wv wrote:

I agree with Charles Davis — they dont have to beat GBay,
but they have to beat Cleveland in two weeks.
Gotta be 3 and 3 at the bye.
Gotta start beating the nonplayoff teams.

w
v

Well I agree with that of course, except with one minor revision. The Cleveland game is after the bye. So they have to be 3-3, after after the bye.

Man. They have a bye week to get ready for a home game against Cleveland.

If they find a way to lose that one, they deserve to be grounded and have their allowances docked.

The 11 games immediately after the bye:

Cleveland
San Francisco
@ Minnesota
Chicago
@ Baltimore
@ Cincinnati
Arizona
Detroit
Tampa Bay
@ Seattle
@ San Francisco

Suddenly it doesn’t look so tough.

LMU93

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/dvoa-ratings/2015/week-4-dvoa-ratings

FootballOutsiders: Rams ranked 13th after 4 weeks

21st in offense
8th in defense
6th in special teams

Nick Foles ranked 14th out of 34 QBs.

===============================

PFT’s Week Five power rankings

Mike Florio

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/10/06/pfts-week-five-power-rankings/

1. Patriots (3-0; last week No. 1): The bye week, the one weekend of the year when the Patriots definitely won’t win.

2. Packers (4-0; No. 2): When they envisioned finally beating the 49ers, they likely assumed the 49ers would be a little bit better than they currently are.

3. Broncos (4-0; No. 3): Peyton Manning should be very glad he’ll never have to face the Denver defense.

4. Bengals (4-0; No. 5): They’re separating from the rest of the division; the next goal is to separate from the rest of the conference.

5. Falcons (4-0; No. 6): Matt Ryan, Devonta Freeman, and Julio Jones are the new triplets.

6. Cardinals (3-1; No. 4): We’ll know a lot more about this team after back-to-back games at Detroit and Pittsburgh.

7. Panthers (4-0; No. 10): The schedule gets a lot tougher, soon.

8. Seahawks (2-2; No. 9): Jimmy Graham doesn’t block in the running game. And the offensive line doesn’t block in the passing game.

9. Jets (3-1; No. 14): The Jets hadn’t killed a coach this convincingly since Rich Kotite.

10. Rams (2-2; No. 17): Sunday’s win over the Cardinals inevitably will be bookended by a loss to someone like the Browns.

Charles Davis says Laurinaitis had his best game as a Ram and the defensive line played a key role

Foles Made Money Throws at Arizona

Bernie Miklasz

http://www.101sports.com/2015/10/06/daily-bits-foles-made-money-throws-at-arizona/

In Sunday’s 24-22 upset win over the Cardinals on Sunday at Arizona, I thought Rams quarterback Nick Foles was superb when it mattered most. For all of the talk about Foles being steady and smart — words normally used to describe game-manager QB types — let’s not underestimate his ability to make big plays.

On third-down plays against the Cardinals, Foles completed 6 of 11 for 58 yards, which doesn’t jump out at you. But his three TD passes came on third-down throws, and he had a third-down passer rating of 109.1 in the game. In the Rams’ two wins this season Foles has a 123.8 passer rating on third down. Through four games this season Foles ranks 7th among NFL quarterbacks with a third-down passer rating of 114.2. Moreover, Foles leads the NFL with four touchdown passes on third down.

And then there was Foles’ play in the red zone at Arizona. He completed 5 of 6 passes for three touchdowns, averaging 9.76 yards per attempt, with a passer rating of 146.5.

Foles was terrific in the opening wing over Seattle, not so good in the Rams’ dreary loss at Washington, and he threw a careless interception that sealed the Rams’ fate in their loss to Pittsburgh. But he’s also operating behind an inexperienced offensive line, and throwing to (mostly) young receivers, and the Rams’ rushing attack was running in place until rookie Todd Gurley took over Sunday’s game in the fourth quarter. Among other issues the Rams have dropped 11 passes already, and they’ll have to clean that up.

According to Pro Football Focus Foles has been under pass-rush pressure on 40 percent of his dropbacks, the seventh-highest rate among NFL starters. It’s been only four games, but I’ve seen enough to be impressed with Foles’ accuracy under fire. Excluding dropped passes, intentional throwaways and throws batted at the line, Foles’ adjusted accuracy rate of 78 percent on attempts under pressure ranks No. 3 among starting quarterbacks.

Foles doesn’t scare.

“He got hit too many times,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said Monday, discussing the win at Arizona. “We have to get better there. I don’t like to see our quarterback on the ground. But when he hung in there, he bought himself time. He trusted a clean pocket and got the ball down the field.”

Another notable aspect of Foles’ game is his skill and effectiveness with play-action passes. He did well with play fakes in Philadelphia and has brought that touch to St. Louis. That’s why it’s essential for the Rams to have a strong rushing game. And that’s why Gurley’s 146-yard breakout at AZ was so important.

The more the Rams offense can make defenses wary of Gurley’s threat to break away, that will help Foles. He can fake the handoff to Gurley, con the defense into thinking it’s a running play, and then wheel to throw downfield. It can be a beautiful way for the Rams to attack a defense.

Foles completed 6 of 8 play-action throws at Arizona, averaging a big 11.6 yards per passing attempt.

For the season (according to Pro Football Focus) Foles has completed 22 of 30 play-action passes (73.%), for an average of 12.2 yards per attempt, with one TD and no pickoffs. His play-action passer rating of 125 ranks third among quarterbacks, exceeded by Derek Carr and Cam Newton.

“I will be the first one to say we have a long ways to go,” Foles said after Sunday’s game. “We still have a lot of room to improve. I know the guys are hungry to improve. This was a great team win … it starts with converting third downs. I believe we did a better job today. We were able to sustain some drives and really march it down the field. We just have to stay hungry, keep working and pay attention to detail. It is all those things and just putting in the extra time. We are a young team so we have to put in that extra time every single day to get better and take the next step forward.”

=======

Gurley had nine carries for 106 yards in the fourth quarter Sunday, becoming only the second NFL running back to churn for 100+ yards in the fourth quarter in a game since the start of the 2013 season. Pittsburgh’s Le’Veon Bell (110 yards) did it last season in a Dec. 7 game at Cincinnati … Foles’ true accuracy rate (80%) ranks fifth among NFL starters this season.

And Finally …

The debacle at the end of the Detroit @ Seattle game was ludicrous on so many levels. How can an officiating crew miss such an obviously illegal “bat” of the ball out of the end zone by Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright on a Calvin Johnson fumble caused by Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor? This was much, much worse than the error made by the replacement officials in that famous Seattle-Green Bay end zone catch/INT in 2012. This was a full-time crew.

And there’s no doubt this was a blown call. NFL Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino confirmed that on the NFL Network late Monday night. Had the illegal batting been cited and called correctly, the ball would have gone back to Detroit via penalty, with a first and goal inside the 1-yard line. At that point, the Lions (trailing 13-10) would have had an 81 percent chance of winning the game according to the “Win Probability” odds.
What I don’t understand is this: Blandino and his staff monitor every game, every play, live. They’re also connected to the officiating crew working the game and have the means to communicate directly with the head official. So why didn’t Blandino intervene? He’s done that before this season — clearing up the officials’ initial mistake on that tricky Seattle onsides kick attempt that began the overtime period in St. Louis.

The back judge on the play told Blandino that the batting was “inadvertent.” Which is absurd, of course. Wright even admitted that he batted the ball intentionally.
This was just a massive screwup by a league that should never, ever allow such a critical play to stand without a review — no matter what the inadequate rules state about replay-review protocol. Or whether a play is a “judgment” call and therefore not reviewable. (Makes no sense … isn’t it a judgment call when the officials decide whether a receiver caught a pass or not? Those plays can be reviewed. So what’s the difference?)

Result: Ballgame, and a tainted victory for Seattle. And the Seahawks were able to escape with a win that leveled their record at 2-2. With a defeat, Seattle would be toting a 1-3 record into a tough road game at Cincinnati on Sunday. So this call not only dumped the Lions to 0-4, but it conceivably impacted the Rams, Cardinals and 49ers in the NFC West. If the race for first place is close, the officiating blunder and Blandino’s failure to be proactive and get the call right may end up costing one of the Seahawks’ division rivals.

But let’s not forget about the Lions role in this … first of all, Johnson has to do a more reliable job of protecting the football. He made it easy for Chancellor to dislodge the ball and cause the fumble. Second, it’s obvious that Detroit coach Jim Caldwell was oblivious to a rule that’s been in the books for a long time. Gerry Austin, ESPN’s officiating advisor, confirmed as much after the game. “I spent 26 years in the league,” he said on ESPN. “The (intentional batting) rule has been there the entire time.”

If Caldwell knew the rules, he could have called timeout to get the officials’ attention. Or he could have made a ruckus to get the officials’ attention. But he did nothing. “What can you do, know what I mean? We’re not going to cry about it, that’s for sure,” Caldwell told reporters after the game.
What you can do, Coach, is know the rules.

As former New England linebacker Rosevelt Colvin tweeted Monday night: “I PROMISE YOU BILL BELICHICK KNOWS THAT RULE…’CAUSE WE PRACTICED IT IN OUR SITUATIONAL PRACTICES

Nick Foles beats the blitz, stands tall to deliver game-winning touchdown

Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/22173/nick-foles-beats-the-blitz-stands-tall-to-deliver-game-winning-touchdown

EARTH CITY, Mo. — A look back at the turning-point play in the St. Louis Rams ‘ 24-22 win against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday:

The situation: After leading the entire game, the Rams were clinging to a 17-15 lead and in need of a fourth-quarter scoring drive. A field goal would’ve been OK given that their defense had held the Cardinals to five field goals up to that point but a touchdown and an extra point would make for a two-possession game and at least give the defense some room to breathe.

In the third quarter, the Rams offense had showed some signs of life after a dismal first half. With rookie running back Todd Gurley carrying the freight, the Rams had put together a drive for a touchdown pass from quarterback Nick Foles to receiver Stedman Bailey to make it 17-9 midway through the third quarter. From there, the Cardinals had kicked two field goals and though the Rams defense continued to bend, it was fair to wonder if it would break enough to allow a touchdown. A touchdown from the offense would effectively help salt the game away and increase the defense’s slim margin for error.

That brings us to third-and-6 at Arizona’s 12 with 8:23 to go in the game. A misfire or something short of a first down would have led to a field goal and a one possession game.

The play: Earlier in the game, the Rams scored their first touchdown from a similar spot in a similar situation with receiver Tavon Austin on the outside of a bunch formation to the left. This time, they changed the look with two receiver stacks to each side, including Austin on the outside of tight end Jared Cook’s right shoulder. The Cardinals showed blitz pre-snap with six defenders at the line of scrimmage. It was subtle but Foles varied his snap count enough to get the Cardinals to show which defenders were coming up the middle and which was going to drop into coverage.

From there, three things turned this from Foles ending up on his back or rushing an incompletion into the game’s most important play.

1. With six rushers and six blockers, the Rams found a way to pick up the blitz and block it well enough to give Foles time. In the process, it created one-on-one matchups for all four receivers with an additional defender setting up in the middle of the field watching Foles. The best block of the bunch? That would be running back Benny Cunningham, who picked up safety Tony Jefferson shooting through the A gap. Cunningham stopped Jefferson in his tracks and gave Foles a chance to stand firm in the pocket.

2. Because Cunningham was able to pick up that blitz, Foles had time to assess what safety/linebacker Deone Bucannon was doing. Bucannon was the decoy on the blitz, taking a couple of steps toward the line of scrimmage as though he was coming but then dropping into the middle of the field in zone coverage. As Austin ran what was really a simple in route, Foles didn’t have a throwing lane because Bucannon blocked it. But after Cunningham picked up Jefferson, Foles had time to fake the throw to Austin which got Bucannon in the air and cleared a window to throw, which would lead Austin into open space, in this case the end zone.

3. Foles threw a perfect ball, leading Austin away from cornerback Jerraud Powers with a catchable pass in a spot only Austin could catch it. Like on his first touchdown, Austin ran a strong route, getting across Powers’ face and then simply finishing the route with his speed. While it wasn’t an easy catch, Austin made it look that way as he pulled it in for the touchdown past a diving Powers.

The fallout: Austin’s touchdown was his second of the day and the third scoring toss from Foles on the day. None bigger than this one. After Greg Zuerlein booted the extra point, the Rams led 24-15, a two-score advantage in a game that had been nip and tuck for most of the day. As it turned out, the touchdown was absolutely necessary as a tired defense allowed Arizona to score its lone touchdown on its ensuing possession. But because they picked up the blitz and Foles faced the pressure and delivered, the Rams were able to hang on for a much-needed victory
Nick Foles beats the blitz, stands tall to deliver game-winning touchdown
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/22173/nick-foles-beats-the-blitz-stands-tall-to-deliver-game-winning-touchdown

EARTH CITY, Mo. — A look back at the turning-point play in the St. Louis Rams ‘ 24-22 win against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday:

The situation: After leading the entire game, the Rams were clinging to a 17-15 lead and in need of a fourth-quarter scoring drive. A field goal would’ve been OK given that their defense had held the Cardinals to five field goals up to that point but a touchdown and an extra point would make for a two-possession game and at least give the defense some room to breathe.

In the third quarter, the Rams offense had showed some signs of life after a dismal first half. With rookie running back Todd Gurley carrying the freight, the Rams had put together a drive for a touchdown pass from quarterback Nick Foles to receiver Stedman Bailey to make it 17-9 midway through the third quarter. From there, the Cardinals had kicked two field goals and though the Rams defense continued to bend, it was fair to wonder if it would break enough to allow a touchdown. A touchdown from the offense would effectively help salt the game away and increase the defense’s slim margin for error.

That brings us to third-and-6 at Arizona’s 12 with 8:23 to go in the game. A misfire or something short of a first down would have led to a field goal and a one possession game.

The play: Earlier in the game, the Rams scored their first touchdown from a similar spot in a similar situation with receiver Tavon Austin on the outside of a bunch formation to the left. This time, they changed the look with two receiver stacks to each side, including Austin on the outside of tight end Jared Cook’s right shoulder. The Cardinals showed blitz pre-snap with six defenders at the line of scrimmage. It was subtle but Foles varied his snap count enough to get the Cardinals to show which defenders were coming up the middle and which was going to drop into coverage.

From there, three things turned this from Foles ending up on his back or rushing an incompletion into the game’s most important play.

1. With six rushers and six blockers, the Rams found a way to pick up the blitz and block it well enough to give Foles time. In the process, it created one-on-one matchups for all four receivers with an additional defender setting up in the middle of the field watching Foles. The best block of the bunch? That would be running back Benny Cunningham, who picked up safety Tony Jefferson shooting through the A gap. Cunningham stopped Jefferson in his tracks and gave Foles a chance to stand firm in the pocket.

2. Because Cunningham was able to pick up that blitz, Foles had time to assess what safety/linebacker Deone Bucannon was doing. Bucannon was the decoy on the blitz, taking a couple of steps toward the line of scrimmage as though he was coming but then dropping into the middle of the field in zone coverage. As Austin ran what was really a simple in route, Foles didn’t have a throwing lane because Bucannon blocked it. But after Cunningham picked up Jefferson, Foles had time to fake the throw to Austin which got Bucannon in the air and cleared a window to throw, which would lead Austin into open space, in this case the end zone.

3. Foles threw a perfect ball, leading Austin away from cornerback Jerraud Powers with a catchable pass in a spot only Austin could catch it. Like on his first touchdown, Austin ran a strong route, getting across Powers’ face and then simply finishing the route with his speed. While it wasn’t an easy catch, Austin made it look that way as he pulled it in for the touchdown past a diving Powers.

The fallout: Austin’s touchdown was his second of the day and the third scoring toss from Foles on the day. None bigger than this one. After Greg Zuerlein booted the extra point, the Rams led 24-15, a two-score advantage in a game that had been nip and tuck for most of the day. As it turned out, the touchdown was absolutely necessary as a tired defense allowed Arizona to score its lone touchdown on its ensuing possession. But because they picked up the blitz and Foles faced the pressure and delivered, the Rams were able to hang on for a much-needed victory

10 Takeaways from the Rams’ 24-22 Win Over the Cardinals

Posted by: Randy Karraker

http://www.101sports.com/2015/10/05/10-takeaways-from-the-rams-24-22-win-over-the-cardinals/

The Rams defied the oddsmakers, who had them as a seven point underdog, and their defense held the previously explosive Arizona offense to just five field goals and one late touchdown in a 24-22 thriller at University of Phoenix Stadium.

This one featured Tavon Austin’s best game since his rookie year, and a coming out party for rooking running back Todd Gurley. With that, ten takeaways…
gregg williams

Rams DC Gregg Williams

1) Gregg Williams’ defense is fun to watch. They’re aggressive, they go for the ball, and they hit! There were bigtime hits from T.J. McDonald, Janoris Jenkins, James Laurinaitis, Rodney McLeod and Alec Ogletree. The Rams defense has given up one offensive touchdown in three of their four games, and two in the other game; the loss to Washington. The Rams defense has given up 68 points…seventeen per game…and five touchdowns in four games.

2) I have some frustration that the Rams can win the turnover battle against a good team on the road, but hasn’t been able to at home. The Rams beat the Seahawks despite losing the turnover battle, and fell to Pittsburgh while breaking even. It’s great that they’ve won the turnover ratio in both of their road games, but it would seem to be easier to do at home.

By the way, as the Rams head to Green Bay, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers hasn’t thrown an interception in 51 consecutive games there.

3) The offensive line became aggressive and may have found itself in the second half. The kids weren’t exactly taking it to the opposition in the running game in the first three games, but opened some terrific holes in the second half, in which Gurley exploded for 144 yards on fifteen carries after Ram running backs got eight carries for one yard in the first half. Much of Gurley’s success came on the heels of massive holes opened up by a suddenly confident offensive line. His 146 yards on 19 carries were the most by a Rams rookie since Steven Jackson ran for 148 against the Eagles in 2004.

4) Passing the ball to Tavon Austin works. Austin was targeted seven times, catching six passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns. Austin did not have a receiving touchdown last season, and this was his third two-touchdown game, with the last coming November 10 of 2013 at Indianapolis.
todd gurley-2

Gurley had 19 carries for 146 yards in Sunday’s Rams win.

The 96 yards were his second most, after that same contest in Indy. Since his first four games in the NFL, Austin was only targeted as many as seven times once before Sunday…that being the second to last game of his rookie year. His most targets in the passing game last year was five. New offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti is trying to get the ball into Tavon’s hands, and it’s working.

5) The Rams got explosive in the running game. Coming in, the Rams had seven running plays of ten-plus yards, and five of those had come from receivers. Austin had four and the departed Chris Givens had one. On Sunday, Gurley doubled the Rams season number explosive plays from running backs, breaking off runs of 20, 23, 30 and 52 yards.

6) The Rams dressed Brian Quick but did not target him in the passing game. Kenny Britt was only thrown to once. That was in large part, I’m sure, because the Rams were ahead, and they didn’t need the passing game as much in the second half. I liked seeing them use Stedman Bailey for another touchdown.

There are only so many plays in a game, but Bailey deserves to see the ball more than the tight ends at this point.

7) Perhaps more impressive that Gurley piling up so much yardage was his having the awareness to simply go down and run the clock at the end of his thirty yard run on the second to last play of the game. Many running backs, especially young ones, would try for the end zone and risk a fumble. He didn’t, and allowed the Rams to run a victory formation at the end.

8) Alec Ogletree was arguably the Rams best defensive player over the first month of the season, and he’ll miss extended time with an ankle injury. Ogletree suffered the injury when T.J. McDonald ran into him during a tackle in the third quarter. It’ll be difficult for the Rams to replace Ogletree, who had become a sideline-to-sideline tackling machine. Darren Bates and Cameron Lynch replaced him on Sunday. It’ll be interesting to see what Williams does. Mark Barron would be intriguing to try in that role.

9) Nick Foles was exactly what the doctor ordered. The QB completed 16 of 24 for 171 yards, three touchdowns and, most importantly, no interceptions. With the philosophy of the offense the Rams employ, if Foles can turn in those types of numbers each week, he’ll give his team a chance to win. 21 points per game for this team should be plenty.

10) With four more sacks, the Rams defense has seventeen on the season. They’re on pace for 68, which would be four shy of the NFL record of 72 set by the 1984 Bears. Fisher told his initial St. Louis defense that he wanted them to break that record. This group has a chance.

Next week will provide the Rams their toughest test of the season, visiting unbeaten Green Bay and the incomparable Aaron Rodgers. This win was huge, because the Rams will hit their bye with, at worst, a 2-3 record, and they’ll have a chance to go on a run after their bye week.

InvaderRam wrote:

i just want gurley and mason to be awesome. preferably starting against arizona.

Done.

I had to pull strings with the football gods, but…done.

from off the net

==

fearsomefour

Barnes was good in the second half. Watching the first long run by Gurley Barnes and Brown double teamed Campbell and destroyed him (Brown drove him into the ground) Barnes broke off and got in the way of a DB to really bust that play open. Beautiful play. Robinson, while still not a smooth blocker, has been getting better with his pass blocking. Haven’t really thought about the blind side rush that much the last two weeks.

I was muttering about Cunninghams sort of bad playing yesterday….then he made that great blitz pickup allowing Foles time to get the ball to Austin. Each RB can contribute in his own way. A three headed monster. I think we all saw yesterday why the hype was so high with Gurley.

Eternal Ramnation wrote:

I thought JL had a great game.

Me too.

But it was nice to get something from someone who was at the game.

from off the net

==

vinny1717

went to the game here in AZ today…..wasn’t expecting a win but was very pleased walking out of the stadium amongst the sea of red. Quite a few Rams fans here as well, which there always are.

Not going to jump off the deep end and proclaim a “turning point” or “playoff” scenario but they really played well. Much better than anticipated.

My takes watching it live:

*TA showed what he can do if he is out there all the time. He has to be on the field all the time. Really good in the passing game today and had a couple nice runs

*Gurley is going to be great. If the knee holds up we have a gem. Big, strong, fast kid that actually has a mind for the game. He waited for holes to develop and showed veteran presence on the last play where he went down instead of scoring. I’ve seen other posts in this forum saying he should have scored and we would be up by 9 with :40 but with this year’s extra point being 33 yards I could have easily seen a missed extra point, Cards go down and tie the game up scenario. By him going down that completely eliminated that scenario. He’s probably watched this train wreck on film from past years. At any rate, great game and hope to see more of that

*Foles is solid. Not great but solid. Watching from up top there were a few plays developing that he missed but with a suspect O Line it wasn’t too often that he was really comfortable in the pocket. Very efficient day with no turnovers. I would have liked to see Cig do a few more fakes/bootlegs off the stretch play….AZ was really crashing down hard and there were some opportunities but I thought the second half game plan was great. Imagine that, an OC making adjustments at halftime

*Defense was good, not great but good enough. Cards racked up almost 500 yards but the Johnson dropped TD early and Palmer throwing 2 balls high on that last drive helped out quite a bit. JJ was great, Tru was very ordinary, giving huge cushions to Michael Floyd…he also had a game winning INT taken out of his hands

*The guys I personally feel like we can move on from: Cook, JL, Britt. Cook was awful as usual. I know the throw as a little fast but he had that jump ball in his hands a 5’9 Honey Badger tore it away. Enough said. I was watching JL closely because I have been critical of him and he really isn’t an NFL MLB…just not fast enough and doesn’t have the instincts. Britt was targeted once that I can remember. These are just my opinion, that’s all but I would like to see Quick, TA and Bailey be the starting WR’s.

Overall it was a fun game to watch. The AZ crowd was loud and into it and Foles and the boys stayed solid and delivered. They earned this win and deserve it. Tough game next week but lets see if Gurley can provide some spark for the offense in the weeks after the bye.

Good game, good win

Gurley, Rams hold it down in upset of Big Red
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/gurley-rams-hold-it-down-in-upset-of-big-red/article_012d8d59-b430-5a19-a767-e231a0fcdbdc.html

GLENDALE, ARIZ. • Not all that far removed from his college days at Georgia, there’s nothing Todd Gurley can do about the Bulldogs’ crushing 38-10 loss Saturday to Alabama.

“That’s what I told my teammates,” the rookie running back said, smiling. “I’ve gotta do what Georgia didn’t do yesterday, so I had to hold it down.”

Gurley held it down, all right, at the expense of the previously unbeaten Arizona Cardinals. In his coming-out party as an NFL player, Gurley finished with 146 yards on 17 carries as the Rams upset the Big Red 24-22 at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Against an Arizona team that had never trailed — not for one second — in its previous three games this season, the Rams led wire-to-wire, but never enough to feel comfortable.

It took two touchdown catches by Tavon Austin, three takeaways by the defense and special teams, and then the second-half running by Gurley to win at a place where the home team rarely loses. The Cardinals entered the day 15-3 at home under coach Bruce Arians.

“To be able to be on the road against a great football team, and then come out and win the game the way we did — hold the lead the entire game — that’s huge for us,” right guard Rodger Saffold said.

It helped that the Rams discovered a running game that had been missing all season, and an offense that had been AWOL since the season-opening victory over Seattle, in the second half.

Limited to just 10 carries for 5 yards through 2½ quarters, the Rams got the run game going after a forced fumble by safety Rodney McLeod and a recovery by cornerback Trumaine Johnson gave the Rams a first down at their 41, nursing a 10-9 lead.

Following that takeaway, Gurley ripped off runs of 23 and 13 yards to put the Rams in scoring position on a drive culminating in the second of three touchdown passes by quarterback Nick Foles.

Gurley added a 52-yard run early in the fourth quarter — the longest run of the season for the Rams — to set up the second of a pair of 12-yard TD passes from Foles to Austin. That proved to be the game-winning points, giving the Rams a 24-15 lead with 8 minutes, 16 seconds to play.

But not before an Arizona TD made things close, and not before Gurley closed things out with runs of 20 and 30 yards to kill out the clock on the Rams’ final possession.

“Man, I knew he was gonna be special from the get-go,” defensive end William Hayes said. “But I wasn’t expecting that much. I saw today that his future’s gonna be very, very bright.”

“He came out this week and he exploded,” Austin said.

Some blocking helped. Saffold said the Rams made some adjustments in the running game at halftime, and they paid off for a squad that ranked last (32nd) in total offense and 29th in rushing offense before Sunday.

“We worked our misdirection; it really came alive,” Saffold said. “And once we got a misdirection (play to work), it got ’em to stay balanced instead of rushing everything front side.”

Gurley, the No. 10 overall pick in the draft last spring, did the rest. He said the Rams’ offense merely “got fed up” about all of its struggles this season. Another week of practice with the first-team offense helped the game slow down for Gurley in his first NFL start.

“Yeah man, it’s football,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve been playing it my whole life. You read your keys, study the game, and everything will slow down for you.”

Simple as that. Gurley had only six carries (for 9 yards) last week in his debut and didn’t know for sure that his workload would be nearly tripled against Arizona.

“But you know how it is if you’re having a good game and it’s rolling,” Gurley said. “Then, you know, you keep the hot hand hot.”

Let the guy with the hot hand hold it down.

Perhaps Gurley’s best work came with 1:17 to play when he burst around left end for what looked like a sure touchdown. But realizing the circumstances, he decided to stop after a 30-yard gain to the Arizona 8, to run out the clock and prevent the Cardinals from pulling off any kind of last-minute miracle.

“It was totally unselfish,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “Beyond that, it’s just that for a rookie to have the presence of mind to do that, it says a lot for his understanding of this game and putting games away.”

A pretty heady play for a 21-year-old about to score his first NFL TD, playing in his second NFL game.

“I just wanted to get out of here with a win; that’s all I was worried about,” Gurley said.

So he can save that first NFL touchdown for another time?

“I’m gonna think about it tonight,” he said, laughing. “But we got the win. I’m happy about that.”

In an ideal world of Rams football, this is what it’s supposed to look like. A defense and special teams unit that create turnovers and give up points grudgingly.

Austin making meaningful plays from start to finish. And now we see why the Rams thought enough of running back Gurley, wounded knee and all, to take him so high in the draft. And don’t forget Foles, who squeezed those three touchdown passes out of just 24 throws en route to a 126.9 passer rating.

“Well, we got a contribution out of all three phases today,” Fisher said. “That’s what has been hindering us the last couple weeks. We finally had a second half of offense, and that was the difference in the ballgame.

“As we said earlier in the week, (Arizona) is one of the top two teams in the NFC. We’re building to compete in our division and right now, we’re 2-0 in our division. So we’ve got to keep it going.”

Fisher was in such good spirits after the game, he couldn’t even return volley on Arians, who after a 12-6 victory last December in St. Louis crowed about his defense being the best on the field that day — not a Rams unit coming off back-to-back shutouts entering that game.

So who was the best defense Sunday?

“I still think they’re really good,” Fisher said, speaking of Arizona. “And we’ve got some work to do.”

When teased by reporters for not taking the bait on Arians, Fisher replied: “That’s called taking the high road.”