry-up punt by Butler, tackle on the spot on Austin by Justin Bethel.
* Rams offense: 3 plays ends with Patrick Peterson INT.
Takeaways:
* Cardinals were the hungrier team.
* Cardinals won both sides of the line of scrimmage.
* Cardinals' defense has an uncanny feel for how to stop the ball short of the sticks or the goal line.
* Cardinals' STs were huge in this game (Butler and Catanzaro).
* Cardinals were able to move the ball on Rams' defense via a rejuvenated running game and some timely receptions with both Drew Stanton and Ryan Lindley at QB.
* Cardinals' offensive line had their most dominant performance of the season.
* BA's emotion--and edges he uses to motivate his football team---and the special effort the coaches put into the preparations and the in-game adjustments---all stellar.
* On a personal note: a few years back I was dreaming of a day we could call the Cardinals "Cardinal Tough." That dream is becoming a reality, for this season these Cardinals are gritty, determined and super tough. Watching them play their hearts out last night was a profound joy---I would even call it a privilege.
