Posted at 8:00 a.m.
The Arizona Cardinals surely aren’t intimidated by playing their first game in six years in the playoffs at beautiful SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
First, their 8-1 road record was the best in the league this season. Second, there are often nearly as many visiting team fans as the home team at SoFi Stadium, whether it’s a Rams or Chargers game. Last week, the crowd was louder when the Rams offense was on the field than when it was the San Francisco 49ers…
Kliff Kingsbury’s troupe should also be able to count on one more important member on Monday evening. JJ Watt is back in the lineup after missing the last 10 games with a shoulder injury. Failing to be a dominant player like he was a few years ago, Watt is a great point guard and his presence alone should have a positive effect on the Cards defense.
It certainly can’t be said that the latter is a collection of “big” names.
Watt and Chandler Jones (10.5) are well known to the public, but players like safety Budda Baker (63 individual tackles and three interceptions), quarterback rusher Markus Golden (11 sacks), cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. (four interceptions) and all-rounder Isaiah Simmons aren’t getting the publicity they should. That said, in the most important games the Cardinals have played this season, the defense has rarely been good.
And the unit of coordinator Vance Joseph, the former Denver Broncos driver who is currently one of the candidates to replace Brian Flores with the Miami Dolphins, will have a lot to do on Monday.
The Rams’ offense is one of the most dynamic thanks to head coach Sean McVay’s plays, and it’s very difficult to contain when Matthew Stafford is well protected and in top form.
The Rams paid dearly to get Matthew Stafford from the Detroit Lions last winter. Is the quarter superior to his predecessor, Jared Goff? Yes. But how much remains to be seen. Goff still led the Rams to the Super Bowl three years ago.
Stafford threw for nearly 5,000 yards in his first season with the Rams (4,886), but was the league’s worst quarterback in interceptions (17), tied with rookie Trevor Lawrence. In his team’s 12 wins, Stafford had 31 touchdowns and nine interceptions, while in their five losses he had 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Stafford has suffered numerous injuries this season and is currently thought to be hampered by one or more of them. But as the previous stat demonstrates, it’s his performance that often dictates the kind of game the Rams will have. With receivers like Cooper Kupp and Odell Beckham Jr. at his disposal, Stafford will absolutely have to be productive on Monday night and for the rest of the tournament.
The Aaron Donald Postman
The Rams took big steps to improve their offense with the acquisitions of Stafford and Beckham, and did the same on defense. They sacrificed two first-round picks to get the league’s best cornerback Jalen Ramsey, then second- and third-round picks to add Von Miller more recently.
Ramsey and Miller are very talented players, but of course the Rams’ defensive mainstay remains Aaron Donald, who probably played his best game of the season when his team defeated the Cardinals, 30-23, on December 13. Named the league’s best defensive player in 2017, 2018 and 2020, Donald collected three sacks from Kyler Murray and pressured him on 14 occasions!
PHOTO JOE CAMPOREALE, ARCHIVES USA TODAY SPORTS
Aaron Donald and Marquise Copeland of the Los Angeles Rams
Kingsbury said last week that Donald completely trashed the Cardinals’ game plan in December. He’ll do the same if the Cards don’t pit him against two players in almost every game this time around. The problem is that they will also have to contain Miller and Leonard Floyd, among others.
When Murray is contained in his pocket and the opponent manages to squeeze him, he becomes an ordinary quarterback. And when Murray struggles, the Cardinals are often unable to get going.
The absence of DeAndre Hopkins hurts them, but there are still some good receivers in the Cards, including wide end Christian Kirk and tight end Zach Ertz, formerly of the Philadelphia Eagles. Ertz could play a big role against the Rams, who brought Eric Weddle out of retirement to bolster a group of safety running backs decimated by injuries last week…
At the time of this writing, James Conner was a questionable case for Monday. Conner has a rib injury, not quite the kind of injury you want to suffer when you’re running back… Conner’s presence would be significant, with the Rams vulnerable against the ground game. The running back had 18 touchdowns in 15 games in his first season at Arizona.
Owner Stan Kroenke and the Rams have spared no effort to play the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium on February 13. Stafford, Ramsey, Miller, Beckham, Weddle coming out of retirement at the last hour… Not sure the Rams are consistent enough to get there, but they should be able to beat the Cards.
Cardinals (11-6) c. Rams (12-5), this Monday at 8:15 p.m.
Our prediction: Cardinals 16, Rams 27
