2011 Regular Season
RAMS @ CARDINALS PREVIEW

Setup
Overview
Steelers' Last Game
Meet the Steelers
Cardinals Roster
Steelers vs. Cardinals Matchups

 Setup:
The Rams 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 and reverted to traditional form and  wound up losing 30 - 27 via a Raven FG on the final play of the game. Both teams are 1 & 6.

 Overview
I'm working with (& may refer to) Pro Football Focus (PFF) rating numbers. Any postitive rating of more than +1.0 is pretty good. Anything less than a minus-1.0 rating is not-so-hot. Anything in between can be considered closer to "average."

OFFENSE
Bradford is the 16th highest-rated NFL QB, but his high ankle sprain may keep him sidelined. If that happens, he'd be replaced by AJ Feeley (whom it can best be said is "a capable manager of the game. Although Steven Jackson had a humongous game last week vs. NO, he's only ranked #29 as a runner and has slight deficiencies as a pass receiver and blocker. But the Ram RB appears completely healthy for the first time in years  - and it showed a week ago. He scored 2 TD's in the route against New Orleans. The StL offensive linemen rate in the negatives and high-negatives pretty much across the board overall (the exception being Dahl). Their strongest part of their game: run blocking where the unit ranks #11th among all NFL offensive line units. Their LT (Saffold) has been especially vulnerable (with a rating of minus-6.5 as a pass blocker and minus-10.1 overall).

DEFENSE
The Ram defense is ranked in the 20's in all aspects of play with the exception of penalties-incurred (where they rank #9); yet they are not without individual stars; most notably DE Chris Long (2nd highest pass rush rating in the NFL) and MLB James Laurinaitis (who leads the team with 53 tackles). Although you'd never know it from the stats racked up in the Saints game, the Ram secondary must be considered a point of vulnerability with negative overall ratings pretty much across the board (sole exception being veteran CB Al Harris). Starting corner, Justin King is ranked dead last (#102) among NFL CB's. For basis of comparision, AJ Jefferson ranks #93 with half King's negative rating).

SPECIAL TEAMS
The one area where, statistically, the two teams are far apart. Ram special teams are ranked #26 (Cards are ranked #11)

 Rams Last Game
Rams blew open a "pitchers dual" in the closing 1½-minutes of the first half, opened up a 17 - 0 lead and (unlike the Cardinals) never looked back.; putting a 31 - 21 pasting on the boys from N'awlins. From the standpoint of an outsider reading the play by play, it looked as if neither offense looked especially snappy and that the Ram defense rose to the occasion to pure and simple stymie Drew Brees and the normally potent NO offense.

Game summary:

First Quarter

• Rams won the toss. Feeley in for Bradford. Touchback on the KO. StL managed to move to its own 46 before three straight Feely incompletions forced them to punt. Saints downed the punt on their own 15 but got little accomplished and punted from their own 43. Fair caught at the Ram 20. Feeley was sacked on the first play of the series, went 3 & out and punted from their own 16. Saints managed to move from their own 42 to the Ram 31 where Kasay failed to convert a 49-yard FG attempt. Rams took over on their own 39 but went nowhere and punted fromthe NO 46.  Punt was returned to the NO 16. The Saints moved to their own 22 in four plays as the quarter ended. 1st Quarter Score: Rams 0 - Saints 0.

Second Quarter

• Morstead punted from his own 26. Out of bounds at the Ram 12. Feeley put together a 14 play drive capped by Brown's  38 yard FG. Key plays on the drive were runs for +10 and +15 by Jackson and a +17-yard Feeley to Salas completion. Rams 3 - Saints 0.

• Sproles returned the KO to his own 23. NO's drive stalled at their own 48. Their punt (plus a Ram roughing penalty boxed in STL at their own 7. A couple of Ram penalties kept them inside the 20 and they were forced to punt. 2:05 left til halftime. NO took over on their own 25.  Brees managed to move his team out to the NO 30, but Morhead's punt was blocked. Rams took over on the NO 15, and scored two plays later on a Jackson 3-yard run.  Rams 10 - Saints 0.

• 1:10 left. Sproles returned the KO to the NO 12. On the first play of the series, Brees threw an interception. Rams took over at the NO 38 with 0:58 lThree consecutive NO penalties (one of them declined) helped move the ball to the Saint 8-yard line where - with 0:20 still on the clock - Feeley hit Lloyd for an 8-yard score. Rams 17 - Saints 0.

• Saints ran out the clock.   First Half Score: Rams 17 - Saints 0.

Third Quarter

• NO returned the 2nd half KO to its own 15. They made it to their own 27 before being forced to punt. Rams answered with an 11-play drive capped by a 3-yard TD run by Steven Jackson. High points: A 32-yard scamper by Jackson and a couple of productive end-around runs by Gibson and Salas. Rams 24 - Saints 0.

• NO  returned the kickoff to its own 17. The Rams held them to practically nada (again) and they made it to their own 36 before punting. Punt was downed on the Ram 6. On the fourth play of the series, Feeley was sacked, fumbled and the Saints took it in for a TD.  Rams 24 - Saints 7.

•  Touchback on the KO.  Rams made it to the 22 in two plays as the quarter ended. 3rd Quarter Score:  Rams 24 - Saints 7.

Fourth Quarter

• Two plays later, the Rams punted from their own 24. Saints got the ball back at their own 32, and Brees used 11 plays and 4:32 of clock time to move his team down the field for a TD on a 3-yard run by Thomas. Rams 24 - Saints 14.

• 10:00 left. touchback on the KO. StL was plagued by 4 penaltieson their next possession used 3:24 before punting from its own 46. Saints took over on their own 33, but the Rams forced them into a 3 & out. Rams took over with 6:05 on the clock. They used 7 plays (including 3 NO time outs) to drain 2:54 off the clock before punting. NO took over at their own 20 with 3:01 left. On the first play from scrimmage, D Stewart intercepted Brees pass and took it  27-yards to the house. Rams 31 - Saints 14.

• Touchback on the KO. 2:53 left to play. Brees used all but 0:10 of it to march his team down to the StL 8-yard line in 14 plays. On the 15th play, he hit Moore for an 8-yard TD to close the StL lead to 10-points. Rams 31 - Saints 21

• 0:06 left. Onside kick recovered by StL. Knee. Final Score: Rams 31 - Saints 21

Game Stats

• Offensively, it was all about Steven Jackson - he gained 159 yards on 25 carries (6.4 ypc)

• Feeley went 20 for 37 & 157 yards (a bit over 7-yards per reception), one TD and no interception.

• Ram primary receivers (Lloyd, Salas and Jackson) had a total of 15 catches for 132 yards,

• Rams sacked Brees 6 times (3 by Long and one apiece by Franklin, Robbins and Laurinaitis.

• Laurinaitis led the Rams in tackles with  10 followed by Gordy with 7, Stewart with 6 and Mikell with 5.

• The Ram defense held the Saints to 56 rushing yards.

• The Rams picked off 2 Brees passes and blocked one punt.

• StL was penalized 9 times.

 Meet the Rams
They use a small number of extremely talented stars to take part of the heat off the rest off a roster pockmarked with several points of vulnerability. Last week, Jackson, Long and Laurinaitis played well enough and some of their weaker units rose to the occasion - enough to make up for the absence of young QB star, Sam Bradford. From afar, my perception is that the Rams (especially without Bradford last week) have challenges on offense, but that their defense (under former Giant Spagnuolo and his staff) is solid enough and explosive enough to steal a few wins - just so long as the offense doesn't make too many mistakes and they continue to ride the back of Steven Jackson. Apparently, that's precisely what happened last week vs. NO. Key factor on defense was the ability of the ferocious Ram pass rush to take some of the pressure off an extremely vulnerable StL secondary (which apparently played far above its potential for the first time last week).

  Quarterbacks
08 Bradford, Sam QB 6-4 228 23 2 Oklahoma
04 Feeley, A.J. QB 6-3 220 34 11 Oregon
12 Brandstater, Tom QB 6-5 222 27 2 Fresno State

Evaluation
Bradford has exceeded even the lofty expectations everyone had when he was drafted #1 a year ago, but he has struggled with a suspect surrounding offensive cast. When Bradford went down with a high ankle sprain, in came Feeley, who (to coin a cliche) effectively "managed" the offense, kept mistakes to a minimum and let the defense and special teams do their thing against a heavily favored Saint football team. He did miss Brandon Loloyd - open twice (once short and once long) for TDs - on the first drive of the gameand his ugoal-line fumble allowed the Saints to get back into the game. But he did make a few big throws to come away from the victory.

Bradford sat out last week's game due to high ankle sprain. He's out of the walking boot, and considered questionable for Sunday. If he can't go, it figures to be Feeley again.

 Running Backs

39 Jackson, Steven RB 6-2 236 28 6 Oregon State
33 Williams, Cadillac RB 5-11 204 29 7 Auburn
34 Norwood, Jerious RB 5-11 209 28 6 Mississippi State
35 Porter, Quinn RB 6-0 205 25 1 Stillman
49 Miller, Brit FB 6-0 243 25 1 Illinois

Evaluation
Jackson's the Big Dawg (159 yards on 25 carries and 4 catches for 32 yards vs. NO). His pregame speech was said to fire up the entire Ram squad.  Fail to bottle him up at the LOS, cover him out of the backfield or wrap up tackles and he's gonna embarrass you. His only problem historically has been durability, but he sure does look healthy right now. Rams added quality depth (& 3rd down explosiveness) behind Jackson in Cadillac Williams and Jerious Norwood, but Norwood is out for Sun.

 Wide Receivers

11 Gibson, Brandon WR 6-0 210 24 2 Washington State
87 Salas, Greg WR 6-1 209 23 R Hawaii
18 Pettis, Austin WR 6-2 209 R Boise State
15 Curry, Dominique WR 6-2 224 24 2 California, PA
84 Alexander, Danario WR 6-5 215 23 2 Missouri
83 Lloyd, Brandon WR 6-0 188 30 9 Illinois

Evaluation
Not considered all that scary, but they're all capable of getting the job done when called upon. Last week, two backups (Lloyd and Salas) led the team in receptions. Lloyd was up and down (caught a key TD throw and made a diving catch at crunch-time but also dropped a TD pass in the 4Q). Salas is doing exactly what he did in college - run great routes and be a consistent pass-catcher. Mark Clayton isn't listed on the depth chart or roster, but is an outside possibility to come back from an Achilles injury.

Tight Ends
47 Bajema, Billy TE 6-4 259 29 7 Oklahoma State
86 Hoomanawanui, Michael TE 6-4 264 23 R Illinois
88 Kendricks, Lance TE 6-3 247 23 R Wisconsin
81 Spach, Stephen TE 6-4 260 29 6 Fresno State

Evaluation
Quite frankly, nothing jumps out at you. Bajema dropped one last Sunday but otherwise is said to have had a solid game. StL beat writer feels Kendiricks would be a beast of thrown to more. Spach is a former Cardinal.

DE - 93 Campbell, 98 Eason
NT - 92 D Williams, 79 Carter
DT - 90 Dockett, 91 Holliday
Campbell and Dockett can physically bring it, but their efforts are often undermined by dumb penalties. Williams is OK inside, but still prone to overcommitting and subject to back-edge misdirection cutbacks. (That's cool, but when your NT overcommits, you'd better have a LB covering the NT's vacated gap). When Williams tires, Eason has not gotten the job done as his backup. Carter, though a bit light, has had his bright moments. Holliday has done unsung yeoman work in a backup role. These guys tend to wear down in the 2H - you seldom see them getting to the QB when the other team is trying to play "beat the clock" late in games.

WLB - 55 Porter, 50 Schofield
ILB  51 Lenon, 52 Bradley
ILB- 558 D Washington, 56 Walker,
SLB - 53 Haggans, 94 Acho
We're told by the on-air guys that LB should be the linchpin of Horton's Steeler-type offense. I don't see it here -0 especially at OLB. Granted, there are glimmers of explosiveness, but not on a consistent enough basis. Porter (chronic knee) is playing less and less. Haggans had a bad game in Baltimore (gap errors and missed tackles on sweeps/so-so pass rush). We are beginning to see more of the youngsters (Acho and Schofield) and both are beginning to make their presence felt - but not nearly as often as they have to in this defense. Lenon had a strong game last week, and Washington is emerging as the best LB on this unit. Each week we hear excuses for why Bradley is taking so much time to learn the system. We're halfway thru the season now; so what's the deal?

RCB - 21 Peterson, 31 Marshall
LCB- 20 Jefferson, 27 Adams, 32 Lindsay   
SS-  24 Wilson,   41 Abdullah, 40 Tillman
FS- 25 Rhodes,  49 Rash Johnson, 37 Celestine
Although there's a lot of talent here, there are enough holes in this unit to enable opposing OC's to pick on our weaknesses early and often. For example, I love Jefferson, but Boldin repeatedly abused him. AJ should consider this a fork in the road. He can either curl up in the fetal position or he can review tape of his mismatch with one of the best and toughest possession receivers in the NFL and use it to become a shutdown corner. Peterson is becoming good enough for opposing QB's to avoid. Marshall is tough in close quarters but a liability deep (Twice vs. Pittsburgh/one game-changer vs. Baltimore). Horton should never have allowed that mismatch to have occurred. Wilson is having a substandard year (no doubt partly due to his injury, but whatever the cause, "it is what it is."). Rashad Johnson has replaced the injured Kerry Rhodes and, while he hasn't been totally awful, he hasn't come close to Kerry as a playmaker either,

K-04 Feely
P-  09 Zastudil
H - 09 Zastudil
LS- 82 Leach
KR - 37Stephens-Howling, 20 Jefferson
PR - 21 Peterson
Feely  looked solid vs. Baltimore. Zastudil was OK. Peterson's long TD return last week will be on everyone's highlight reels and also won the Baltimore game for us last Sunday. He and the Howler are both serious home run threats.

  Rams vs. Cardinals Matchups
I'm becoming less and less impressed by matchups because you are still dealing with human beings who are a lot closer to one another talent-wise than the media gives them credit for. If you were to predict last week's Ram - Saint contest based purely on matchups, the Rams would have lost that game by a gazillion to nothing.

Ram Passing Attack vs. Cardinal Pass Defense
If the Rams were facing a 5 & 2 Cardinal team, I could see them rushing Bradford back into action, but if I were Spagnuolo, I wouldn't risk bringing my franchise QB back too early from injury. Assuming, therefore, they go with Feeley, I'd expect the similar conservative offensive game plan from McDaniels that they dialed up vs. New Orleans - i.e. rely on a short passing game to compliment a run-oriented attack, keep mistakes to a minimum and let the defense win it for you.

However, given the Cardinals' propensity for allowing receivers to beat them deep, it figures to be mighty tempting not to "go downtown" with the deep ball more often. Matchups figure to be Lloyd vs. Peterson and Salas vs. Jefferson (not as daunting as Boldin vs. Jefferson a week ago). Look for Feeley to dump off to Jackson (or Northcutt or Williams) a lot. Horton should consider putting a spy on Jackson.

Expect to see Acho and Schofield joining Campbell and Dockett to test the Ram's pass protection (but you may see the two DE's focus more on containing Jackson.

Ram  Running Attack vs. Cardinal Run Defense
Wow! 159 yards last week on 25 carries. Why fix what ain't broke! Expect the Rams to hand the leather to Jackson until we can stop him. Not only does it make sense point-wise, but also figures to slow down the Cardinal pass rush.

Last week, the Cardinals were very succeptible to zone-blocking cutback plays, with Dan Williams or Eason repeatedly overpursuiing to their left but none of our LB's behind them flowing back to the right to plug the vacated gap. Do that vs. Jackson and then watch the back of #39 as he motors into the end zone. Lots of pressure, therefore, on Lenon, Washington and possibly Bradley.

Cardinal Passing Attack vs. Ram Pass Defense
Cardinal pass blocking has been the worst I've seen since the old 78 (sacks) Club before the Coach Mac era. Even when he's not running for his life, Kevin Kolb seldom has time for his receivers to get open or to even set his feet properly. Occasionally we'll get lucky and Kolb (or Skelton) will have time to hit Fitz or another receiver with a pass, but not often enough to sustain many drives or put enough points on the board.

Kolb or Skelton get to face one dude (Chris Long) who had 3 sacks last week and a linebacker (Laurinatis) who had 10 tackles, 2 pressures and a sack leading a potentially fericious Ram pass rush. Without seeing Skelton since a season ago, it's hard to gauge how much, if at all, he's improved thus far. I'd therefore, be inclined to assume that Skelton will be no better (and probably not  worse) than Kolb going up against StL.

On paper, the Ram secondary looks worse than underwhelming, but they stood up extremely well against a better QB in Drew Brees last week (possibly because of the Ram pass rush - which doesn't figure to be less good against us than it was vs. NO). I wouldn't mind seeing more dominating physical receivers (like Williams and Sampson) challenging Ram corners opposite Fitz this week.

This matchup appears to come down to a dual between (a) how well we pass block its impact on (b)  Ram secondary play. (i.e. If we can't block well enough, it won't matter how well the Ram secondary performs because Kolb or Skelton won't have the time needed to deliver the ball downfield).

Cardinal Running Attack vs. Ram  Run Defense
Very quietly, Beanie Wells and his run blockers are putting together a small string of games where he's picking up yardage in 80, 90, 100  neighborhood. Assuming Beanie's knee is improving and not at risk, this may be a good week to challenge a tough Ram run-defense who held NO runners to 56 yards less week. (Consider that Beanie gained good yardage against one of the toughest run defenses in the NFL, so why not do it again)?

At the very least, the establishing of a viable running game might help keep the Ram defense honest and take some of the heat off the Ram pass rush.

Special Teams
Both teams are solid and fairly equal in the punting and kicking game. Both special teams make plays in coverage and in blocking kicks. Northcutt is an explosive kickoff returner, LSH and Peterson (who has 2 TD's to his credit) have home-run potential. I don't know much about Pettis returning punts for StL - I do recall him as being more of a possession type when he was playing for Boise.

Coaching
Rams are coming off a huge win that helps validate everything Spagnuolo is striving for. Cardinals played tough (for most of the game) vs. the Ravens but Coach Wiz's coaching and the team's efforts were unfortunately not validated. Colts are coming in on a high. Cards are still trying to dig their way out of the abyss.

 Final Word
This is a game that will be decided by what's going on between the ears and between the shoulder-blades of each of the two teams. As in the previous game - from the standpoint of motivating players and getting them to play with intelligence and poise - how we play and the game's outcome will be a reflection on the Cardinal coaching staff.