Reputations at stake as Rams host Cardinals at The Edward Jones Dome – NFL Preview
The Edward Jones Dome will witness an encounter of relatively low intensity on Sunday when St. Louis Rams will host Arizona Cardinals in the week 12 game of the National Football League current season.
The National Football Conference West division is already dominated by San Francisco 49ers with eight victories, and the assumption that Cardinals or Rams would leave 49ers behind to enter the playoffs is uncalled for.
Rams have two wins and eight defeats and they average 297.9 yards (191.3 passing yards and 106.6 passing yards) per game. Cardinals are a little better with seven failures and three victories and have an average of 309.9 yards
(216.4 passing yards and 93.5 rushing yards) per game. Cardinals and Rams are placed at the third and fourth place respectively in the NFC West division ranking.
With only their reputations at stake, both sides will want to enthral the audience by their splendid game-play; something that they have failed to do in this season.
The absence of regular quarterback Kevin Kolb due to injury continues to torment Cardinals. They brought in Kolb’s replacement, John Skelton, who performed well in a couple of games, but succumb badly against 49ers last week.
Skelton was selected in fifth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. After replacing Kolb, he has managed four touchdowns, five interceptions and 636 yards this season. Last week, his performance was substandard. He managed to complete only
six passes of 19 attempts for 99 yards. His three passes were intercepted, and he was eventually benched in the fourth quarter.
"John played like a rookie," Cardinals’ coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "He's a young football player, and he's going to have his ups and downs."
Kolb attended the team’s practice session on Wednesday after about three weeks. He was optimistic about his participation in the game, but if remains unfit Cardinals will have to go with Skelton.
"We've go to get better at making sure (Skelton) won't struggle," the Cardinals coach said.
For Rams, among many causes of concerns, one is quarterback Sam Bradford who fumbled twice in the week-11 defeat against Seattle Seahawks and completed only 20 of 40 passes. Following the loss, Sam was irritated, but vowed to improve
his performance.
"I'm beyond frustrated right now," Bradford said. "I've never been a part of a team that's been in this situation. I don't like it. I'm not going to quit.”
Both the teams are set to put the dreadful memories of this season behind and are ready to make new ones with little or more touch of glory.
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