arizona game reaction thread

[zn]

I thought it was 2 things.

Hill was off and sometimes he and his receivers were not reading the same page.

Mistakes led to AZ scores. The fumble, and 2 plays by Jenkins…the long gain and the PI. That’s 9 points right there.

[Dak]

I thought the O-line for the Cardinals did enough to open some holes for their RB and did a good job picking up the blitz.

I thought the opposite of the Rams’ O-line. Hill didn’t have a lot of time to set up and find open receivers, and I don’t know if there were a lot of open receivers. Arizona’s blueprint of hitting the QB all game and winning in the 4th quarter worked again. That bad pass to Bailey that could have gotten the Rams into Cardinals’ territory was a result of a game of pressure and hits … when he had a chance to finally burn Arizona, he threw the ball quickly and was inaccurate enough that Bailey couldn’t pull in the pass.

The defense was fine. I’ll take 12 points every time, especially when they were put in some very tough situations by the offense and had to be on the field so much. I disagree on that PI call on JJ. I thought he played that really well. I saw more contact left uncalled in many games in recent weeks.

And, when the Rams finally made some big plays and got the ball to the goal line, the Cardinals’ D came up big and the Rams’ receivers could not get open. On that 3rd down play, Arizona just owned the Rams.

Arizona was better and made more plays. Outplayed and outcoached the Rams, in my opinion.

[wv]

Felt a little like the Tampa Buc vs GSOT playoff game.
Just an uphill battle against a defense
that was kicking the Oline’s butt all over the field.

The Arizona Cardinals have more heart
and smarts, than any team in the NFL,
that I’ve watched.

Cardinals are still just a bit better
than the Rams. Just a bit.

Obviously, a close game like that is full of
“what ifs”. What if JJ holds on to the INT,
or Stedman holds on to the short pass, or JJ
recovers the fumble that he forced, or…blah
blah blah.

IF you are a Cardinal fan, how do you feel tonight?
They won the battle but lost another QB.

6-8 Ah well.

w
v

[Dak]

If I were a Cardinals’ fan, I’d be really proud of my team. Loved the way they battled.

And, I’d feel snakebit. No way this team wins in the playoffs with Lindsey.

[PA Ram]

I only saw the end of the game. I have it on DVR but probably won’t watch it. I did manage to listen on the radio at work and became increasingly frustrated with the offense.

In any case–the Rams have clearly not arrived yet.

There are holes to fill.

They need to find the QB to lead them, they need a better offensive line.

Still work to do.

And I can see another 7-9 year.

As for the Cards–they just look like a better coached team to me.

They have smart coaches.

The Rams look like a team without answers sometimes.

Still–they had their chance and a play here or there could have produced a different outcome. But the offense tonight?

Yuck.

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. " Philip K. Dick

[rfl]

We aren’t good enough on the OL. It’s that simple.

And Hill showed that he is not a genuine starting QB. Missed a lot of throws today.

That 3-3 to Bailey? Lousy throw. Yeah, Bailey might have had it. But a lousy throw.

Oh, and we reverted to our old ways defending the run. We weren’t sound up front.

Which brings us back to coaching. We got outcoached tonight. Badly.

Arians got more out of lousy QBs than we got out of a good backup. He frustrated our pass rush all night long and gained enough yards to keep winning the field position battle, the key in a defensive duel like that.

But the real revelation was Williams v that AZ guy. Both blitzed all night long. The difference is that our blitz opened up lanes and avenues that AZ could exploit. AZ blitzed and yet the D front was always intact along the LOS. No lanes and avenues.

That’s the thing with Williams. His blitzes can be effective. But they also result in many an unsound deployment.

Consider this wrinkle of playing our LBs down and AD and Brockers as LBs. What does that accomplish? Nothing. DTs playing upright are not going to defend the run or get extra pressure pass ruching. And LBs with hands in the dirt ain’t gonna get much after the surprise wears off.

We do need a better OL and a better QB.

But the real story of this year is the lousy coaching performance. And you saw it tonight. Arians gets one helluva lot of mileage out of what he is working with, even with multiple injuries. Fish and Williams have managed to fritter away their advantage with a highly talented defense and Schotty has done little to raise the ceiling of our offense.

Yes, we are better than we were.

But we have a long way to go, and it isn’t primarily, IMO, a matter of talent.

This coaching staff has squandered our talents. And after tonight, I am left dubious that anything will change next year.

By virtue of the absurd ...

[rfl]

Dak wrote:

The defense was fine. I’ll take 12 points every time, especially when they were put in some very tough situations by the offense and had to be on the field so much.

Disagree. The D played pretty well, but the deployments were unsound and we gave up far more to a weak running attack than what was acceptable. And the key thing is that we kept losing the field position contest. Take those runs away and we would have had a chance to win the FG battle.

Dak wrote:

TOutplayed and outcoached the Rams, in my opinion.

Agreed on the coaching staff, which is grossly overrated.

I think the players played hard, however. I dunno really if we were outplayed, except for the OL which was outclassed.

By virtue of the absurd ...

[Eternal Ramnation]

To me Hill looked the same tonight as against Wash. No consistency ,one good pass one WTF pass.He reads defenses better than Davis but the erratic accuracy is about the same.

[zn]

I dunno. I think a lot of people are over-reacting to this game.

AZ just matches up well with the Rams.

I didn’t get anything more out of it than that.

[TrenchRam]

The OL was owned tonight. I am so sick of looking at number 63 as he chases the man who just beat his block to make a tackle. If Barnes can’t beat out Wells or Joseph, Saffold is the only interior lineman on the roster worth keeping.

I don’t usually question play calling, but why didn’t Shotty call more RB screens? He called 2. One went for about 20 yards and the other looked like it was there and just poorly executed by Cunningham. Against such an effective pass rush, why not keep running them?

[nittany ram]

I don’t think the Rams were outcoached, although the Cardinals do have an excellent coaching staff. I think this loss was simply a matter of execution. The offense couldn’t execute mainly because the o-line couldn’t get it done. Wells and Joseph are simply horrible. Robinson is learning on the job and making mistakes. Sims said it himself, “doesn’t matter what play you’ve called if the o-line doesn’t block”. That was the story of that game. The Rams o-line was overmatched by Cards front 7.

[canadaram]

On some runs I thought Arizona did a good job using Donald’s aggressive play against him. Good patience and then running where AD used to be.

No player frustrates me more than Jenkins right now.

I agree with zn, Arizona is a bad match up for this team.

[wv]

(Bumrap —
quoting Arians – no link )

“Everybody wanted to talk all that stuff about how great their defense is. I think they saw a good defense tonight, it was in red and white,” Arians said before talking about his 143 rushing yards. “We blocked them. I think they had been reading their press clippings way too much.”

[canadaram]

wv wrote:

(Bumrap —
quoting Arians – no link )

“Everybody wanted to talk all that stuff about how great their defense is. I think they saw a good defense tonight, it was in red and white,” Arians said before talking about his 143 rushing yards. “We blocked them. I think they had been reading their press clippings way too much.”

Arizona’s D is good, no doubt. They’ve proven that for a few seasons now. Solving the mystery of the Wells, Joseph and Hill trinity isn’t exactly a revelation, however.

[zn]

wv wrote:

Everybody wanted to talk all that stuff about how great their defense is. I think they saw a good defense tonight, it was in red and white,” Arians said before talking about his 143 rushing yards. “We blocked them. I think they had been reading their press clippings way too much.”

Why is Arians so hostile? Makes me root against them going forward.

[nittany ram]

zn wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>wv wrote:</div>
Everybody wanted to talk all that stuff about how great their defense is. I think they saw a good defense tonight, it was in red and white,” Arians said before talking about his 143 rushing yards. “We blocked them. I think they had been reading their press clippings way too much.”

Why is Arians so hostile? Makes me root against them going forward.

Arians was fuming all game long. Maybe this is carry over from that. Plus he lost yet another QB. Perhaps he’s pissed because he knows he’s one n’ done in the playoffs. I mean, they were gonna be in trouble with Stanton at QB let alone the third stringer.

[GreatRamNTheSky]

I think the loss totally falls on Shaun Hill’s shoulders. He was the big difference between winning and losing.
The Defense busted its asses to keep the Rams in the game and Hill did his best Tony Banks impression and did nothing.

Team needs a legit star QB and until they have that they will always be not good enough.

Grits

[GreatRamNTheSky]

BTW I think Kellen Clemens wins that game last night.
Not saying he’s a star QB but he’s better than Hill.

Grits

[Agamemnon]

nittany ram wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>zn wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>wv wrote:</div>
Everybody wanted to talk all that stuff about how great their defense is. I think they saw a good defense tonight, it was in red and white,” Arians said before talking about his 143 rushing yards. “We blocked them. I think they had been reading their press clippings way too much.”

Why is Arians so hostile? Makes me root against them going forward.

Arians was fuming all game long. Maybe this is carry over from that. Plus he lost yet another QB. Perhaps he’s pissed because he knows he’s one n’ done in the playoffs. I mean, they were gonna be in trouble with Stanton at QB let alone the third stringer.

I read/heard something where he said they lost out on the playoffs last year cause the Rams beat them on a FG. His comment/s reminded me of something Fisher might say. 😉

Agamemnon

[nittany ram]

Agamemnon wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>nittany ram wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>zn wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>wv wrote:</div>
Everybody wanted to talk all that stuff about how great their defense is. I think they saw a good defense tonight, it was in red and white,” Arians said before talking about his 143 rushing yards. “We blocked them. I think they had been reading their press clippings way too much.”

Why is Arians so hostile? Makes me root against them going forward.

Arians was fuming all game long. Maybe this is carry over from that. Plus he lost yet another QB. Perhaps he’s pissed because he knows he’s one n’ done in the playoffs. I mean, they were gonna be in trouble with Stanton at QB let alone the third stringer.

<span class=”d4pbbc-font-color” style=”color: blue”>I read/heard something where he said they lost out on the playoffs last year cause the Rams beat them on a FG. His comment/s reminded me of something Fisher might say. </span>

Lol and now he’s lost two QBs against the Rams thus greatly reducing any chance he had in the playoffs.
He must HATE the Rams by now.

[Agamemnon]

Lol and now he’s lost two QBs against the Rams thus greatly reducing any chance he had in the playoffs.
He must HATE the Rams by now.

Weren’t he and Fisher in the same division? Maybe there is history. 😉

Agamemnon

[OahuRam]

We are more than just a QB away from being a winner. We need to improve the OL to have any hope of making the playoffs next year. Wells and David stink.

[GreatRamNTheSky]

OahuRam wrote:

We are more than just a QB away from being a winner. We need to improve the OL to have any hope of making the playoffs next year. Wells and David stink.

I’m sorry but I believe and so do many others believe that the one big difference in this team is the Quarterback positions keeping it from truly being a contender. The offensive line is not great and I assume that will be addressed but this team has not had great QB play since the hey day of Kurt Warner. That has been far too long and this should be a priority with this organization. Too assume that Bradford is the answer is really short sighted on the part of the Rams when it seems Bradford’s lack of health has been a huge part of the problem.

Grits

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by GreatRamNTheSky.

[zn]

GreatRamNTheSky wrote:

I think the loss totally falls on Shaun Hill’s shoulders. He was the big difference between winning and losing.
The Defense busted its asses to keep the Rams in the game and Hill did his best Tony Banks impression and did nothing.

Team needs a legit star QB and until they have that they will always be not good enough.

Grits

I disagree. No qbs perform if there is a general OL collapse. Look at Manning v. the Rams D.

On the other hand, virtually every game where Jennings gives up long completions or gets flags on deep passes, the Rams lose. He and Mason made mistakes that led directly to 9 points.

And ARZ won without a “legit star qb.”

[cgsuddeath]

Just remember that Bradford was the last Rams QB to beat Arizona.As for Arians comments,I hope the Rams remember them.

[joemad]

Dak wrote:

I thought the O-line for the Cardinals did enough to open some holes for their RB and did a good job picking up the blitz.

I thought the opposite of the Rams’ O-line. Hill didn’t have a lot of time to set up and find open receivers, and I don’t know if there were a lot of open receivers. Arizona’s blueprint of hitting the QB all game and winning in the 4th quarter worked again. That bad pass to Bailey that could have gotten the Rams into Cardinals’ territory was a result of a game of pressure and hits … when he had a chance to finally burn Arizona, he threw the ball quickly and was inaccurate enough that Bailey couldn’t pull in the pass.

The defense was fine. I’ll take 12 points every time, especially when they were put in some very tough situations by the offense and had to be on the field so much.

you nailed it. Rams didn’t run block well….and the Cards did…

this allowed the Cards to run a balanced offensive attack.

the back breaker was not scoring the TD when they had 1st and goal in the 4th….

Next year, with Bradford and Quick, with this existing D, the Rams will be a force to be reckoned with.

[cgsuddeath]

joemad wrote:

Dak wrote:
I thought the O-line for the Cardinals did enough to open some holes for their RB and did a good job picking up the blitz.

I thought the opposite of the Rams’ O-line. Hill didn’t have a lot of time to set up and find open receivers, and I don’t know if there were a lot of open receivers. Arizona’s blueprint of hitting the QB all game and winning in the 4th quarter worked again. That bad pass to Bailey that could have gotten the Rams into Cardinals’ territory was a result of a game of pressure and hits … when he had a chance to finally burn Arizona, he threw the ball quickly and was inaccurate enough that Bailey couldn’t pull in the pass.

The defense was fine. I’ll take 12 points every time, especially when they were put in some very tough situations by the offense and had to be on the field so much.

you nailed it. Rams didn’t run block well….and the Cards did…

this allowed the Cards to run a balanced offensive attack.

the back breaker was not scoring the TD when they had 1st and goal in the 4th….

Next year, with Bradford and Quick, with this existing D, the Rams will be a force to be reckoned with.

+1000

[wv]

joemad wrote:

the back breaker was not scoring the TD when they had 1st and goal in the 4th….

The third down call, and the decision
to kick a FG on 4th down were interesting to me.
It kinda showed that Fisher had just given up
on the idea of pounding the ball into the endzone
against that Cardinal front seven. Even
Fisher didnt believe they could beat that
Cardinal front with ram-power.

That sez somethin about the Ram OLine,
maybe.

w
v

[bnw]

cgsuddeath wrote:

Just remember that Bradford was the last Rams QB to beat Arizona.As for Arians comments,I hope the Rams remember them.

Not a smart move by Arians. Fisher and Co. will not forget. Such a depressing game after all the optimism leading up to it.

The upside to being a Rams fan is heartbreak.

Sprinkles are for winners.

[cgsuddeath]

bnw wrote:

cgsuddeath wrote:
Just remember that Bradford was the last Rams QB to beat Arizona.As for Arians comments,I hope the Rams remember them.

Not a smart move by Arians. Fisher and Co. will not forget. Such a depressing game after all the optimism leading up to it.

I can assure you the Rams won’t show any mercy.Ask Oakland.

[Author]

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