Arizona Cardinals Regular Season - Cardinals 19

The Setup
"The Rams had rolled over the Saints (who had just mauled the Colts by something like 67 to 7) for their first win of the season by a score of 31 to 21. The Cards played hard vs. the Ravens, but blew a 24 - 6 halftime lead, reverted to traditional form and wound up losing 30 - 27 via a Raven FG on the final play of the game. Both teams wound up on life support at 1 & 6 going into the game."

The Lede:
Put this one at the head of your All-Time Cardinal Highlights reel - a storybook comeback ending to put the cap on a game that can best be described as a poster-child for weirdness Think about it - the Rams had scraped up 13 points - none of them from touchdowns (they scored 3 FG's and 2 safeties). And then there was the 10-minute conference by officials near the end of the game to discuss whether or not to reverse a time out.

And then the blocked FG, followed shortly by Patrick Peterson's excellent 99-yard journey. I can only hope that the lessons learned by winning in so gritty a fashion will turn things around for a Cardinal team that's been long overdue for a break. Well, we got one - let's not blow it. Meetcha next week in Philly!

The Bottom Line:
The Cardinals overcame a 13 - 6 Ram 4th quarter lead to tie the score 13 - 13 with 4:57 left to play, fended off a Ram 42-yard FG attempt with 0:04 left on the clock and then won it when Patrick Peterson fielded a high punt at his one-yard line, broke 4 tackles and outran everybody en route to a 99-yard game-winner. One for the ages.

Game Recap

1st Quarter

Rams returned the KO their own 11 and went 3 & out. A Ram penalty on the punt gave the Cards the ball on the Ram 37. Skelton was able to move his team to the Ram 9 but no further. Feely kicked a 27-yarder. Cards 3 - Rams 0.
Rams returned the KO to their own 15 and managed to get to the Cardinal 27 in 8 plays, but Acho's sack forced them to boot a 48-yard FG. Cards 3 - Rams 3.
Cards got the ball back at their own 17 but went 3 & out. Rams downed Zastudil's punt at their own 13 (3rd straight time they got the ball inside their 15). After moving to their own 37, Bradford's flea-flicker pass intended for Lloyd was picked off by Peterson. Cards' ball at their own ten. They moved to their own 14 to end the quarter. 1st Quarter Score: Cardinals 3 Rams 3.

2nd Quarter

We went 3 & out, and StL got the ball back at their own 37. Bradford ran off 10 plays (none for no more than +12 yards) but their drive fizzled when A-Dub stuffed Jackson on a 3rd & 1 and StL had to settle for a 37 yard Josh Brown FG. Rams 6 - Cardinals 3
The Howler returned the KO to the Cardinal 24, and we were able to march to the StL 48 before Skelton got sacked and we were forced to punt. Rams returned it to their 20. 3:26 left til halftime. They managed to get to the Cardinal 23 on a 10-play drive capped by a Brown's 3rd FG - this one a 41-yarder to end the half. Halftime Score: Rams 9 - Cardinals 3

3rd Quarter

Cards returned the opening KO to their own 22. Two completions to Doucet (for +20 and +27) moved us to the Ram 20, where the drive stalled and - on the 9th play of the drive - Feely kicked a 38-yarder. Rams 9 - Cardinals 6.
Touchback on the KO. Rams drove to the Cardinal 35 in 4 plays, but Jackson was stuffed by Washington for minus-two and Campbell and Haggans shared a sack to force StL to punt from the Cardinal 44. Ball was downed at the 2. On the second play from scrimmage, Skelton was sacked in the end zone for a safey. (The score now looked more like the 7th inning in World Series Game 6.) Rams 11 - Cardinals 6.
A Ram holding call on the free kick gave StL the ball at their own 32. (This is where the game could get out of hand). Rams moved to the Cardinal 48 (mostly from a Jackson run for +18 on a direct snap), but an Unsportsmanlike call on Dahl stopped their drive in its tracks and they punted to the the Arizona 9. On the first play of the series, the Cards experienced a bit of deja vue, when Skelton drifted back into the end zone and was sacked for another safety. (Rams had racked up 13 points but it was the weirdest 13 you'll ever see). Rams 13 - Cardinals 6.
Pettis returned the free kick to the Ram 40, but the Cardinal defense stiffened and held StL to 3 & out. Cards downed the punt at their 6 but this time avoided a third safety. They managed to move to their own 30 on a 4-yard run by LSH and completions to Dray (+20) and Beanie (+7). 3rd Quarter Score: Rams 13 - Cardinals 6.

4th Quarter

An 8-yard scramble by Skelton and a 14-yard scoot around left end by Beanie helped get us to the Ram 41, but 3 straight incompletions stalled the drive. Punt was fair caught at the Ram 10. The two teams exchanged 3 & outs. 9:57 left in the game. with the Ram ball on their own 27. After a 15-yard completion to Gibson, the Rams went nowhere and punted. Fair caught by Peterson at the Cardinal 16 with 8:34 to play. Skelton hit Doucet for +20 and then scrambled twice (each for +14) and finally - with the ball on the Ram 13 - hit Fitz at the back of the end zone with a perfectly placed pass to tie the score with 4:51 on the clock.. Rams 13 - Cardinals 13.
Touchback on the KO. It looked like Jackson and his run blockers would blacktop our run defense, picking up a quick +9 and +19 yards on running plays, but the Cardinal defense (led by Dockett, Johnson, DWash and Schofield) stood tall and played their best football of the season, stuffing Jackson for a combined total of zero-yards on his next three carries.
Jackson's 3rd unsuccessful carry stemmed from a somewhat strange and controversial call by Ram HC Steve Spagnuolo. On 4th & 1 at the Cardinal 33 with 1:43 left on the clock, all they had to do was let Josh (Mr. Reliable) Brown boot the winning FG from 51-yards out and then let their defense hold the Cardinals in check for the remaining 1:40. Instead, he handed the ball to Jackson who was stopped in his tracks by Washington and Dockett.
Cardinal ball at their own 33 with 1:41 on the clock and no Cardinal timeouts left. After a 15-yard completion to Fitz and an incompletion, Skelton got sacked for minus-11 (it was lucky he recovered his own fumble). Cards punted. Pettis returned it 17-yards to the Ram 36. 0:51 left to play.On the first play from scrimmage, Bradford hit Pettis for +23. An interference call on Peterson (who must learn how to keep his back arm off the receiver's waist) was followed by an 8-yard run by Jackson (which could have gone all the way for a touchdown save for a tackle by Marshall who climbed on Jackson's back like a cowboy). This put the ball on the Cardinal 24 with just 4-seconds left on the clock (chip shot territory for Josh Brown). But Brown's 42-yard attempt was blocked by 6-8, long-armed Calais Campbell and we went into overtime. Wow! End of Regulation Score: Rams 13 - Cardinals 13.

Overtime

Rams (ughh!) won the toss. Porter returned the KO to his own 27. On the second play from scrimmage, Jackson ran for +15 (Uh! Oh!). On first down, Spags made a gutsy (but in my opinion questionable) call by throwing deep (& incomplete) to Lloyd down the right sideline (I mean, why waste a down on a low perecentage throw when your big horse - Jackson - is picking up big chunks of yardage 40 - 50% of the time). Next two plays were +3 by Jackson and an incompletion thrown high by Bradford. This forced them to (heh heh) punt.
But they were smart enough to keep it away from Peterson, right? Uhh...well...no! Peterson fielded Jones' mile-high punt at his one-yard line, ducked under the first wave of coverage, zigged a little, zagged a little, broke a few tackles (probably broke a few Ram ankles as well) and then outran everyone to end the game as dramatically as anyone could ever hope. Game for the ages. Final Score: Cardinals 19 - Rams 13.

Game Stats

Rams beat us in most categories (Total Yards, Running Yards, Passing Yards, First Down, Time of Possession) But it was those intangible game-flippers (the blocked punt, 4th down stuffs of Jackson and Peterson's home-run punt return winner) that were enough to give the Cardinals an overtime edge.
Skelton completed 20 of 35 for 22 yards, a TD and no intereceptions.
Wells carried 10 times for 20 yards, Biggest Cardinal ground gainer turned out to be Skelton (38 yards on 4 carries)
Skelton spread the ball around (6 to Doucet,. 5 to Roberts and 4 to Fitz).
Neither team lost a fumble. Peterson had the only pick, but Washington dropped two and the Rams had a few unproductive shots at fumble recoveries and picks.
Washington (10 tackles), Lenon (8), Jefferson (6), Campbell (6), Wilson (6) led the team in tackles.
The Rams gained 150 yards rushing. We gained 70.
Skelton was sacked 4 times. (We sacked Bradford 3 times)
Campbell (1½), Marshall (1), Acho, Haggans (0½) were credited with sacks.
We were penalized 6 times (vs. 9 for StL)
We had possession of the football 23:02 vs. 36:58 for the Rams

Bright Spots

Let the QB controversy begin! When Kevin Kolb joined the Cardinals, Skelton (high ankle sprain) had 4 games worth of NFL experience and no preseason reps. Despite the Lockout, the CW had to be that the former Philly wunderkind was at least equal to Skelton in throwing mechanics/accuracy and far ahead of Skelton in his knowledge of the game, understanding of the playbook, reading defenses etc. We had no way of knowing the degree to which Skelton had or had not learned the game and absorbed the playbook until now. Call me crazy, but I think Skelton (a) throws a better ball, (b) is more mobile out of the pocket, (c) sees the field better when on the move and is physically taller and stronger than Kolb. They may be close to each other in knowledge the game, but not enough to ignore Skelton's physical/game-day advantages. We have a better chance of winning with Skelton as our QB.
Doucet and Roberts looked more reliable and less shaky than in the past few games. Makes me wonder whether Skelton may be throwing them a better-placed, easier-to-catch ball than Kolb.
If Campbell and Dockett play as well and impactful as they did yesterday - all the time in every game - they'd be perennial Pro Bowl players.
Our young LB's - Washington, Acho and Schofield are beginning to make plays.
Patrick Peterson has arrived.
Looks as if Peterson has finally mastered turning and looking for the ball when covering his man at top speed.
A-Dub made a couple more game-changing plays yesterday than he's been making of late.
We went up against the Rams' big guy (Bradford) with our backup (Skelton) and came away with a win. How about that?
When the experts generalize about "learning how to win", one thing they're referring to is the collective experiencing of doing what it takes (in fortitude, poise & a little bit of paranoia) to come up with the extra late effort it takes to win games late (along with the validation of actually having done so). In this sense, the Cardinals can now taste the experience of fighting their way out of a corner, tie the score and dig their fingernails into the proverbial cliff to keep the other team from scoring to come out with a win. (i.e. the next time they find themselves with their backs to the wall, each Cardinal player can say to himself:: "No problem. We've been here before. We know what to do").

The Dark Side

Run Blocking. (20 yards on 10 carries by Beanie???)
Pass Pro - Mainly at OT/Mostly at RT. This doesn't look like simply a matter of "cleaning things up" - Levi, Brandon and Jeremy seemed to be physically outmatched.
Peterson's next challenge - Learning how to keep his back arm off the receiver when breaking up passes. Jefferson's ongoing challenge: The back arm deal plus learning how to turn and look for the ball when covering his man on deep patterns (the way Peterson apparently has).
If Washington can soften up his "stone-hands", we'll have another interception-machine in pass coverage.

Last Word:
This game can either represent a turning point in this season and possibly the near-future of the franchise. Or not. (It depends on what our players take away from the experience).We view this hard-fought contest (possibly the greatest comeback game in Cardinal history) as a golden opportunity. I hope each player seizes the moment and we don't blow it.

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