St. Louis Rams at Arizona Cardinals: Know Thy Enemy

The St. Louis Rams don't have much talent on their team. Their record of 1-13 really supports that claim. However, the talented players they do have should give them hope for the future. The obvious player to talk about would be Steven Jackson, but he was covered in the last game between the two teams. All the same holds true in this game as it did then; Jackson must be stopped. The other player the Cards will want to look out for is inside linebacker James Laurinaitis.

Laurinaitis was drafted with the 35th overall pick in this year's draft by new head coach Steve Spagnuolo, the former defensive coordinator for the New York Giants. Spagnuolo came over trying to fix a team that had a bad offense and a bad defense. He would take care of the offense, or at least start the process, by picking up such players a center Jason Brown in free agency and tackle Jason Brown in the first round of the draft. He would then start the process of fixing the defense by picking up safety James Butler and linebacker James Laurinaitis. Laurinaitis was projected to be a first round pick but slipped to the second and had to have made Spagnuolo very happy that he was there with their pick.

Laurinaitis has not been with this team long but has made his presence felt from day one. Ha has started every game for the Rams and has made the tackles in each one of them. Through the first 14 games he has racked up 109 total tackles (96 solo), two interceptions, and one forced fumble. Not bad stats for a rookie. If he can keep this up he should have a very solid career. He will also have to continue to play well against the Cardinals if he wants to help his team get back to the playoffs.

In his first career game against the Cards, he had 16 solo tackles. He was really the main tackler in this game as the only other player to have more than four solo tackles was safety James Butler. While Laurinaitis will need help from the rest of the Rams defense, he is a player the Cards will need to be on the lookout for on the field. The terrible St. Louis offense would be great full if the defense could give them more chances. Thoughts?