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| NE at NYG | NO at CHI | PIT at BAL | SD at OAK | SEA at ATL | SF at CLE | STL at ARI | TEN at IND |
Week 17 Game Recap: St. Louis Rams 19, Arizona Cardinals 48
What you need to know
| St. Louis Rams |
Simply put, in this game the Rams has no answers to combat the Cardinals offense that scored a season high 48 points. The Rams' offense score only one touchdown and had two field goals and continues to be plagued by turnovers at key times. They finished the season 3-13. QB Marc Bulger was pressured all day long by an aggressive Cardinals defensive scheme. Bulger completed 13 of 25 passes for 176 yards and one score. He threw two costly interceptions, one that was returned for a touchdown. Bulger was replaced late in the fourth quarter by QB Gus Frerotte, who completed two passes, one to a St. Louis receiver and another to Cardinals linebacker Gerald Hayes, who returned it 30 yards for a touchdown.
RB Steven Jackson carried the ball only 18 times for 55 yards. He ran hard, but the Cardinal defense kept him in check the entire game. His longest run was only nine yards.
WR Torry Holt and WR Isaac Bruce both were held out of the end zone. Holt finished the game with seven catches for 91 yards; Bruce had two catches for 39 yards. Both players did have receptions for over 20 yards, so at times they were open down field. However, the Cardinals did not allow Bulger to complete passes to them as they were aggressive on the defensive side of the ball. TE Joe Klopfenstein scored the only Rams' offensive touchdown late in the third quarter on his only catch of the game.
| Arizona Cardinals |
Arizona scored a season high 48 points and converted two Marc Bulger interceptions for touchdowns in a game that they could have easily been mailed in, since they were out of playoff contention. It was the highest scoring total for the Cardinals in 30 years. The Cardinals offense found little resistance from the Rams defensive scheme as they scored 24 first half points, and scored on three of five drives in the first half and six of 11 drives in the game.
The defense contributed to the scoring as they forced three turnovers, two of which were returned for touchdowns.
QB Kurt Warner continued to play at a high level as he threw three touchdowns for his fourth consecutive game. He threw touchdown passes to Anquan Boldin and two to Larry Fitzgerald and led the Cardinals offense on scoring drives of 75, 57, 64, 80 and 71 yards. Warner finished the game 23 of 39 for 300 yards and three touchdown passes. He rushed for 19 yards on three scrambles.
RB Edgerrin James had his third 100 yard rushing effort of the season, and scored a touchdown in the third quarter. James found success against the Rams' defense mainly up the middle and had a long run of 25 yards.
WR Larry Fitzgerald was dominating. He took over this game and clearly was a better football player than any Rams' defender. Fitzgerald had 137 yards receiving and one touchdown in the first half alone. He was either wide open on routes or simply out fought a defender for the ball. Fitzgerald finished the game with 11 catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns.
WR Anquan Boldin was equally dominating, but had only four catches for 56 yards. His stats would have been better had Warner not found Fitzgerald so wide open. Bolding scored on a 20 yard screen play in which he caught the ball in the backfield and simply ran over defenders to the goal.
PK Neil Rackers was perfect on the day by converting all of his six extra points and both field goal attempts.
In all it was Arizona's first complete team effort of the season, and a much needed win.
What you ought to know
| QB Marc Bulger, Pass: 13 - 25 - 176 - 1 TD / 2 INT |
Bulger was pressured all game long, and simply didn't have much time to throw. His touchdown pass came in the third quarter, as he was trying to rally the Rams' from an 18 point deficit when he hit little-used TE Joe Klopfenstein for a 36 yards touchdown. Bulger took several hits from the Cardinal blitz scheme, was sacked three times. He was often seen in pain after several hits. He threw two costly interceptions that ended potential scoring drives, one of which was returned for a touchdown.
| QB Gus Frerotte, Pass: 1 - 5 - 4 - 0 TD / 1 INT |
Frerotte came in late in the fourth quarter to spell Bulger. He promptly threw an interception to Cardinals linebacker Gerald Hayes, who returned it for a touchdown to put an end to any hopes of a Rams' comeback.
| RB Steven Jackson, Rush: 18 - 55 - 0, Rec: 1 - 1 - 0 (2 targets) |
Jackson was of little influence in this game rushing for only 55 yards on 18 attempts. His modest stats were a result of him having to stay in as an extra blocker to protect Bulger. His longest run was nine yards. He was held without a touchdown.
| RB Brian Leonard, Rush: 5 - 15 - 0, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (1 targets) |
Leonard came in on mop up duty and had five rushes for only 15 yards.
| WR Torry Holt, Rec: 7 - 93 - 0 (10 targets) |
Holt was the Rams' best receiving option and finished the game with seven catches for 93 yards. He had a long reception of 31 yards.
| WR Isaac Bruce, Rec: 2 - 39 - 0 (4 targets) |
Bruce had only two catches for 39 yards. His longest was 22 yards.
| WR Drew Bennett, Rec: 1 - 4 - 0 (7 targets) |
Bennett caught only one ball for four yards, but did drop a touchdown pass from Bulger in the third quarter. It appeared that Bennett was trying to get his feet in bounds in the back of the end zone, but let the ball slip through his fingers.
| TE Joe Klopfenstein, Rec: 1 - 36 - 1 (1 targets) |
Klopfenstein scored the only Rams' offensive touchdown in the third quarter, when he found a seam down the right side line and ran 36 yards for the score.
| PK Jeff Wilkins 2 - 2 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 7 points |
Wilkins was perfect on the day hitting two field goals in the first half (37 and 42 yards).
| STL Rush Defense |
The Rams allowed the Cardinals a total of 123 yards rushing. They gave up 102 yards to Edgerrin James and a two yard touchdown run. Their stats are a result of the Cardinals having such success in the passing game.
| STL Pass Defense |
The St. Louis pass defense was horrible giving up three scores and 300 yards passing. In the first half alone, WR Larry Fitzgerald had 137 yards and one score. They had little answers for the Cardinals passing attack. They did have two interceptions, though, but they were more of a result of bad throws by Kurt Warner, rather than effective pass coverage. On the plus side, one of those interceptions was returned by free safety Oshiomogho Atogwe 52 yards for a Rams' score.
| QB Kurt Warner, Pass: 23 - 39 - 300 - 3 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 3 - 19 - 0 |
Warner had an excellent fantasy game throwing for three scores in his fourth consecutive contest. He ended the game with 300 yards and three touchdowns. He also scrambled three times for 19 yards. Warner had good command of his passes and threw to seven different receivers. He did have two interceptions on passes that were off target.
| RB Edgerrin James, Rush: 24 - 102 - 1, Rec: 3 - 34 - 0 (3 targets) |
James had a total of 136 yards of offense for the Cardinals. He finished the game with 102 yards on 24 attempts and one score, a two yard run in the third quarter. His longest run was 25 yards and ran hard and had great vision. He caught three balls out of the backfield for 34 yards.
| RB J.J. Arrington, Rush: 4 - 2 - 0, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (2 targets) |
Arrington had only four rushes for two yards. He caught one ball for three yards.
| WR Larry Fitzgerald, Rec: 11 - 171 - 2 (17 targets) |
Fitzgerald had a monster game with 172 yards on 11 catches and two scores (21 and six yards). He was simply no match for the Rams' secondary who at times tried to double team him to no avail. Several of his catches were simply the result of Fitzgerald being bigger and stronger than the Rams' defender. His longest catch 26 yards. Fitzgerald had 137 yards and one score at halftime.
| WR Anquan Boldin, Rec: 4 - 56 - 1 (4 targets) |
Boldin had only four catches on the day for 56 yards, but one was for a score in the fourth quarter, when he took a screen pass and ran 20 yards. Boldin had success being open in a porous Rams' secondary, but Warner failed to look his way.
| WR Bryant Johnson, Rec: 2 - 10 - 0 (7 targets) |
Johnson had two catches for ten yards.
| WR Jerheme Urban, Rec: 1 - 13 - 0 (2 targets) |
Urban caught only one ball for 13 yards. He was used in three and four receiver sets for the offense.
| TE Troy Bienemann, Rec: 1 - 13 - 0 (1 targets) |
Bienemann caught a one pass for 13 yards, and was mainly kept in for blocking purposes.
| PK Neil Rackers 2 - 2 FG, 6 - 6 XP, 12 points |
Rackers converted on all two of his field goal attempts (23 and 33 yards) and was perfect on all six of his extra point attempts.
| ARI Rush Defense |
The Cardinals rush defense played a solid game, not allowing a rushing touchdown. They kept Steven Jackson in check and allowed him only 55 yards.
| ARI Pass Defense |
The Cardinals pass defense played much better allowing one score to little used tight end Joe Klopfenstein. They contributed to the scoring by returning two interceptions for touchdowns, one by cornerback Antrel Rolle and the other by linebacker Gerald Hayes. In all, the Cardinals pass defense gave up only 180 yards passing and sacked Bulger three times.
