Arizona put a kink in Seattle’s playoff seeding with a 34-31 win on Saturday. Los Angeles blew a 14-point lead to fall to San Francisco 22-21 last week, their 2nd loss to the 49ers this year. The Rams won the Week 4 matchup 17-13.
Arizona’s best offensive player this year has been RB David Johnson. He has topped 100 yards of total offense in each of his team’s 15 games, an NFL record, and will be the focal point again this week. He’s averaging 4.3 ypc and is likely to get 20+ rushing attempts. Los Angeles allows 105.1 ypg and will game plan against letting Johnson run wild against them. QB Carson Palmer has tossed 13 interceptions and lost 4 of 14 fumbles in 2016 but has played better as of late. WR Larry Fitzgerald has 102 catches on the year and should top 1,000 yards for the year (980) in this contest. Johnson has 77 catches for 841 yards and is a real handful in the passing game. WRs J.J. Nelson (132 yards last week) and John Brown are deep threats that open up the field for Fitz and Johnson. The Rams allow an average of 232 ypg through the air but have been more generous in recent weeks. Palmer has been sacked 39 times in 2016 while the Rams’ defense has notched 30 sacks, 8 by All Pro DT Aaron Donald.
LA rookie QB Jared Goff threw 2 more picks last week and has an unsightly 5-7 TD/INT ratio. Despite that number and others (53.5 completion pct., 61.7 QB rating), he has a chance to be productive this week. Rookie CB Brandon Williams has struggled as a starter for the Cardinals and both starting safeties, FS Tyrann Mathieu and SS Tony Jefferson, are expected to miss this game. WR Kenny Britt is the closest thing the Rams have to a No.1 wideout (68-1,002-5) and look for him to see plenty of targets. CB Patrick Peterson is a Pro Bowler in his own right and I expect Goff to stay away from him for most of the game. RB Todd Gurley has had a rough season (845 yards, 3.2 ypc) and the Cardinals yield only 3.6 ypc. However, they will have to pay extra attention to Gurley as he is clearly the offense’s best player. Los Angeles has given up 42 sacks while Arizona’s defense has produced 41. Goff needs his o-line to give him some time to dissect a secondary missing 3 starters.
Public Money Consensus
In this NFL matchup between Arizona and Los Angeles the public is leaning slightly to the Cardinals to cover the 6 point spread with over 60%. The over the posted total of 40.5 appears to be the consensus in this weekends game.
