Arizona Cardinals vs. St. Louis Rams: What's the Game Plan for St. Louis?

The St. Louis Rams (4-7) will host the Arizona Cardinals (9-2) this Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome. The Rams are thankful to be home after a brutal two-game road trip to Baltimore and Cincinnati. The team is hoping the home-field advantage will finally allow it to snap the current four-game losing streak.

St. Louis managed to best Arizona by a score of 24-22 in Week 4, but the Rams have devolved into a completely different team since then. Due to inconsistent play by the defense and the total lack of anything resembling an offense, the Rams have failed to win a single game since November 1.

Since the team appears to get worse every week, it’s hard to imagine the Rams suddenly snapping out of it against a top-notch opponent such as Arizona.

Unlike the Rams, the Cardinals have been anything but inept in 2015. Arizona currently possesses the No. 1 offense in the league, averaging 410 yards per game. Meanwhile, the team possesses a defense that surrenders just 326.4 yards per game—good for fifth-best in the NFL.

Despite St. Louis’ home-field advantage and the team’s success against Arizona earlier in the year, the outlook is grim for the Rams. Without a proper game plan, this game could get ugly.

Here’s what to watch for:

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Offensive Game Plan

The Rams are currently ahead of just one NFL team—the San Francisco 49ers—in terms of yards per game (304), but in the watchful eyes of Pro Football Focus, they’re dead last. St. Louis’ overall offensive grade is -113.9.

 The site also gives St. Louis a pass blocking grade of -51—third-worst in the league—and a run-blocking grade of -25.8. The grade in run blocking is particularly troubling, considering the Rams used a number of offseason draft picks to acquire road-paving linemen—Rob Havenstein (second round), Jamon Brown  (third round), Andrew Donnal (fourth round), Cody Wichmann (sixth round), Isaiah Battle (supplemental fifth-round pick).

It’s almost remarkable that the Rams pumped so many resources into a single unit with no positive results whatsoever.

The last time these teams faced each other in Week 4, Todd Gurley’s 146 rushing yards were key to St. Louis’ victory. Gurley has been held under 100 rushing yards in each of the last four games. Last week in Cincinnati, the Bengals held Gurley to just 19 yards on the ground and kept him out of the end zone for the first time since Week 5.

Without a successful Gurley, the Rams have no offense. Something has to happen to spark the run game. We need to see more packages that utilize Cory Harkey or Lance Kendricks as a lead-blocking fullback. Additionally, it’s time to get creative—perhaps by utilizing a third offensive tackle or running Gurley out of the Wildcat.

Along with Gurley, the Rams must get Tavon Austin going. Austin has been limited to 10 or fewer offensive touches in each of the last three games, which is simply unacceptable. Other than Gurley, he’s the only offensive player capable of making an impact. He needs a bigger role.

In week 4, Gurley and Austin both turned in a signature performance. If St. Louis can’t make that happen again, there’s no hope.  

Tom Gannam/Associated Press

Defensive Game Plan

The St. Louis defense takes a lot of pride in its pass rush—to the point that the group nicknamed itself “Sack City” a year ago.

Lately, the St. Louis pass rush has been nothing worth boasting about. In fact, it’s been rather invisible. Rams fans expect this unit to get at least three or four sacks in a single game. Instead, the Rams have just four sacks in the last four games combined—2.5 of them belong to Aaron Donald.

What happened to the ruthless pass rush and the blitz-happy Gregg Williams?

Sure, Robert Quinn has been inactive for three of the last four games. Even so, the team has depth to counter-balance that. The other defensive ends on the roster—Chris Long, William Hayes, Eugene Sims—have been complete ghosts.

The last time the Rams played Arizona, Carson Palmer was sacked four times. The defense was physical, nasty and seemed capable of standing up to the best offense in the NFL. The Rams must spark the pass rush once again and get inside Palmer’s head.

Additionally, it’s important for Janoris Jenkins to play well against Larry Fitzgerald. In their last meeting, Fitzgerald had 99 yards receiving, but Jenkins kept him out of the end zone. We need a similar top-notch performance from the Rams’ No. 1 cornerback this time around.

If Jenkins and the secondary can prevent the big plays downfield, it’ll allow the St. Louis front seven to lock in on Palmer and the run game.

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Prediction: Cardinals 31, Rams 10

I stand by my prediction in the official game preview. The Rams have little hope in this game. 

Sure, the Rams took down the Cardinals on their own turf earlier in the season. When using basic logic, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched for that same Rams team to accomplish that once again, especially since it has the home-field advantage this time around.

But that’s the issue. This is not that same Rams team from October 4. The Rams have regressed at a rapid and embarrassing pace—they are a shell of that Week-4 team.

Jeff Fisher teams are capable of manic rebounds at unexpected moments, but don’t buy it. It’s too late in the season, and the Rams have been beaten too hard into the ground for such an enthusiastic turnaround. It’s time to stick a fork in them.

Arizona should have no problem taking care of business. Frankly, it’ll be a major success if St. Louis keeps the game interesting.