Nfl wildcard round weekend-Arizona Cardinals @ LA Rams Pre Game Thread. 1/10/22 - 1/16/22

DVontel

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I at least give us a 40% chance cause of:

- Outside of that weird Lions game, we play more efficiently & urgently on the road.

- This team plays better under no pressure. Especially against teams who have their important starters. I bet only 10% of the NFL world expects us to win next week.

- Watt is possibly back. Even less than 100% is better than our DLine.

- Chase should be back. I believe he’s truly our X-Factor.

- We did beat them on the road already. We can do it again.

- Everybody is 0-0 fellas. There’s going to be an upset or two like it is every year. Lets just hope we’re of the teams to do it.
 
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Dr. Jones

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If we go to LA and then Tampa, we all need to consider ourselves lucky. If it's a short rest then on to Lambeau..... we be screwed.

But my mind reminds me that the Rams beat our a$$ last time. Right after they had their a$$ beat by the Titans, Niners and the Packers. They punched us repeatedly, stole our girl, and then ate our lunch. I don't think those black eyes have healed yet.

Aaron Donald & Kupp will be the key. But if Stafford doesn't give us the ball...... we may be cooked.
 

juza76

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I at least give us a 40% chance cause of:

- Outside of that weird Lions game, we play more efficiently & urgently on the road.

- This team plays better under no pressure. Especially against teams who have their important starters. I bet only 10% of the NFL world expects us to win next week.

- Watt is possibly back. Even less than 100% is better than our DLine.

- Chase should be back. I believe he’s truly our X-Factor.

- We did beat them on the road already. We can do it again.
DVontel i would to get your opinion about Rondale Moore and the way he is used
Is the only speedster we have and he got just a couple of +10 yards passes all season
 

Resin07

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If we go to LA and then Tampa, we all need to consider ourselves lucky. If it's a short rest then on to Lambeau..... we be screwed.

But my mind reminds me that the Rams beat our a$$ last time. Right after they had their a$$ beat by the Titans, Niners and the Packers. They punched us repeatedly, stole our girl, and then ate our lunch. I don't think those black eyes have healed yet.

Aaron Donald & Kupp will be the key. But if Stafford doesn't give us the ball...... we may be cooked.
The Rams did not beat our ass. We lost by 7 points. We had two drives where we got into FG range near the end where KK decided to go for it instead of kicking the FGs. One drive ended at the Rams 14. That is 6 points off the board right there. If our coach was smarter we probably could have won that game with a FG at the end. The only games we really got our ass handed to us are the Panthers and Lions games. Every other game, one or two plays go our way its a win for us.
 

Harry

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I was quite pessimistic yesterday but after reviewing the first two games I am slightly more hopeful. It will all depend on the game plan. On offense Garcia has been terrible. Yesterday he played like he’d never seen a D-line stunt and got Murray leveled. He leaves a huge hole in the line but Jones makes too many penalties to be an option. Hudson must help. There’s no way around it, Humphries was also terrible yesterday. He’s been decent though, so he should be okay.
Normally if you watch a game you can discern a plan of attack. If there was one yesterday, I couldn’t identify it. They targeted no particular part of the defense. There was no attempt to preempt the pass rush with quick throws, rollouts or delays. It seemed to be ad hoc play calling that let the Seahawks defense dictate the game. Kirk disappeared for much of the game. I think Ertz had only 2 targets in the first half. They did put Murray under center but that should have started 3 years ago. He hasn‘t developed deceptive technique and isn’t strong enough for QB sneaks. You can’t push him with linemen as he’s fragile.
The Rams game plan seems fairly obvious. You can‘t block Donald, so you have to tire him out and influence him. Roll out Murray. Use tons of motion and misdirection. Quick release slants will also frustrate him. If they have Edmonds back they can take him outside. What can’t happen is dropping Murray straight back time after time and expecting him to be elusive as a substitute for blocking. They could actually keep a back in or occasionally shift a tight end to the backfield. At best they could chip a rusher but that might be enough to buy time. I like middle screens where you dump the ball behind Donald, usually the Rams don’t cover those gaps tightly.
On defense if the Cards had Bowles I’d like their chances more. Bowles likes to blitz and has numerous deceptive patterns as well as stunts. Stafford has always been easy to rattle and pressure is the key. The Cards are healthy with regard to their best rushers and blitzers. With apologies to Mickey (Rocky), don’t let Stafford breathe! The D-line has to hold against the run. Maybe they get Phillips back. Certainly Watt’s presence will redirect rushers. Hicks needs to play his best game and be patient. I guess there’s no hope to dump the zone. Nonetheless I’d modify it and have Murphy follow Kupp. He can’t be stopped but he can be limited. You can’t drop linebackers or linemen into deep cover. You can’t let safeties get isolated on Kupp unless you’re getting pressure on Stafford.
This game can be won, but the Cards will need to play better than any second half game including Dallas. The must attack from the kickoff and take the game to the Rams physically. The Niners did and the Rams couldn’t hold up.
 

BullheadCardFan

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I was quite pessimistic yesterday but after reviewing the first two games I am slightly more hopeful. It will all depend on the game plan. On offense Garcia has been terrible. Yesterday he played like he’d never seen a D-line stunt and got Murray leveled. He leaves a huge hole in the line but Jones makes too many penalties to be an option. Hudson must help. There’s no way around it, Humphries was also terrible yesterday. He’s been decent though, so he should be okay.
Normally if you watch a game you can discern a plan of attack. If there was one yesterday, I couldn’t identify it. They targeted no particular part of the defense. There was no attempt to preempt the pass rush with quick throws, rollouts or delays. It seemed to be ad hoc play calling that let the Seahawks defense dictate the game. Kirk disappeared for much of the game. I think Ertz had only 2 targets in the first half. They did put Murray under center but that should have started 3 years ago. He hasn‘t developed deceptive technique and isn’t strong enough for QB sneaks. You can’t push him with linemen as he’s fragile.
The Rams game plan seems fairly obvious. You can‘t block Donald, so you have to tire him out and influence him. Roll out Murray. Use tons of motion and misdirection. Quick release slants will also frustrate him. If they have Edmonds back they can take him outside. What can’t happen is dropping Murray straight back time after time and expecting him to be elusive as a substitute for blocking. They could actually keep a back in or occasionally shift a tight end to the backfield. At best they could chip a rusher but that might be enough to buy time. I like middle screens where you dump the ball behind Donald, usually the Rams don’t cover those gaps tightly.
On defense if the Cards had Bowles I’d like their chances more. Bowles likes to blitz and has numerous deceptive patterns as well as stunts. Stafford has always been easy to rattle and pressure is the key. The Cards are healthy with regard to their best rushers and blitzers. With apologies to Mickey (Rocky), don’t let Stafford breathe! The D-line has to hold against the run. Maybe they get Phillips back. Certainly Watt’s presence will redirect rushers. Hicks needs to play his best game and be patient. I guess there’s no hope to dump the zone. Nonetheless I’d modify it and have Murphy follow Kupp. He can’t be stopped but he can be limited. You can’t drop linebackers or linemen into deep cover. You can’t let safeties get isolated on Kupp unless you’re getting pressure on Stafford.
This game can be won, but the Cards will need to play better than any second half game including Dallas. The must attack from the kickoff and take the game to the Rams physically. The Niners did and the Rams couldn’t hold up.
This

Good summary
 

Chopper0080

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Pugh matters in this game. If you look at the difference between the games, Pugh being out hurt us a lot. He has the ability to single block most players on the field which enables Hudson to help away from him at times. Vs a defense like the Rams that has stars but also a bunch of meh players, being able to lock up those meh players while you double the stars is what works.

The biggest issue is the passing game. Kirk can't play outside which means Wesley will have to play and Kyler will have to get over it. Wesley is also a decent matchup vs the small LAR secondary.

Kyler also needs to start finding Ertz quicker over the middle.
 

Resin07

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Got to put Stafford on the ground a few times to start the game, get him skittish. Otherwise, Kupp, OBJ, whoever the TE, et al will be running free and Stafford will pick them apart.

No rush=no victory.
This. Stafford had no pressure on him at all in game 2, and he made us pay. With how inconsistent our offense has been, we can't give up 30+ points.
 

Covert Rain

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This. Stafford had no pressure on him at all in game 2, and he made us pay. With how inconsistent our offense has been, we can't give up 30+ points.
Both sides of the ball have been models of inconsistency. If the team doesn't win this, this season will be viewed as an epic collapse.
 

TRW

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Both sides of the ball have been models of inconsistency. If the team doesn't win this, this season will be viewed as an epic collapse.
Well, some will view it that way and some will view it as "Hey, we won 11 games and made the playoffs. Progress." and be good with it. See just about any thread on this board.

It's what being fans is all about. We can all see things differently and shouldn't be snarky to the one with differing views. Just my opinion, of course, which is worth about nothing really.
 

Stout

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I was quite pessimistic yesterday but after reviewing the first two games I am slightly more hopeful. It will all depend on the game plan. On offense Garcia has been terrible. Yesterday he played like he’d never seen a D-line stunt and got Murray leveled. He leaves a huge hole in the line but Jones makes too many penalties to be an option. Hudson must help. There’s no way around it, Humphries was also terrible yesterday. He’s been decent though, so he should be okay.
Normally if you watch a game you can discern a plan of attack. If there was one yesterday, I couldn’t identify it. They targeted no particular part of the defense. There was no attempt to preempt the pass rush with quick throws, rollouts or delays. It seemed to be ad hoc play calling that let the Seahawks defense dictate the game. Kirk disappeared for much of the game. I think Ertz had only 2 targets in the first half. They did put Murray under center but that should have started 3 years ago. He hasn‘t developed deceptive technique and isn’t strong enough for QB sneaks. You can’t push him with linemen as he’s fragile.
The Rams game plan seems fairly obvious. You can‘t block Donald, so you have to tire him out and influence him. Roll out Murray. Use tons of motion and misdirection. Quick release slants will also frustrate him. If they have Edmonds back they can take him outside. What can’t happen is dropping Murray straight back time after time and expecting him to be elusive as a substitute for blocking. They could actually keep a back in or occasionally shift a tight end to the backfield. At best they could chip a rusher but that might be enough to buy time. I like middle screens where you dump the ball behind Donald, usually the Rams don’t cover those gaps tightly.
On defense if the Cards had Bowles I’d like their chances more. Bowles likes to blitz and has numerous deceptive patterns as well as stunts. Stafford has always been easy to rattle and pressure is the key. The Cards are healthy with regard to their best rushers and blitzers. With apologies to Mickey (Rocky), don’t let Stafford breathe! The D-line has to hold against the run. Maybe they get Phillips back. Certainly Watt’s presence will redirect rushers. Hicks needs to play his best game and be patient. I guess there’s no hope to dump the zone. Nonetheless I’d modify it and have Murphy follow Kupp. He can’t be stopped but he can be limited. You can’t drop linebackers or linemen into deep cover. You can’t let safeties get isolated on Kupp unless you’re getting pressure on Stafford.
This game can be won, but the Cards will need to play better than any second half game including Dallas. The must attack from the kickoff and take the game to the Rams physically. The Niners did and the Rams couldn’t hold up.
After reflection, I think Kliff idiotically tried to be vanilla in his game plan so he keeps his powder dry for the playoffs. I say idiotically because we had a freaking chance at the division.
 

Stout

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I at least give us a 40% chance cause of:

- Outside of that weird Lions game, we play more efficiently & urgently on the road.

- This team plays better under no pressure. Especially against teams who have their important starters. I bet only 10% of the NFL world expects us to win next week.

- Watt is possibly back. Even less than 100% is better than our DLine.

- Chase should be back. I believe he’s truly our X-Factor.

- We did beat them on the road already. We can do it again.

- Everybody is 0-0 fellas. There’s going to be an upset or two like it is every year. Lets just hope we’re of the teams to do it.
I mean, I'm super negative on this team at the moment. KK can't win an important game to save his freaking life and our QB has suddenly forgotten all the progress he made, but...BUT...I'm already convincing myself we not only have a chance, but we're going to win this damn thing. Because I gotta believe.
 

Stout

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This. Stafford had no pressure on him at all in game 2, and he made us pay. With how inconsistent our offense has been, we can't give up 30+ points.
Do you have any hope that VJ will dial up some impressive blitzes, or will we just run a bunch of soft zone with 3 rushing the QB?
 

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