Tag: rams cardinals

6 takeaways from Rams’ Week 13 win over the Cardinals

The Rams were quite impressive in their 38-28 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday afternoon.

Another Rams-Cardinals meeting, another win for L.A.

On Sunday afternoon, the Rams once again took care of business against Arizona, winning 38-28 on the road – the seventh straight time they’ve beaten the Cardinals dating back to 2017.

It was the first time the Rams scored 30-plus points since Week 5, getting the offense back on track after some mild struggles in the middle of the season. The defense more or less shut down Kyler Murray, too, aside from a blown coverage in the first quarter.

Here are six takeaways from L.A.’s impressive Week 13 victory at State Farm Stadium.

Sean McVay: Taking NFC West lead ‘means absolutely nothing’ right now

Sean McVay isn’t satisfied with the Rams holding a lead in the NFC West.

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The Rams were gifted an early Christmas present from the Giants on Sunday afternoon when they beat the Seahawks on the road, 17-12. Obviously, every loss by the Seahawks helps the Rams, but this one was especially big considering Seattle was a huge favorite over a sub-.500 team with its backup quarterback starting.

Since the Rams also took care of business against the Cardinals and moved to 8-4, they reclaimed the lead in the NFC West over Seattle thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker. But in Sean McVay’s mind, taking over first place in the division is meaningless right now. After the win, McVay wasn’t ready to pop any champagne bottles with four games left.

Up next, the Rams have to face the Patriots, who just blew out the Chargers 45-0 at SoFi Stadium. Then, they’ll play the Jets, who almost upset the Raiders today, as well as the Seahawks and Cardinals again.

It’s not the toughest stretch of games, but as McVay said, if the Rams don’t take care of their business, having the lead after Week 13 means nothing.

Rams crush Cardinals, 38-28: Everything we know from Week 13 win

The Rams bounced back from their loss to the 49ers with a clutch win over the Cardinals on Sunday.

Just as the 49ers have the Rams’ number, the Rams have Arizona’s. For the seventh time in a row, Los Angeles beat the Cardinals, a winning streak that goes back to the 2017 season.

The Rams marched into State Farm Stadium and came away with a 38-28 victory in Week 13, improving their record to 8-4. It was a much-needed victory after losing the 49ers last week, once again avoiding back-to-back losses – a strong point of Sean McVay’s coaching tenure.

Here’s everything we know from Sunday’s win by the Rams, once again dominating their division rivals.

Aside from one blown coverage, Rams shut down Kyler Murray in first half

Murray was lucky to have his one touchdown, too, as it came on a busted coverage by L.A.

Kyler Murray is one of the toughest quarterbacks to game plan against in the NFL. He’s shifty, exceptionally fast and can win from the pocket, making him so difficult to slow down.

But the Rams had the perfect recipe against Murray in the first half of Sunday’s game, completely holding him in check for the first 30 minutes. Up until the final minute of the second quarter, Murray had only one completion on eight attempts.

It was a 59-yard touchdown pass on a busted coverage by L.A., but it was his only completion in more than 29 minutes of football. That’s astonishing for any quarterback, but especially a player of Murray’s caliber.

Murray completed two passes for 14 yards on the final drive of the half to pad his stats slightly, but before that point, he was 1-for-8 with 59 yards and a touchdown. He only rushed for 4 yards on a single carry, too, so it’s not as if he did any damage running it, either.

He finished the half with 73 yards on 3-for-12 passing with one touchdown, while the Cardinals as a team had only 82 total yards.

It’s as good a job as any team has done on Murray in a half this season, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. The Rams defense is one of the best in the league in just about every department.

Considering they’re even better in the second half, the Cardinals could be in for a real battle in the final two quarters when L.A.’s defense is at its best.

Rams inactives: Joseph-Day, Okoronkwo active vs. Cardinals

Ogbonnia Okoronkwo is playing for the first time since Week 5

The Rams are in Arizona today to take on the Cardinals in a Week 13 tilt that will have a big impact on the NFC playoff picture.

They’ll have Ogbonnia Okoronkwo for this game, his first time playing since suffering an elbow injury in Week 5. Sebastian Joseph-Day is also active after being listed as questionable.

Derek Rivers is set to make his Rams debut after being claimed off waivers from the Patriots a couple of weeks ago. He’ll help fill in for Terrell Lewis, who is out.

Here’s the Rams’ full list of inactives.

Los Angeles Rams vs Arizona Cardinals Prediction, Game Preview

Los Angeles Rams vs Arizona Cardinals prediction, game preview, and fantasy player to watch.

Los Angeles Rams vs Arizona Cardinals prediction, game preview, and fantasy player to watch.

Los Angeles Rams vs Arizona Cardinals Broadcast

Date: Sunday, December 6
Game Time: 4:05 ET
Venue: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ
Network: FOX

[jwplayer QS9R7jzb]

– All of the CFN Fearless Predictions

Los Angeles Rams (7-4) vs Arizona Cardinals (6-5) Game Preview

For latest lines and to bet on the NFL, go to BetMGM

Why Los Angeles Rams Will Win

The Rams have a way of coming off clunker losses with big performances. The last time they lost to San Francisco, they came back against Chicago with a dominant 24-10 win – considering it was a bit of a slugfest.

They came off the loss to Miami with a strong offensive day in a great win over Seattle. Now they’re coming off another loss to the 49ers, and it’s a moment for QB Jared Goff against an Arizona pass defense that stuffed New England, but is about to get hit hard. More on that in a moment …

– CFN Experts Picks: NFL

Why Arizona Cardinals Will Win

The Cardinals can’t be afraid of the great Ram defensive front.

The pass rush from Aaron Donald inside and Leonard Floyd outside is fantastic, but they won’t mess with it. This will be about getting Kyler Murray out of the pocket and letting him make plays on his midrange throws.

The Rams don’t allow a whole lot deep, but they’ve had a few problems against the run over the last few games. It’ll be up to Murray to keep up with …

Fantasy Football Player To Watch

QB Jared Goff, Los Angeles 
It’s this simple – Goff has to get into a quicker tempo. When the offense is deliberate and things bog down, he struggles. When he’s able to speed things up and spread the ball around, he’s fantastic.

Last week against San Francisco he looked lost. It was the second time in three games he failed to throw a touchdown pass, and it was the second time against the 49ers he threw for just 198 yards. After all the scrutiny and criticism, this is his bounce back game. At least for the Rams’ season, it had better be.

What’s Going To Happen

The Rams aren’t playing San Francisco.

Kyler Murray hasn’t been quite right lately with a shoulder injury, and the team has hit a wall with three losses in the last four games.

This is going to be a shootout with the two quarterbacks trading big drive after big drive, with the Rams and Goff coming through late to pull it out in one of the best games of the day.

Los Angeles Rams vs Arizona Cardinals Prediction, Line

Los Angeles 34, Arizona 30
Bet on Los Angeles vs Arizona with BetMGM
Los Angeles Rams -3, o/u: 48
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2

Must See Rating: 4

5: Gangs of London
1: Hillbilly Elegy

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Rams’ frequent use of zone coverage could help contain Kyler Murray

The Rams run a lot of zone coverage, which could play in their favor when trying to stop Kyler Murray on Sunday.

Under first-year defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, the Rams have used more zone coverage than man-to-man. They mix and match coverages on certain plays, too, with Jalen Ramsey sometimes manning-up one receiver and the rest of the defense playing zone.

Expect to see a lot of that on Sunday when the Rams play the Cardinals, not only in an attempt to take away DeAndre Hopkins, but also to keep Kyler Murray in check. One of the best ways to contain a mobile quarterback is to play zone coverage, allowing defenders to keep their eyes on him in the event that he escapes the pocket.

In man coverage, the defense turns its back to the quarterback and follows a specific player. That opens up running lanes for the quarterback, which leads to big plays; Murray has created plenty of explosive runs against man this season.

But against zone, the linebackers can watch Murray, and the defensive backs will have an easier time stepping up in run support of the shifty quarterback shakes loose. This season, the Rams have run quarters coverage with three defenders deep and three underneath with four rushing the quarterback 18.7% of the time – third-most in the NFL.

That’ll continue against the Cardinals and could help them keep Murray in the pocket more often. A lot of that comes down to the defensive front closing up running lanes, but having the defense facing the quarterback helps, too.

The Patriots utilized zone coverage against Murray last week and held him to 170 yards passing, 31 yards rushing and no touchdowns.

Murray is one of the toughest assignments in the NFL and it takes a complete team effort to limit his production – especially as a runner. Tackling will be critical for L.A. because one miss and Murray could break off a 30-yard run in a flash.

Blitzing against Murray doesn’t exactly work, either, as he has seven touchdown passes and only two interceptions with a passer rating of 106.2. Against a normal rush, he’s thrown seven interceptions with 12 touchdowns and a passer rating of 92.4. This season, the Rams only blitz 26.1% of the time, according to Pro Football Reference, which is 10th-lowest in the NFL.

Playing disciplined zone coverage, getting pressure with four and wrapping up will be three keys to this one for L.A.

Rams Week 13 preview: 5 questions with Cards Wire

Previewing Sunday’s NFC West tilt with Jess Root of Cards Wire.

For the first time in 2020, the Rams and Cardinals will square off, and with big playoff implications. The Rams are trying to keep pace with the Seahawks in the NFC West, while the Cardinals hope to stay a game clear for the No. 7 seed in the conference.

To preview this Week 13 matchup, we talked to Jess Root of Cards Wire to get the inside scoop on the Cardinals and what Kyler Murray is doing so well this year.

Rams at Cardinals: Betting line moving in L.A.’s favor

The Rams are now bigger favorites than they were at the start of the week.

Week 12 was a difficult one for both the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals. They lost to teams that were viewed as inferior opponents, with L.A. losing to the 49ers and Arizona falling to the Patriots despite giving up fewer than 100 yards passing.

Entering Week 13, the Rams opened as the favorites over the Cardinals. At BetMGM, they were listed as 1.5-point road favorites, which isn’t exactly a big margin. And as the week has gone on, the line has moved in their favor.

As of Friday, the Rams are 2.5-point favorites. The money line for L.A. is -150, meaning a $150 wager on the Rams would return a profit of $100. The Cardinals money line is +130, so a $100 wager would return a profit of $130. The over/under is set at 47.5 points, which is one point lower than where the line opened the week (48.5).

Not only have the Rams won six straight games against the Cardinals, but they’ve covered the spread in seven of their last 10 meetings with Arizona. For them to cover this weekend, they have to win by at least three points on the road.

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Jalen Ramsey vs. DeAndre Hopkins: Breaking down their first 7 battles

Jalen Ramsey has done well against DeAndre Hopkins, winning more battles than he lost.

Sunday’s slate of NFL games will feature a matchup between two heavyweights. For the eighth time in their careers, Jalen Ramsey and DeAndre Hopkins will square off on the gridiron, pitting arguably the best cornerback against the best receiver in football.

As former AFC South foes, these two will renew their rivalry at State Farm Stadium in Week 13 – the first of two meetings this season. And with both players signed by their teams long-term, these battles will take place twice a year for the foreseeable future.

In Hopkins’ first seven games against Ramsey, he caught 44 passes for 507 yards and three touchdowns. But according to Pro Football Focus, only 396 of those yards were with Ramsey in coverage.

Hopkins averaged 5.6 yards per target in games against the Jaguars when Ramsey was in Jacksonville, which is way below his career average of 8.3. But rather than just looking at the numbers, we broke down this matchup with game film courtesy of NFL Gamepass.

We picked a winner from the first seven meetings based on how each played when lined up across from each other. They went back and forth in every meeting, but one got the better of the other.

Here’s a tale of the tape.