Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
* Hard to imagine the defense playing this poorly---worst game by them in a long time. Still can't believe, however, that neither of the two Ram fumbles resulted in turnovers on the 5 yard line.
* Interesting that the Rams' defense, which could put pressure on Palmer with a 4 man rush, threw blitz after blitz at Palmer. I thought I was watching a Todd Bowles defense against us.
* Clearly the offense looked intimidated by the Rams' defense and so did BA whose third down and short calls were consistently questionable, as were some second half decisions to just kick the FGs. I think BA is going to rethink his choices in this game.
* Still can't believe Carson Palmer threw 3 bad passes after the 2 minute warning---been so used to his accuracy. But---this is what relentless pressure can do, as we saw when Bowles was our DC.
* I think it was a mistake to start Iupati in this game and thought so at the time because his weakness in pass pro isn't his man head on it's on being quick enough to switch on twists and inside blitzes and Laurinaitus ate him up.
* Still can't believe Larsen was made inactive. He should have been in there at the end when we need the best pass pro possible.
* Team MVP was Chandler Catanzaro---not only for his 5/5 FGs, but for making tackles on kickoffs, which remain another weakness, kick coverage.
* Still think there are better options on key third downs than passing to Jermaine Gresham. I hope I am proved wrong. But that play still bothers me the most. David Johnson missing the TD catch, I can attribute to inexperience and that the pass came out quicker than he expected. But the Gresham drop was at a time when the Cardinals could have taken the lead and control of the game. Was really surprised, to see BA concede that field position on 4th and 2 and go for the FG.
* I still maintain that for the Cardinals in 2012 draft, Tavon Austin, would have been better pick than G Jonathan Cooper. Yes, we have a good speed WR in John Brown, but Austin is so versatile and electric and imagine if we had them both. If BA had had Austin the last three years he would be a Pro Bowler by now.
* Still worried about the Cardinals lack of speed at LB all across the board. I would like to see Steve Keim make a trade---
* But two things stand out to me at this point: one is that Carson Palmer can't keep getting hit like this or he is not going to last 16 games and two is that without edge pressure, QBs like Nick Foles can stand in the pocket and deliver even off double clutches.
* It should be interesting to see how the Cardinals respond this week. I think we will learn a lot. It sure looked like the team lost complete focus at the end of this game.
* Good performances from Fitzgerald (despite the fumble), Floyd, Chris Johnson, John Brown, Frostee Rucker, Calais Campbell, Patrick Peterson and Carson Palmer (save the late throwback bomb INT to John Brown, which is a throw that has to be made early, otherwise Brown will slow down and let the defense adjust as they did, and the rushed inaccurate three throws to end the game).
* Interesting that the Rams' defense, which could put pressure on Palmer with a 4 man rush, threw blitz after blitz at Palmer. I thought I was watching a Todd Bowles defense against us.
* Clearly the offense looked intimidated by the Rams' defense and so did BA whose third down and short calls were consistently questionable, as were some second half decisions to just kick the FGs. I think BA is going to rethink his choices in this game.
* Still can't believe Carson Palmer threw 3 bad passes after the 2 minute warning---been so used to his accuracy. But---this is what relentless pressure can do, as we saw when Bowles was our DC.
* I think it was a mistake to start Iupati in this game and thought so at the time because his weakness in pass pro isn't his man head on it's on being quick enough to switch on twists and inside blitzes and Laurinaitus ate him up.
* Still can't believe Larsen was made inactive. He should have been in there at the end when we need the best pass pro possible.
* Team MVP was Chandler Catanzaro---not only for his 5/5 FGs, but for making tackles on kickoffs, which remain another weakness, kick coverage.
* Still think there are better options on key third downs than passing to Jermaine Gresham. I hope I am proved wrong. But that play still bothers me the most. David Johnson missing the TD catch, I can attribute to inexperience and that the pass came out quicker than he expected. But the Gresham drop was at a time when the Cardinals could have taken the lead and control of the game. Was really surprised, to see BA concede that field position on 4th and 2 and go for the FG.
* I still maintain that for the Cardinals in 2012 draft, Tavon Austin, would have been better pick than G Jonathan Cooper. Yes, we have a good speed WR in John Brown, but Austin is so versatile and electric and imagine if we had them both. If BA had had Austin the last three years he would be a Pro Bowler by now.
* Still worried about the Cardinals lack of speed at LB all across the board. I would like to see Steve Keim make a trade---
* But two things stand out to me at this point: one is that Carson Palmer can't keep getting hit like this or he is not going to last 16 games and two is that without edge pressure, QBs like Nick Foles can stand in the pocket and deliver even off double clutches.
* It should be interesting to see how the Cardinals respond this week. I think we will learn a lot. It sure looked like the team lost complete focus at the end of this game.
* Good performances from Fitzgerald (despite the fumble), Floyd, Chris Johnson, John Brown, Frostee Rucker, Calais Campbell, Patrick Peterson and Carson Palmer (save the late throwback bomb INT to John Brown, which is a throw that has to be made early, otherwise Brown will slow down and let the defense adjust as they did, and the rushed inaccurate three throws to end the game).
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