The past few years, when the Cardinals had been good and the Rams not so much, the Cardinals would go on the road and beat the Rams. Period. And now, the script has been flipped. The Cardinals are not as good as they once were, and the Rams most certainly are good, and that's how you end up with results like Sunday. The Cardinals were better than London. It wasn't 33-0, even though it started like it might have been. But 16 points — which is what the Cards finished with — isn't enough to win most games and it definitely isn't enough to beat a Rams team that even on a day where they weren't completely clicking offensively, they still put up 32.
Blaine Gabbert will remain the starting quarterback, Bruce Arians said, and that, as last week, makes sense. It was a terrible start to the game for Gabbert Sunday, with two early picks. Gabbert said he needs to look at the film on the first throw, and on the second, he said the Rams went against what they had always shown on film in that formation — usually LB Alec Ogletree rushed and didn't drop — and so Gabbert didn't expect him there.
Gabbert settled down, and you can see the difference a running game makes. True for any QB, I suppose. There is a lot to take it. Gabbert now has thrown five interceptions in three games. The Cardinals will have to continue to evaluate where he might be as a QB candidate for 2018.
That's what a lot of this must be. Arians talked about the young players Sunday, making plays and, understandably, making some mistakes. Evaluations are ongoing for everyone with four games left.
-- There is no way to say how impressive it was to see Kerwynn Williams play the way he did, knowing his has broken ribs. I loved his response when he was asked if he was experiencing pain during the game: "I feel like everybody is in pain," Williams said, and it just felt like the opening lyric of a very personal song rather than a postgame quote. It would've been nice to get him to 100 yards, given that he had 86 at halftime. All that guy does is produce whenever he is thrust into the lineup.
-- With a decent day next week, Larry Fitzgerald is going to surpass Randy Moss for third-place all-time in NFL receiving yards. He needs 26 yards to do so.
-- Back and forth with the Cardinals linebackers on picks. Karlos Dansby dropped one he should've had, and it cost the Cards at least three points, since the Rams went on to kick a field goal. "We didn't make the plays that we needed to make, me included," Dansby said. "I've got to make that play. That changed the whole dynamic of the game."
Then there was the athletic pick by linebacker Kareem Martin, which short-circuited a Rams drive (although Gabbert threw a pick-six a couple of plays later.) "We work on screen drills a lot," Martin said. "I pretty much just pressed off him to attempt to go pursue. By the time I was about to turn around, I see the ball."
-- There was some wondering how the Rams could go through the long snapper Justin Drescher for the blocked field goal. The rules don't say you cannot hit the long snapper. You cannot line up over him when the snap happens. As long as you do not, and then go against him after the ball is snapped, contact with the long snapper is legal.
-- For the most part, I thought the Cards did a good job on Todd Gurley when Gurley ran the football. The problem was, and this is what defenses must deal with against David Johnson, is that Gurley was so dangerous catching the ball. He had 84 yards receiving (compared to 74 rushing).
-- Arians noted the young players. Ricky Seals-Jones dropped one, but he had a couple of nice catches and would've had a TD on a good throw from Gabbert on one play. Budda Baker continues to be all over the field, getting eight more tackles defensively (and maybe should've had a fumble recovery on the opening kickoff, if there had been Sunday Night Football-type cameras.)