The 2-1 Los Angeles Rams in Week 4 traveled to Arizona to play the 1-2 Cardinals off a 37-32 win over the Buccaneers in Week 3 for the Rams. The Cardinals on the other hand struggled mightily in a 33-18 loss to the Bills in Week 3. The Rams came out on top in this game 17-13 & improved their record to 3-1 & still sit atop the NFC West while the Cardinals are tied for last at 1-3 with the 49ers.
Positives:
- The QB play. Case Keenum had his best week of the season so far in week 4 throwing for 266 yards & 2 touchdowns. Keenum looked like the serviceable QB he was in the last 4 games of last year that he started in (went 3-1 in those 4 games as well).
- Big plays. The Rams seemed to push the ball down the field again like they did in week 3 against the Bucs. The first touchdown of this game was a 65 yard touchdown pass to Brian Quick which was good to see. Case Keenum’s average length of his passes was 8.9 yards an attempt which was his highest of this season (3.7 in week 1, 8 in week 2, 7.3 in week 3).
- Pass rush. The Rams were able to get a nice pass rush in this game on Carson Palmer getting 3 sacks & hitting the QB 6 times. Aaron Donald led the way with 1.5 sacks in this game & he’s leading the league with 11 QB hits this season (2nd is Derek Wolfe with 9).
- Turnovers. The Rams were able to create 5 total turnovers in this game (3 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles). Mark Barron, Trumaine Johnson & T.J McDonald all were recipients of interceptions from either Carson Palmer or Drew Stanton. The 2 fumbles were recovered by Eugene Sims & Josh Forrest. A big reason the Rams are 3-1 are because they are a +4 in the turnover margin through 4 weeks which ties them for 4th best in the NFL.
Negatives:
- Terrible running game. The Rams were unable to get their running game going yet again with Todd Gurley only getting 33 yards on 19 carries & the Rams as a whole ran for 41 yards on 23 carries for a woeful 1.8 yards per carry average. The Rams through 4 weeks are the 4th worst rushing offense with 307 yards on 104 carries.
- Stopping the run. The Rams were unable to stop the Cardinals running game which finished with 118 yards on 25 carries & a respectable 4.7 yards per carry average.
- Below average 3rd down efficiency. The Rams were pretty bad on 3rd down again going 6-14 (42.8%) against the Cardinals. The Rams are terrible in 2016 so far on 3rd down converting on just 33.3% of their 3rd downs which puts them at 27th in the NFL.
Moving Forward: The Rams will host the Buffalo Bills in week 5 in their 2nd home game this season at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks in week 2 9-6 in their Los Angeles home opener. The Bills are coming off their 2nd straight win in week 4 winning 16-0 against the Tom Brady-less Patriots. No offense to the Bills but they played a Patriots team that had a QB who was hurt & a team that is without their hall of fame QB in Tom Brady. I have yet to be able to tell what type of team the Bills really are because they looked so bad through the 1st 2 weeks & they have a mediocre head coach in Rex Ryan. I believe the Rams win this game 27-17.
