My son and I along with two of my grandkids had an experience that not many will.
We entered the stadium as soon as the gates opened. We walked to the railing in endzone. There were about 3 players lef on the field as all the other players went into the locker room to dress.
One of the players still on the field was Larry Fitzgerald. He was on the Cardinal side of the field around the 40 yd line. As he started to the locker room he walked directly toward us. He stopped about 10 ft away, pointed to my grandkids and tossed them a ball. It was an experience I'm sure they will never forget, nor will I.
A big shout out to all the guys and gals at the tailgate. What a great bunch of people. Don't worry yet gang. We are still 4-1 and tied for 1st place.
A little about the game.
Play calling is what comes to my mind first. The biggest blunder is when we had 3rd and 1 around the Rams 9 yard line. We conceded to the Rams we simply weren't tough enough to gut out a 1 yard run in an effort to get a first down. Instead an incomplete pass left us with 4th and 1 and again we refused to try and gain a yard with a running attempt. I believe Kolb was sacked on the next play and the game was virtually over.
Kolb has proven everybody wrong with his toughness. He has been sacked 17 times in the last 2 games. That is ridiculous. Not all the sacks can be blamed on the o-line. A couple of times Kolb could have gotten tid of the ball but as I pleaded to before the season , a sack is better than a turnover.
Dumb play or fatigue? Less than 2 minutes before halftime we forced the RAms to punt. PP21 had a nice return to set us up with great filed position to get some 1st half points. OFFSIDES-DEFENSE...Rekick. Then it happened again. As you all know the 3rd punt went out at the 6 and we had to scramble for our lives not to give the ball back to the Rams.
I wonder what the win loss percentage is for visiting teams on Thursday night games? I have gone to St Louis for the past 5 or 6 games and that place was NEVER so loud. I have come to the conclusion ANY game won on the road is an accomplishment. I don't care who your opponent is.
This game of football is a game of inches. A great catch by a less talented team and/or a drop/over thrown ball by a superior team can easily mean defeat. Make no mistake. The Rams beat us but I don't think they are the better team. If Kolb hits those two passes to Roberts and Fitz (I'm talking inches) this is a whole different ball game and our other trips into the red zone would have resulted (and gladly) in field goal attempts. Inches away from scoring 23 to 26 points.
It sure would be nice to see this staff adjust to our O-line short comings with chipping, some timely screen passes and dump offs to our RB's. Also would it be okay if we tried some power straight ahead running attempts? We always seem to be running laterally.
Get use to this. The Cardinals have become a better than average defense. I'll reserve the word "great" for later. Our offense is and will continue to be a work in progress that needs to minimize mistakes and come away with some kind of points when we do manage to get to the red zone...even if it means settling for field goals.
Add good special team play and this recipe will result in more wins than losses. We were not going to go 16-0. We knew we would lose somewhere along the line. Losing to the Rams hurts because we have become so use to beating them.
Is it to unbelievable to think this team can go 6-5 the rest of the way? We would end up 10-6 and probably in the playoffs. Don't stop believing yet. But don't think for one minute you will be able to kick back and relax during any of the remaining 11 games.
Sorry for the lengthy post. I couldn't bring myself to post anything until the sting of this loss faded a bit.
Oh , and if anybody knows the winning pct. of visiting teams on Thursday night games please post. It may shed some light on our defeat.
We entered the stadium as soon as the gates opened. We walked to the railing in endzone. There were about 3 players lef on the field as all the other players went into the locker room to dress.
One of the players still on the field was Larry Fitzgerald. He was on the Cardinal side of the field around the 40 yd line. As he started to the locker room he walked directly toward us. He stopped about 10 ft away, pointed to my grandkids and tossed them a ball. It was an experience I'm sure they will never forget, nor will I.
A big shout out to all the guys and gals at the tailgate. What a great bunch of people. Don't worry yet gang. We are still 4-1 and tied for 1st place.
A little about the game.
Play calling is what comes to my mind first. The biggest blunder is when we had 3rd and 1 around the Rams 9 yard line. We conceded to the Rams we simply weren't tough enough to gut out a 1 yard run in an effort to get a first down. Instead an incomplete pass left us with 4th and 1 and again we refused to try and gain a yard with a running attempt. I believe Kolb was sacked on the next play and the game was virtually over.
Kolb has proven everybody wrong with his toughness. He has been sacked 17 times in the last 2 games. That is ridiculous. Not all the sacks can be blamed on the o-line. A couple of times Kolb could have gotten tid of the ball but as I pleaded to before the season , a sack is better than a turnover.
Dumb play or fatigue? Less than 2 minutes before halftime we forced the RAms to punt. PP21 had a nice return to set us up with great filed position to get some 1st half points. OFFSIDES-DEFENSE...Rekick. Then it happened again. As you all know the 3rd punt went out at the 6 and we had to scramble for our lives not to give the ball back to the Rams.
I wonder what the win loss percentage is for visiting teams on Thursday night games? I have gone to St Louis for the past 5 or 6 games and that place was NEVER so loud. I have come to the conclusion ANY game won on the road is an accomplishment. I don't care who your opponent is.
This game of football is a game of inches. A great catch by a less talented team and/or a drop/over thrown ball by a superior team can easily mean defeat. Make no mistake. The Rams beat us but I don't think they are the better team. If Kolb hits those two passes to Roberts and Fitz (I'm talking inches) this is a whole different ball game and our other trips into the red zone would have resulted (and gladly) in field goal attempts. Inches away from scoring 23 to 26 points.
It sure would be nice to see this staff adjust to our O-line short comings with chipping, some timely screen passes and dump offs to our RB's. Also would it be okay if we tried some power straight ahead running attempts? We always seem to be running laterally.
Get use to this. The Cardinals have become a better than average defense. I'll reserve the word "great" for later. Our offense is and will continue to be a work in progress that needs to minimize mistakes and come away with some kind of points when we do manage to get to the red zone...even if it means settling for field goals.
Add good special team play and this recipe will result in more wins than losses. We were not going to go 16-0. We knew we would lose somewhere along the line. Losing to the Rams hurts because we have become so use to beating them.
Is it to unbelievable to think this team can go 6-5 the rest of the way? We would end up 10-6 and probably in the playoffs. Don't stop believing yet. But don't think for one minute you will be able to kick back and relax during any of the remaining 11 games.
Sorry for the lengthy post. I couldn't bring myself to post anything until the sting of this loss faded a bit.
Oh , and if anybody knows the winning pct. of visiting teams on Thursday night games please post. It may shed some light on our defeat.
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