Cardinals still flying high, leaving streaky teams behind

Article by Rob Newell

Last week St Louis Rams rookie sensation Todd Gurley announced his presence to the rest of the NFL, this week he damn near shouted it to all and sundry.  Gaining just shy of 160 yards on 30 carries at Lambeau Field against the seemingly unstoppable Green Bay Packers, including a second straight week with a 50 yard run, Gurley is making a similar rookie impact at Running Back to what Odell Beckham managed at Wide Receiver last year.

I know the Rams still lost the game at Green Bay, but they showed enough to suggest the future could be very interesting on the field, assuming they can sort of off the field quickly enough.  The Rams defence is much talked about, almost as much talked about as Aaron Rodgers interception free streak at Lambeau Field, which the Rams ended and managed to recover a Rodgers fumble too. 

The Offensive Coordinator finally seems willing to find out what he has in Tavon Austin who seems to be actually getting the ball, in what seems a totally new concept in St Louis, and we know Gurley will be a monster in the backfield.  The Rams now need Nick Foles and the rest of the Receivers to step up and utilise the space that opposing defences will now have to leave in order to focus on Gurley, if the Rams can do this they may finally break out of the 8-8 mediocrity that has engulfed them in recent seasons.

 

Meanwhile at the New Meadowlands, New Jersey the long lost San Francisco 49ers offence, which had been missing in action since Week One, finally reappeared.  Carlos Hyde got the chance to run the ball and closed on a 100 yard game, Colin Kaepernick found some form again and threw for over 250 yards, just over 100 of which were to Anquain Boldin, thus providing the blueprint for how the 49ers need to play in their remaining games.  The problem for the Niners was the defence, they fell foul of the Eli Manning to Odell Beckham connection that was so unstoppable last year.

Beckham scared the wits out of the Niners secondary and even when he returned to the game with a Hamstring injury was able to draw a key Pass Interference call to enable the New York Giants to continue the final drive that led to the game winning touchdown pass with 21 seconds to go.  Scant consolation for the Niners, but at least they were in this one, they were not blown out for the first time since week one, and a loss is a loss is a loss in the NFL, but there were signs of encouragement for them, they need to feature Carlos Hyde more and play error free ball and they will be in with a chance.  Realistically it will be a long year and how well Kaepernick does in the next 12 weeks probably dictates if he is starting or backing up a new man next season, and maybe Jim Tomsula’s career prospects sit on his shoulders too.

Niners fans who need something to smile about can always watch the highlights from Cincinnati, the Seahawks got themselves into a big lead in the 4^th quarter, with the Legion of Boom that should be it, game over right?  Not this time it turned out, the Bengals on the back of the Red Rifle Andy Dalton and the running of Giovanni Bernard powered back to nick this one in overtime.  Yes you did read that right, in a high pressured game, Andy Dalton came out on the winning side, and the Bengals continued their unbeaten start to keep pace in the AFC with New England and Denver and are looking every inch a contender at the moment.  For Seattle it is a big bump in the road as the division leading Arizona Cardinals stole a march on the entire division.

The Cardinals were on the road also, in Detroit to renew a rivalry that has become a regular occurrence recently.  However since last season the Lions look to be a shadow of their former selves and the Cardinals look every inch the team they were last year when Carson Palmer was at QB, if not even better.  In truth though, Palmer was not required to do much in this one, he didn’t even need to break 200 yards passing, which for a Bruce Arians team seems impossible, as the Cardinals racked up 42 points in a one sided win.

The defence is looking great in Arizona, and the new defensive coordinator James Bettcher has not missed a step really since taking over for Todd Bowles, Calaius Campbell has been revitalised alongside Frosty Rucker on the DL, and Honey Badger is flying around the field making plays too.  The weakness apart from an injured Palmer last year for the Cardinals was the RB spot which led to many links to a possible move for Adrian Peterson which did not materialise, but despite that the RB position is suddenly a strength.  Andre Ellington confirmed his return from injury with a 63 yard TD run this week, meanwhile Chris Johnson on CJ2K fame went over a 100 yards again and is firmly in the top 5 in rushing this year, just a few months after being shot in a drive by incident.  Rookie David Johnson has shone too and is threat to score every time he touches the ball, be it running, receiving or special teams.

The Seahawks will be favoured to win this division but this Cardinals team as long as Palmer can move still, in a year when QB’s are dropping like no other, will be in the mix and with a 2 game lead already over a Seahawks team that is looking weakened from last year at this point, I have a feeling the NFC Championship might just be heading through Arizona not Seattle this year.