The St. Louis Rams' passing game, on their Thursday Night Football debut vs. the Arizona Cardinals, lay dormant for two-plus quarters after a perfect early drive, and with Sam Bradford ice-cold and Danny Amendola injured, it looked like it'd stay that way. But the Sam Bradford of 2012 differs from earlier models in at least one way: He's never afraid to throw the deep ball. One 51-yard bomb on third-down later, the Rams lead 17-3 in the fourth quarter, and rookie wide receiver Chris Givens has his first career touchdown pass.
You won't see a more beautiful pass today, and not only because they're playing football on Thursday, for some reason. Bradford had time, and Givens had separation, and the result was the kind of play you might run for your 100-rated create-a-quarterback in Madden.
After that pass, Bradford has a truly odd line: 7-for-21, 141 yards, two touchdowns, one interception. It's not a great performance, but when the defense has sacked your opposite number seven times in three quarters—and the one thing you can still do is throw 50-yard completions toward the end zone—you can afford to be less than perfect.