SB Nation St. Louis - Cardinals Vs. Rams: Arizona Defeats St. Louis 23-20

St. Louis Rams Score: Sam Bradford Shows Signs Of Life In Cardinals Win

2011-11-28T13:30:39Z

The St. Louis Rams lost again Sunday afternoon, falling by a score of 23-20 to the Arizona Cardinals and continuing a bruising season that’s seen every last iota of optimism squeezed out of 2010’s surprising 7-9 run, but for the first time since Sam Bradford’s high ankle sprain sidelined him in mid-collapse there was cause for something other than panic about the Rams’ struggling franchise quarterback. In spite of an offensive line that’s missing its highly touted young anchors and a wide receiving corps that continues to drop passes like they’re campaigning to get the NFL to track them officially, Bradford had his best game since his Week 5 performance at Green Bay.

Capped off with a fourth-quarter touchdown to Brandon Lloyd, Bradford was 17-for-31 with 203 yards, averaging 6.55 yards per attempt and avoiding interception for the first time in almost two months.

That’s not future-of-the-franchise material, but for a guy who leads the league in sacks taken and is unlikely to get any more protection for the rest of the season it’s good news. For all his apparent troubles to date, Bradford’s yards per attempt in 2011 is actually fractionally higher now than it was in 2010, when he had a strange season propped up by Pat Shurmur’s conservative offense.

The St. Louis Rams Will And Should Fire Steve Spagnuolo and Billy Devaney

2011-11-28T13:00:34Z

That'll do, Spags.

That'll do.

On Sunday the St. Louis Rams lost a brutal NFC match-up to the Arizona Cardinals at the Edward Jones Dome 23-20. It was their seventh straight loss to the former St. Louis football franchise at home, and it dragged their overall record to 2-9. The beating ensures that the Rams will have their third straight losing season under head coach Steve Spagnuolo.

Earlier in the day, NFL Countdown on ESPN ran a quick segment that asked the question "Is the STL coaching job more or less appealing than the San Diego Charger job?" Not the kind of comfort Coach Spags wants from the national media. With a road game against a pissed off 49ers team looming before a Monday Night date with the Seahawks that's short on storylines, Coach Spags is a dead man walking.

Most likely he'll be accompanied by General Manager Billy Devaney amongst the ranks of the unemployed. The architect of some astonishingly bad contracts (Jason Brown, Jason Smith) and completely inept drafts, Devaney has taken less heat than Spags but is just as culpable for the culture of losing around Rams Park.

It's time for both of them to leave and start fresh. The rankness of these past three seasons should follow these men upon their exits. They've not only wasted our time, money and enthusiasm, but they've also seriously jeopardized the Rams as a viable St. Louis professional organization. Future employers should make sure that the ideas, ideals and strategies they've employed here in St. Louis do not come with the men upon further hiring. They're dangerous to any company's success.

Sports in 2011, it's simpler than it's ever been. Maybe you think the glut of coverage, litany of media outlets and volume of noise produced makes it harder to focus as a professional organization.

It makes it easier.

The Rams' only objective is to entertain. That's it. What entertains the most is a win. All the things that lead to that win must hold our attention. Worse than being just bad, the Rams are a boring, predictable team with no personality or even storylines that people care about. The conversation you had/will have about the rest of this season will start with, "Man, the Rams suck" and once that's been established... what?

There's nothing. Not an iota of intrigue. An ounce of hope.

We thought we had a franchise QB; do we really have a one year wonder? We thought we had a owner who was going to right the ship; does he even give a shit to show up at a game? We thought we had a long future as Rams fans in St. Louis; is the team becoming the front-runners to fill LA's new stadium?

No answers are forthcoming and the front office and head coach are leading the charge into lethargy. Spags will be at his Monday presser acting like he's acted for the past 2.5+ seasons, bloviating about staying the course and catching some breaks. Devaney will be on a sportstalk radio station reminding people how hard it is to overcome so many injuries. We'll forget about this team until Sunday when they show up and get spanked by San Francisco.

Wash. Rise. Repeat.

Each week the Rams are losing more and more fans. The EJD on Sunday was a graveyard of diehards that have to be questioning if supporting a team that doesn't support entertainment is what they want to spend their money on. And as more and more people choose to stay at home or watch franchise that seems to care, it puts the Rams once step closer to leaving the city.

If they have any hope of staying, they need to release Spagnuolo and Devaney. They need to replace them with people that think differently and work to entertain us. Give us a reason to be passionate. Make us fans again.

Because you and I, we're not fans of plodding, horrible football. But we've had it jammed down our throat for the past three seasons.

Enough is enough.

Poll

Should the Rams fire head coach Steve Spagnuolo?

Yes

411 votes

No

52 votes

Let's See How The Season Ends

50 votes

513 votes | Poll has closed

Cardinals Vs. Rams Final Score: Arizona Holds On, Wins 23-20

2011-11-27T21:27:05Z

The St. Louis Rams were hoping to end their stint alone at the bottom of the NFC West standings, but that didn't work out as they defeated 23-20 by the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon. The two teams came into the match-up just one game apart in the standings, but the Rams needed a win to knot things up and couldn't get that done.

It was a solid first half for St. Louis, with solid defense and an impressive punt return touchdown from Nick Miller, but things unraveled in the third quarter and they were unable to muster a comeback in the fourth. After taking a 10-3 lead into halftime, the Cardinals scored 17 unanswered points in the third quarter, including 7 on a punt return touchdown from Patrick Peterson, to take a 20-10 lead into the fourth quarter.

St. Louis actually managed to get the game tied up at 20, but they weren't able to finish off the comeback late in the game. Josh Brown knocked through a 48-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 20-13, and Brandon Lloyd scored the game-tying touchdown on this play:

That tied the game up at 20, but the Rams proceeded to give up a 52-yard run to Beanie Wells that put Arizona in position to score the game-winning field goal. The win bumped Arizona to 4-7 on the year, while St. Louis drops to 2-9.

For more updates on the Rams, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. For more in-depth coverage of the team, head over to Turf Show Times. For more news and notes from around the NFL, visit SB Nation's NFL news hub.

Darian Stewart Injury Update: Rams Safety Injured Against Arizona

2011-11-27T21:00:15Z

It's been an up-and-down game for the St. Louis Rams so far against the Arizona Cardinals, but one clear valley was Beanie Wells' 52-yard run midway through the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, that reasoning goes beyond the yardage St. Louis gave up, as second-year safety Darian Stewart was injured on the play while trying to tackle Wells.

Stewart, a 23-year-old out of South Carolina, was trying to make an open field tackle on Wells but failed to make the stop and appeared to land awkwardly while trying to make the diving stop. It's unclear exactly what his status is at this point, or exactly what injury he sustained on the play, but he's an important player for a developing young team.

Here's to hoping that Stewart can get back on the field soon. St. Louis currently trails 23-20 with just a few minutes left in the game.

Cardinals Vs. Rams Score Update: Cardinals Lead 20-13 Early In Fourth Quarter

2011-11-27T20:25:48Z

We saw the St. Louis Rams score a touchdown on a punt return midway through the first quarter of Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals, and Arizona's Patrick Peterson returned the favor as part of a dominant third quarter by the Cardinals.

After taking a 13-10 lead in the midst of the third quarter thanks to a couple of nice drives, one initiated by another Rams fumble, Peterson caught the ball at roughly the Arizona 20-yard line and took things from there:

It's been an incredible season so far for Peterson, who's proving to be the one player that's Devin Hester's equal when it comes to returning kicks. This return was his fourth punt return touchdown of the season, already tying the record that Hester set back in 2007. Hester has a league-record 17 return touchdowns in his career, but so far Peterson is showing that he has the skills to challenge that mark.

The Rams managed to respond with a solid drive, concluding with another Josh Brown field goal, but they're still trailing early in the fourth quarter after Brown recently missed another field goal opportunity.

Cardinals Vs. Rams Score Update: St. Louis Holds 10-3 At Halftime

2011-11-27T19:41:04Z

The St. Louis Rams tightened up the defense in the second quarter and hold a 10-3 led against the Arizona Cardinals at halftime on Sunday. The Rams took an early lead on an impressive punt return touchdown from Nick Miller, and have been excellent in stifling Arizona's passing game.

The lead was actually extended essentially as time expired, with Josh Brown kicking a 35-yard field goal with less than ten seconds left to put St. Louis up 10-3. That play was set up by an impressive catch from wide receiver Brandon Lloyd, who continues to meld with quarterback Sam Bradford. Here's video of that catch:

A couple of bad plays forced the Rams to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown, but the team is still up a score as the second half begins at the Edward Jones Dome.

Cardinals Vs. Rams Score Update: St. Louis Leads 7-3 On Punt Return Touchdown

2011-11-27T19:08:29Z

The Arizona Cardinals more than doubled the St. Louis Rams' total yardage so far in the first half, but St. Louis is holding onto a 7-3 lead anyways thanks to an 88-yard punt return touchdown from Nick Miller. St. Louis took an early 7-0 lead on that return before allowing the Cardinals to drive down the field and score a field goal.

It's been all rushing offense so far in this game, as the two teams have combined for 161 yards on the ground so far but just 33 yards through the air. The Rams offense has really struggled so far, mustering just 63 yards of total offense while committing three penalties and a turnover, but their special teams have once again come up big on Sunday.

Here's the 88-yard return from Miller, one of the "good-blocking-gets-the-runner-outside" variety that allowed him to sprint down the sideline nearly untouched:

That play put the Rams up 7-0 early, but as noted before that's about as much as the team has gotten done so far. The Cardinals offense has been a bit more productive, especially on this 71-yard run from Beanie Wells that helped to put Arizona in position to knock through Jay Feely's 29-yard field goal:

Wells is having a huge game for the Cardinals so far. He's already over the century mark on the ground, rushing for 117 yards on just 8 carries, helping to make up for a passing offense that's struggled under John Skelton. The Rams should be able to limit Skelton going forward, but they're going to need to stop Wells and get their offense going to stay ahead.

Cardinals Injury Report And Inactives List, Week 12: Kevin Kolb Out Once Again

2011-11-27T17:14:55Z

Despite speculation that he might be ready to play on Sunday, Cardinals QB Kevin Kolb will miss his fourth straight game of the season with turf toe. Here is the full list of Week 12 inactives for the Cardinals:

T D'Anthony Batiste

TE Rob Housler

QB Kevin Kolb

FB Reagan Maui'a

LB Joey Porter

FS Kerry Rhodes

WR Stephen Williams

With Kolb out, the Cardinals will once again to QB John Skelton. Skelton made his initial start as Kolb's replacement in Week 9 vs. the Rams, where he completed 20 of 35 passes for 222 yards and one interception. A bit of good news for Skelton is that Cardinals TE Todd Heap is active today after having missed Arizona's previous six games.