:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/51158997/612066734.0.jpg)
In what was “a must win game” the Cardinals continued their trend of terrible football. Losing to a Rams team that won by playing slightly less ugly than the Cardinals. It was one of the ugliest games I’ve seen from the Cardinals, and at 1-3, and in a deep hole in the NFC West, it’s looking very unlikely the Cardinals even make the playoffs this year.
The Good
- David Johnson may have just claimed the title of best RB in the NFL after today’s game. Not sure what’s going on with the rest of the offense.
- Run defense shut down the Rams run game. So that’s nice.
- WRs not named Fitzgerald stepped up today. John Brown had over 100 yards AND over ten receptions and Michael Floyd, despite two early drops, found his zen and had some really nice grabs, including the Cards lone TD.
The Bad
- Penalties - penalties that cost points, penalties that gave up points. Not many penalties, just poorly timed penalties.
- Miscommunication on D. Seems a common thread through four games...
The Ugly
- Turnovers. Palmer had a really bad INT and backup Drew Stanton looked even worse (no surprise there). Add in the strip sack and the David Johnson fumble and you have five turnovers despite generating over 400 yards of total offense. Not going to win many games turning the ball over.
- More missed tackles. It’s an epidemic at this point. I can’t even go into all the missed tackles because I don’t want to word count on this article to skyrocket in to the millions.
- Case Keenum looked good against our secondary. Bettcher rightly sold out against the run, yet the secondary struggled. While I have been quick to throw Bettcher under the bus, this wasn’t on him. When you sell out against the run you expect your DBs to win their match ups. Sure you’re gonna lose some, ala Minter trying to cover Gurley, but allowing Keenum to throw for over 250 yards and two TDs is depressing. Especially with how many throws he missed. There were a lot of open guys for the Rams. The secondary outside of Peterson is not good.
- Special Teams continues to be a mess. Amos Jones has got to go, the special teams have just been horrific under Jones. I’m sure they are among the worst in the NFL.
At 1 - 3 the Cardinals playoff chances have plummeted to a measly 15%. After watching this team continue to find ways to lose you have to wonder if 15% is optimistic. That is the true ugly.