St. Louis gained only nine first downs and committed seven penalties giving up 104-yards. Against a Cardinals’ defense that had allowed two 100+ yard games and two touchdowns to opposing running backs through the first three weeks of the season, He entered halftime with two yards on the ground.
Advertisement
“Pretty complete game”, Arizona coach Bruce Arians said.
“Exactly what I expected”, quarterback Carson Palmer said. Johnson rushed for 99 yards on 22 carries and also caught a pair of passes for 21 yards, including a 10-yard TD grab in the third quarter. Williams raced 35 yards through a gaping hole up the middle with 1:30 remaining in the quarter to make it 24-3. In the second half of the first meeting the Rams scored 15 points unlike this game where they only mustered three points. Early in the season there were observers who believed that David Johnson might actually be the superior back before Chris Johnson had shown his productivity.
“The first series, I was a little nervous”, said Johnson, a third-round pick out of Northern Iowa.
The Cardinal offense has to get off to a quicker start, and for many reasons. “If it was easy, the pizza man would be doing it. But I’m glad we get the chance to do it”.
“Fitz is a guy I looked up to when I was in high school and has just been an wonderful player”, he said. Obviously he’s got great hands, runs great routes and he doesn’t try to be the center of the game.
The Minnesota Vikings (8-4) are coming from a 38-7 disappointing home loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Arizona led 10-0 at the half and never let the Rams into the game.
With the reception, Fitzgerald has surpassed Andre Johnson as the youngest player to reach 1,000 career receptions in National Football League history.
Part of the loss, according to the NFL’s leading rusher and Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, had to do with Minnesota feeding the former All-Pro only eight times against Seattle. With the win, the Cardinals improve to 10-2 and right now, they are among the top teams in the NFC.
The Rams, who lost their final three games in 2014, now head into the final four games of 2015 having won only five of their previous 16 contests.
The Rams announced tickets distributed at a season-low 51,115, but the actual attendance was obviously much lower.
After being outscored 58-10 in their last two games it’s hard to say where the Rams season will go. “I know that’s not what I’m going to do”.
“The coach is nearly out of answers”, Rams coach Jeff Fisher said when asked about the lack of offensive production.
“It’s not good”, quarterback Nick Foles said.
– The Cardinals had four drives of at least 80 yards.
He leads the league with 1,182 rushing yards and averages a sparkling 4.8 yards per carry.
Two Rams, cornerback Janoris Jenkins and tight end Lance Kendricks, were ruled out with concussions late in the game. The Cardinals will leave Veldheer alone to block Griffen most of the time.
Notes: Rams replacement K Zach Hocker strained a quad before kickoff so P Johnny Hekker handled kickoffs for the first time since high school.
Advertisement
The Cardinals pushed for another touchdown late on, but Johnson was tackled short before letting a pass slip through his fingertips on the next play, leaving Catanzaro to kick the field goal.
