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Arizona Cardinals Win First Division Title Ever

Posted: Dec 7th 2008 7:40PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: Arizona Cardinals, Rams, NFC West

The last time the Cardinals franchise won a division title, they played their games in Busch Stadium. They were the Saint Louis Cardinals. Coincidentally, they pasted the hapless current St. Louis team today at home to clinch the NFC West.

While it was no surprise the 2008 Cardinals easily handled the 2008 Rams -- 34-10 -- let us examine how rare an occurrence this is.

- The Cardinals franchise has only finished above .500 four times since 1976.

- The Cardinals franchise has not won their division since a strike-shortened 5-4 record was good enough in 1982. In the past 25 years, the Cardinals had only made the playoffs once -- when Jake Plummer took them on a 9-7 whirlwind in 1998.

- Since moving to Arizona, the Cardinals have lost at least 10 games 13 times in 20 seasons.

I could go on and on, but you get the point. This was one futile organization. I'll admit that when covering a team who is not your favorite, you still develop some love for the team. I've been rooting for these guys to do well, and they are a likable bunch from top to bottom. To the true Arizona Cardinals fans -- who have been with the team since the beginning -- you really deserve this. Enjoy it, and hopefully it's simply the start of things to come.

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Bears 27, Rams 3: The Embarrassment Continues in St. Louis

Posted: Nov 23rd 2008 4:30PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: Chicago Bears, Rams, NFC North, NFC West, NFL Coaching

3 COMMENTS

I don't care if the Lions go 0-16 -- and they probably will. There is no way they are worse than the St. Louis Rams. The Chicago Bears dominated every facet of the game this week, but the Rams are getting pretty used to being embarrassed, as this is the third straight week they've faced a deficit of at least 21 points at halftime. The score could have been much worse, but the Bears completely shut it down in the second half.

I believe the overall futility of the team was nicely summed up at the 11:15 mark of the fourth quarter. The Rams were trailing by 24 points, and faced a 4th-and-2 from the Bears' 28-yard line. It would have done very little to impact the game if they tacked on three points. Regardless, Jim Haslett sent out the field goal unit. The crowd booed quite loudly -- it was actually the most noise made by Rams' fans all game -- so Haslett reacted and sent the offense back out on the field. Only now they didn't have enough time on the play clock to run a play, so they had to use a timeout.

After the timeout, the Rams did gain the first down, but then threw an interception a few plays later.

Continue Reading Bears 27, Rams 3: The Embarrassment Continues in St. Louis

Marc Bulger Still Rams' Quarterback, Steven Jackson Already Ruled Out

Posted: Nov 18th 2008 2:10PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: Chicago Bears, Rams, NFC North, NFC West, NFL Injuries, NFL Coaching

4 COMMENTS

Marc Bulger has been having an atrocious season. His quarterback ranking is 28th in the league, behind the likes of J.T. O'Sullivan, Dan Orlovsky, and Gus Frerotte. The Rams have been embarrassed for two straight weeks.

And yet, they are sticking with their quarterback.

"We're going to stick with Marc," coach Jim Haslett said Monday. "Just talking to all the offensive coaches upstairs, they think that Marc right now still gives us our best chance to win."

Therein lies my disagreement with Haslett. At 2-8, the Rams' season is in the tank. I'd let Brock Berlin play. You never know, I mean, Matt Cassel was a backup in college and he's starting to play well for the Patriots. Maybe you catch lightning in a bottle and don't need to draft a quarterback in the first round next year.

Of course, whoever is taking snaps this week will, once again, be playing without the offense's marquee player. Steven Jackson has already been ruled out with his strained thigh muscle. I'm relieved the announcement this week happened so quickly and matter-of-factly, too, because the past three or four weeks we've heard that it was a game-time decision.

Continue Reading Marc Bulger Still Rams' Quarterback, Steven Jackson Already Ruled Out

Brock Berlin is as Good as Carson Palmer

Posted: Dec 10th 2007 7:59PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: Bengals, Rams, AFC North, NFC West, Cincinnati, St. Louis

1 COMMENT

OK, of course he isn't. But if you were to play a game of "Who's the Star QB?" watching yesterday's Rams/Bengals game, you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell the former first overall pick from the undrafted free agent who was on the scout team until about four days before his first start.

OK, Brock Berlin didn't have a fantastic game against a bad defense. But considering the circumstances -- again, he had one practice with the first team before his first NFL start -- I think you've got to give him at least a little bit of credit.

No, he didn't get the Rams into the endzone. And he threw an interception trying to rally the Rams from a nine-point deficit with two minutes left. But he did complete a hair over 60% of his passes for 153 yards, with a healthy yards-per-attempt average.

Carson Palmer, meanwhile, had no touchdowns, 189 yards, and two interceptions (one of which was a pick-six). Against equally crappy defenses, Berlin was at the least comparable with Palmer. It may have been for one game only, but still, what's Palmer's excuse?

Bengals Beat Rams Amid the Drizzle

Posted: Dec 9th 2007 11:41PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Bengals, Rams, AFC North, NFC West, Cincinnati, St. Louis

0 COMMENTS

Tomorrow will mark the 9th anniversary of the day I moved in the Cincinnati area. At this time of year, I always miss living in the South since the weather sucks. It has rained, snowed or been a combination of the two for about 10 days now.

The ugly, drizzling day gave us an ugly, drizzling game from the Bengals and Rams. The hometown folks (many of which decided to stay home in their warm, dry living rooms) did get to see Cincy get its 5th win, 19-10. A win is a win, but this one was against a 3-10 team who was starting a QB who had never thrown a pass in the NFL before. In that rain.

Cincinnati's offense wasn't sharp ... but they were effective. They had excellent offensive balance and kept the Rams defense off guard. It was also another great defensive effort: for the second time in three weeks the defense didn't allow a TD. The dominance would've been more apparent if Palmer hadn't had an interception returned for a TD at the start of the second half.

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Bulger Out, Berlin to Start, Fitzpatrick to Watch (From the Other Sideline)

Posted: Dec 8th 2007 5:58PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Bengals, Rams, AFC North, NFC West, NFL Injuries

0 COMMENTS

On Thursday, Tom Mantzouranis wrote that the Rams better hope Marc Bulger can play tomorrow because backup Gus Frerotte is on the shelf, and third-stringer, Brock Berlin, hadn't taken any snaps with the team before yesterday. Well, guess what? Bulger, like Frerotte, will be on the sidelines against the Bengals, and Berlin will make his first NFL start.

Two sources told the Post-Dispatch on Friday that Marc Bulger (concussion) will be sidelined for a second week. Coach Scott Linehan said Bulger didn't feel well after team meetings Thursday afternoon. Bulger was in uniform Friday, but Berlin took most of the snaps with the first team.

The Rams also signed 11-year veteran Todd Bouman to serve as Berlin's emergency backup. Interestingly, St. Louis traded third-year quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to Cincinnati a week before the season. Wonder if they regret that?

Fitzpatrick was originally drafted in the seventh round out of that NFL football factory, Harvard. He started three games as a rookie, and also led the Rams to a come-from-behind victory over the Texans, completing 19 of 30 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns.

Berlin, on the other hand, was the No. 1 recruit coming out of high school, and still ranks fourth on the all-time career passing list. And apparently, that's where he peaked. Berlin headed to Florida, couldn't beat out Rex Grossman, transferred to University of Miami, and after college ended up in NFL Europe. Not exactly how Berlin and his high school guidance counselor planned out, I'm guessing.

In any event, against the Rams, Fitzgerald will be Carson Palmer's backup, not doing either team any good.

Marc Bulger's Head is Still All Cloudy

Posted: Dec 6th 2007 8:27PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)
Filed under: Rams, NFC West, St. Louis

0 COMMENTS

Marc Bulger passed a neurological test after suffering a concussion that forced Gus Frerotte into starters duty last week. But that test wasn't designed to see if he would play Sunday. That was just to get out on the practice field.

"Believe me, I'm the No. 1 person - I'm hoping I get cleared this week to play. (But) it will be premature to say on Wednesday, after one practice ... that I'm the starter."

The Rams better hope he can go on Sunday -- Frerotte is now hurt, and third-string quarterback Brock Berlin didn't take any snaps with the team this week. When asked about the possibility of Bulger missing the game this Sunday, Scott Linehan got testy, confidently reminding the media that the Rams have Marques Hagans and Drew Bennett -- two college quarterbacks converted to wide receiver. Great contingency plan there, coach.

But he's not that stupid. If Bulger was seriously in doubt, the team would have given more work to Berlin or signed Todd Bouman, as was rumored, for depth. Should Bulger play though? Concussions are being treated more and more carefully by the league, and if Bulger still has doubts to his availability he can't be completely cleared. It's not as if the Rams have anything left to play for, so why the Rams and Bulger are risking his long-term health is beyond me.