Official Game Day Thread - Rams @ Cardinals December 6
Dec 2, 2020 2:55:08 GMT -7
Rimrock and thomas cat like this
Post by End Zone on Dec 2, 2020 2:55:08 GMT -7
Hello and welcome to the Forum’s 12th Game Day thread of 2020. How is everyone today? Many Cardinals fans are fattened by Thanksgiving holiday feasting and a week of leftovers. For awareness, I’m okay now. Last weekend’s food was awesome; however, the ARZ @ NE game almost caused me to call a shrink and request therapy. Gawd, that last game was bad. The Cardinals team record is now a modest 6-5.
Before the Cardinals team and us weary fans is the month of December and the proverbial home stretch of the 2020 NFL season. Calling on all fans! Who is up for the team sprint to the finish line? Are you game? With just 5 games left in this most unusual Arizona Cardinals regular season schedule, the Cardinals are somehow still in the playoff hunt (maybe the Wild Card only) despite disastrous November stumbles and the team dropping 3 of 4 games (1 Nov was the Bye week; 8 Nov lost to Dolphins; 15 Nov beat Bill via “Hail Murray;” 19 Nov lost to Seahawks; and 29 Nov lost to Patriots). Losing to the Seahawks was somehow acceptable after the game 7 OT thriller. However, losing to the beached Dolphins at game 8 and the weak Patriots at game 11 was saddening, disturbing, and bewildering to us Cardinals faithful. No wonder I had to take this past week off from thinking too about the Cardinals. My survival instincts kicked in. I had to step away from most football, or I may go completely nuts by early January!
On Sunday, the Cardinals host the much-despised NFC-West rival Los Angeles Rams in the 84th contest between these two storied franchises. The Rams are just 1 game ahead of the Cardinals in the win column at 7-4. The Cardinals are just 1 game ahead of the NFC West bottom-dwelling 49ers at 5-6. Both the Cardinals and Rams lost shocking games to weaker opponents last weekend, proving that “Any Sunday” is no myth.
Who likes horror shows? Not me. Nonetheless, I will watch the Cardinals next game with one eye open and one eye closed. Call it morbid interest. By the way, the current 2020 Cardinals show closely resembles the 2002 season. Really, check it out. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Arizona_Cardinals_season . The Cardinals started that season at 4-2. Then the fast-starting and faster-imploding team dropped 9 of its remaining 10 games to finish at 5-10. Does that look eerily familiar to today? I say, “Nope.” That’s just the way the Cardinals team lives and dies year after year for over 100 years.
To honor the Cardinals promising 2020 season, and all fans, players, and good and bad times gone by, I thought I’d do some research and post a few historical footnotes that showcase Cardinals football headscratchers, amusing performances, and player oddities. At times, it seems the Cardinals excel at finding new ways to lose and also at attracting bad luck. My mind’s eye laughed and cried as I read these stories. Ah, the memories. I am 100% certain this short list is 94% incomplete. My top honors go to:
1. In 2009, DT/DE Darnell Dockett sacked QB Ben Roethlisberger 3 times in Super Bowl XLIII. However, when the Cardinals Defense desperately needed a sack from him in the waning minutes of the 4th quarter to halt that infamous Steelers victory drive, all Dockett could manage was a QB shirtsleeve tug and desperate hand wave at the escaping QB’s shadow. Months later, a shirtless, tattooed, and muscled Darnell Dockett is cited and ridiculed by PETA for owning and man-handling numerous exotic pets (alligators, snakes, a tiger, etc). Dockett then demands more contract pay, a Cardinals cliché.
2. In 2001, the 23 year-old Kicker Bill Gramatica calmly kicked a game 1, 1st quarter FG, giving the Cardinals a rare 3-0 lead against NFC East juggernaut NY Giants (that team went on to a 12-4 season). In his post-FG joy and excitement, Gramatica first leaps into the air, then lands awkwardly on his right foot, ripping his ACL to shreds and ending his season on the spot. Gramatica’s knee would heal months later, but he would kick only 21 more FGs before retiring. The injury incident video is a Cardinals cliché.
3. In 2002, 3rd year RB Thomas Jones goes on IR for broken hand after 9 games. The injury is not football related. Jones tells the team that he broke his hand while answering the telephone. His story makes no sense to anyone with knowledge of telephone etiquette. Perhaps the broken hand can be explained this way: Jones learned that he’s about to be traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This news follows the Cardinals loss to the Seahawks, 27-6. In 2003, the trade actually happens. Jones was a Cardinals 1st Round pick and bolts to just 1,264 yards and 9 TDs in 3 years. He becomes a member of the Cardinals 1st Round Draft Busts, and an instant cliché.
4. In 2006, with the Cardinals trailing the Rams late in the 4th quarter, 16-14, the Rams punted to the Cardinals. The ball was fair-caught at the Cardinals 33-yard line. However, a Cardinals player was off-sides on the play. The Rams HC declined the 5-yard penalty, thinking the game was about ended anyway. However, the Cardinals HC can and did call for a rare Free Kick field goal try from their 33-yard line. There were only seconds to go in the game. Seeing what was happening as the Cardinals ST readied the FG try, the confused and inexperienced Rams HC demanded an explanation from the Referee and a quick timeout was called. Then, for an unexplained reason, the Rams HC was allowed to withdraw the earlier penalty declination. The 5-yard penalty was enforced, and the FG was never attempted from a ridiculous 82-yard range. Some called the Ram’s flip-flop decision a Referee travesty that was wrongly re-imposed on the traditional punching-bag Cardinals—another cliché.
5. Also, in 2006, and just 3 weeks after the strange game-ending events noted above, the famous Cardinals-Bears MNF game occurred. We all know about the Bears 3 TDs scored by the Defense and ST in the 4th quarter, squeaking out a 24-23 win to the glee of fawning sports media, and then HC Denny Green post-game melt-down. Green becomes an instant cliché. What is lost in this gut-wrenching freakshow is that the Cardinals FG kicker, Neil Rackers, had one last chance to bail out the Cardinals in the last minute of regular time. But, his 40-yard FG attempt sailed wide, reinforcing the idea that the Cardinals are masters of bad clichés.
6. Misery loves company and I can prove it. In 1944, while millions of Americans were overseas fighting Nazis and Imperialists, a few rough men remained back home and continued playing professional football. Because there were so few football players available for team rosters, the Cardinals and the Steelers briefly merged and formed the “Card-Pitt” team. After a few games, the team became phonetically and humorously known as the Carpets. The 1-year trial union turned into a total disaster by the end of the season. Card-Pitt finished 0-10 for the 1944 season, losing by a 22-point average per game. QB passing performance was 8 TDs, 41 INTs, and 31% pass completion rate—still NFL records today. The QBR was 3.0. In 10 games, the Kicker was 0-2 on FG tries, and 11 of 15 on extra points—15 TD were scored (8 pass, 7 run), if you cannot do public math. Another Cards-Pitt team NFL record that still stands—the Punter’s average of 32.7 yards per punt. Even when the Cardinals team is reinforced with new blood en masse, the team’s fundamental genetic material persists.
I know FLCF already posted much Cardinals-Rams history at the Pre- and Post-Game Thread. Therefore, I will be brief with my data discussion. In the 83-game head-to-head competition, the Rams won 43 games, the Cardinals won 38 games, and the teams tied 2 times. The last couple years, the Rams looked forward to playing the Cardinals, averaging 30-plus points each game. The 2019 games were ugly losses in typical Cardinals fashion. At game 1, the Cardinals yielded 549 yards and 34 points. At game 2, the Cardinals provided 5 turnovers and yielded 31 points. The Cardinals averaged just 15.5 points vs. LAR per game in 2019.
Per ESPN, the Rams have a 53.7% chance of winning, the Cardinals have a 45.9% percent chance of winning, and the 2 teams have a .04% chance of a tie game. The Rams are giving -3 points to the Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. The pre-game O/U is 48.5. The Vegas money likes the Rams to win on the road and beat the spread. The Rams are 3-3 on road games so far. The Cardinals are 3-2 at home so far. Rams are 3-2 in their last 5 games. The Cardinals are 2-3 in their last 5 games. The competition seems about even to me. I saw a new major sports network forecast this morning that caught my eye: Cardinals 25, Rams 24. That final score works for me.
Team Statistics. The Cardinals 2020 performance on paper is head-and-shoulders above the 2019 performance—it’s all true, look it up. For the LAR @ ARZ matchup: Rams points per game: 23.9; Cardinals 27.9. Points allowed per game: Rams 19.5; Cardinals 23.5. Rams total yards gained: 399.3; Cardinals 411.7. Rams total yards allowed: 316.6; Cardinals: 369.0.
For a quick reading on the Rams’ team history, see this web page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Rams . The team has a long and proud history beginning in 1936. It is well known that the franchise has changed owners and hometowns a few times in 84 years. The team included some of the most iconic football players of the modern era. 16 former Rams coaches and players are enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame. 6 jersey numbers are permanently retired. The Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999. Pre NFL-NFL merger, the Rams won the NFL Championship in 1945 and 1951. The Rams last made the playoffs in 2018.
The NFL admitted finally that Referee Bill Vinovich was off his game last week. Two controversial penalties, 1 vs. the Patriots and 1 vs. the Cardinals, had direct impacts on scoring and the game’s final result. The NFL’s Referee crews are humans and humans are not infallible. Yet, the bulk of bad or questionable judgment calls continues to hound the Cardinals for decades, even with the use of HC Challenge flags, Referee replay requests, and Ultra-High Digital imaging technology.
The “White Hat” for the Rams @ Cardinals game is Referee Shawn Hochuli, #83 (his father was Referee Ed Hochuli) an NFL official since 2014. Referee Hochuli is one of the least experienced NFL referees and has a clean record since donning the White Hat for the first time in 2018. He Referee’d just 1 time for a Cardinals game, the ARZ @ DET game on December 9, 2018. His crew awarded 15 penalties to the 2 teams that day. There just is not much in this Referee’s record. With time, he will experience fame and controversy. That is part of the Referee life on the field. To review Referee Shawn Hochuli’s records, see this web page: www.pro-football-reference.com/officials/HochSh0r.htm .
Game day weather for Glendale, AZ on December 6th is forecast to be a comfortable 72F, with sunny skies. The roof should be open. No paying fans can attend. Franchise employees and player family members can attend. The 65,000 seating capacity SFS will be mostly empty with some piped-in friendly crowd noise.
FLCF and I will ensure the injury reports and active rosters are posted prior to kickoff. At this point in the season, the player active roster and PS roster merry-go-round is spinning fast. Injuries can be positive COVID hits. Players must pass pre-game and game day COVID tests to travel and play. There can be roster churn at the last minute.
The game is broadcast on FOX and NFL’s Network and Red Zone. Listen to local AZ radio and mobile devices at Sirrus FM. The game is NOT presently scheduled to be broadcast nationally.
No major injuries to any players. Go Cardinals! Win #7 by any means possible.
Before the Cardinals team and us weary fans is the month of December and the proverbial home stretch of the 2020 NFL season. Calling on all fans! Who is up for the team sprint to the finish line? Are you game? With just 5 games left in this most unusual Arizona Cardinals regular season schedule, the Cardinals are somehow still in the playoff hunt (maybe the Wild Card only) despite disastrous November stumbles and the team dropping 3 of 4 games (1 Nov was the Bye week; 8 Nov lost to Dolphins; 15 Nov beat Bill via “Hail Murray;” 19 Nov lost to Seahawks; and 29 Nov lost to Patriots). Losing to the Seahawks was somehow acceptable after the game 7 OT thriller. However, losing to the beached Dolphins at game 8 and the weak Patriots at game 11 was saddening, disturbing, and bewildering to us Cardinals faithful. No wonder I had to take this past week off from thinking too about the Cardinals. My survival instincts kicked in. I had to step away from most football, or I may go completely nuts by early January!
On Sunday, the Cardinals host the much-despised NFC-West rival Los Angeles Rams in the 84th contest between these two storied franchises. The Rams are just 1 game ahead of the Cardinals in the win column at 7-4. The Cardinals are just 1 game ahead of the NFC West bottom-dwelling 49ers at 5-6. Both the Cardinals and Rams lost shocking games to weaker opponents last weekend, proving that “Any Sunday” is no myth.
Who likes horror shows? Not me. Nonetheless, I will watch the Cardinals next game with one eye open and one eye closed. Call it morbid interest. By the way, the current 2020 Cardinals show closely resembles the 2002 season. Really, check it out. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Arizona_Cardinals_season . The Cardinals started that season at 4-2. Then the fast-starting and faster-imploding team dropped 9 of its remaining 10 games to finish at 5-10. Does that look eerily familiar to today? I say, “Nope.” That’s just the way the Cardinals team lives and dies year after year for over 100 years.
To honor the Cardinals promising 2020 season, and all fans, players, and good and bad times gone by, I thought I’d do some research and post a few historical footnotes that showcase Cardinals football headscratchers, amusing performances, and player oddities. At times, it seems the Cardinals excel at finding new ways to lose and also at attracting bad luck. My mind’s eye laughed and cried as I read these stories. Ah, the memories. I am 100% certain this short list is 94% incomplete. My top honors go to:
1. In 2009, DT/DE Darnell Dockett sacked QB Ben Roethlisberger 3 times in Super Bowl XLIII. However, when the Cardinals Defense desperately needed a sack from him in the waning minutes of the 4th quarter to halt that infamous Steelers victory drive, all Dockett could manage was a QB shirtsleeve tug and desperate hand wave at the escaping QB’s shadow. Months later, a shirtless, tattooed, and muscled Darnell Dockett is cited and ridiculed by PETA for owning and man-handling numerous exotic pets (alligators, snakes, a tiger, etc). Dockett then demands more contract pay, a Cardinals cliché.
2. In 2001, the 23 year-old Kicker Bill Gramatica calmly kicked a game 1, 1st quarter FG, giving the Cardinals a rare 3-0 lead against NFC East juggernaut NY Giants (that team went on to a 12-4 season). In his post-FG joy and excitement, Gramatica first leaps into the air, then lands awkwardly on his right foot, ripping his ACL to shreds and ending his season on the spot. Gramatica’s knee would heal months later, but he would kick only 21 more FGs before retiring. The injury incident video is a Cardinals cliché.
3. In 2002, 3rd year RB Thomas Jones goes on IR for broken hand after 9 games. The injury is not football related. Jones tells the team that he broke his hand while answering the telephone. His story makes no sense to anyone with knowledge of telephone etiquette. Perhaps the broken hand can be explained this way: Jones learned that he’s about to be traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This news follows the Cardinals loss to the Seahawks, 27-6. In 2003, the trade actually happens. Jones was a Cardinals 1st Round pick and bolts to just 1,264 yards and 9 TDs in 3 years. He becomes a member of the Cardinals 1st Round Draft Busts, and an instant cliché.
4. In 2006, with the Cardinals trailing the Rams late in the 4th quarter, 16-14, the Rams punted to the Cardinals. The ball was fair-caught at the Cardinals 33-yard line. However, a Cardinals player was off-sides on the play. The Rams HC declined the 5-yard penalty, thinking the game was about ended anyway. However, the Cardinals HC can and did call for a rare Free Kick field goal try from their 33-yard line. There were only seconds to go in the game. Seeing what was happening as the Cardinals ST readied the FG try, the confused and inexperienced Rams HC demanded an explanation from the Referee and a quick timeout was called. Then, for an unexplained reason, the Rams HC was allowed to withdraw the earlier penalty declination. The 5-yard penalty was enforced, and the FG was never attempted from a ridiculous 82-yard range. Some called the Ram’s flip-flop decision a Referee travesty that was wrongly re-imposed on the traditional punching-bag Cardinals—another cliché.
5. Also, in 2006, and just 3 weeks after the strange game-ending events noted above, the famous Cardinals-Bears MNF game occurred. We all know about the Bears 3 TDs scored by the Defense and ST in the 4th quarter, squeaking out a 24-23 win to the glee of fawning sports media, and then HC Denny Green post-game melt-down. Green becomes an instant cliché. What is lost in this gut-wrenching freakshow is that the Cardinals FG kicker, Neil Rackers, had one last chance to bail out the Cardinals in the last minute of regular time. But, his 40-yard FG attempt sailed wide, reinforcing the idea that the Cardinals are masters of bad clichés.
6. Misery loves company and I can prove it. In 1944, while millions of Americans were overseas fighting Nazis and Imperialists, a few rough men remained back home and continued playing professional football. Because there were so few football players available for team rosters, the Cardinals and the Steelers briefly merged and formed the “Card-Pitt” team. After a few games, the team became phonetically and humorously known as the Carpets. The 1-year trial union turned into a total disaster by the end of the season. Card-Pitt finished 0-10 for the 1944 season, losing by a 22-point average per game. QB passing performance was 8 TDs, 41 INTs, and 31% pass completion rate—still NFL records today. The QBR was 3.0. In 10 games, the Kicker was 0-2 on FG tries, and 11 of 15 on extra points—15 TD were scored (8 pass, 7 run), if you cannot do public math. Another Cards-Pitt team NFL record that still stands—the Punter’s average of 32.7 yards per punt. Even when the Cardinals team is reinforced with new blood en masse, the team’s fundamental genetic material persists.
I know FLCF already posted much Cardinals-Rams history at the Pre- and Post-Game Thread. Therefore, I will be brief with my data discussion. In the 83-game head-to-head competition, the Rams won 43 games, the Cardinals won 38 games, and the teams tied 2 times. The last couple years, the Rams looked forward to playing the Cardinals, averaging 30-plus points each game. The 2019 games were ugly losses in typical Cardinals fashion. At game 1, the Cardinals yielded 549 yards and 34 points. At game 2, the Cardinals provided 5 turnovers and yielded 31 points. The Cardinals averaged just 15.5 points vs. LAR per game in 2019.
Per ESPN, the Rams have a 53.7% chance of winning, the Cardinals have a 45.9% percent chance of winning, and the 2 teams have a .04% chance of a tie game. The Rams are giving -3 points to the Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. The pre-game O/U is 48.5. The Vegas money likes the Rams to win on the road and beat the spread. The Rams are 3-3 on road games so far. The Cardinals are 3-2 at home so far. Rams are 3-2 in their last 5 games. The Cardinals are 2-3 in their last 5 games. The competition seems about even to me. I saw a new major sports network forecast this morning that caught my eye: Cardinals 25, Rams 24. That final score works for me.
Team Statistics. The Cardinals 2020 performance on paper is head-and-shoulders above the 2019 performance—it’s all true, look it up. For the LAR @ ARZ matchup: Rams points per game: 23.9; Cardinals 27.9. Points allowed per game: Rams 19.5; Cardinals 23.5. Rams total yards gained: 399.3; Cardinals 411.7. Rams total yards allowed: 316.6; Cardinals: 369.0.
For a quick reading on the Rams’ team history, see this web page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Rams . The team has a long and proud history beginning in 1936. It is well known that the franchise has changed owners and hometowns a few times in 84 years. The team included some of the most iconic football players of the modern era. 16 former Rams coaches and players are enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame. 6 jersey numbers are permanently retired. The Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999. Pre NFL-NFL merger, the Rams won the NFL Championship in 1945 and 1951. The Rams last made the playoffs in 2018.
The NFL admitted finally that Referee Bill Vinovich was off his game last week. Two controversial penalties, 1 vs. the Patriots and 1 vs. the Cardinals, had direct impacts on scoring and the game’s final result. The NFL’s Referee crews are humans and humans are not infallible. Yet, the bulk of bad or questionable judgment calls continues to hound the Cardinals for decades, even with the use of HC Challenge flags, Referee replay requests, and Ultra-High Digital imaging technology.
The “White Hat” for the Rams @ Cardinals game is Referee Shawn Hochuli, #83 (his father was Referee Ed Hochuli) an NFL official since 2014. Referee Hochuli is one of the least experienced NFL referees and has a clean record since donning the White Hat for the first time in 2018. He Referee’d just 1 time for a Cardinals game, the ARZ @ DET game on December 9, 2018. His crew awarded 15 penalties to the 2 teams that day. There just is not much in this Referee’s record. With time, he will experience fame and controversy. That is part of the Referee life on the field. To review Referee Shawn Hochuli’s records, see this web page: www.pro-football-reference.com/officials/HochSh0r.htm .
Game day weather for Glendale, AZ on December 6th is forecast to be a comfortable 72F, with sunny skies. The roof should be open. No paying fans can attend. Franchise employees and player family members can attend. The 65,000 seating capacity SFS will be mostly empty with some piped-in friendly crowd noise.
FLCF and I will ensure the injury reports and active rosters are posted prior to kickoff. At this point in the season, the player active roster and PS roster merry-go-round is spinning fast. Injuries can be positive COVID hits. Players must pass pre-game and game day COVID tests to travel and play. There can be roster churn at the last minute.
The game is broadcast on FOX and NFL’s Network and Red Zone. Listen to local AZ radio and mobile devices at Sirrus FM. The game is NOT presently scheduled to be broadcast nationally.
No major injuries to any players. Go Cardinals! Win #7 by any means possible.