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Week 1 - Arizona Cardinals (0-0) @ St. Louis Rams (0-0)
Strengths
- Bulger and Faulk and Bruce and Holt, oh my!
- Outstanding defensive line
Weaknesses
- Mediocre offensive line, LT Orlando Pace aside
- Very average secondary
Game Plan
Well, cheers, NFL scheduling computer. Nothing like starting your season playing
against your toughest divisional opponent in their house, is there? This should
help us get the whole “improved defence” thing into perspective.
Joking aside, we almost certainly can’t stop their passing game. When the Rams
have the ball, I just want to slow them down - cut off the big play and get
enough pressure up front to draw Bulger into making a mistake. On defence, our
wideouts have a big advantage over their corners, and so we’re going to have to
work that advantage if we plan on coming out on top. Once the defence has been
stretched with the pass, we can start using Marcel Shipp to grind the clock and
keep the St. Louis offence off the field.
I reckon.
-
So, our 2004 NFL season kicks off in a packed
Whatever-They’re-Calling-It-This-Week Dome in St. Louis, with a couple of NFL
pundits predicting us as a sleeper candidate for the playoffs this year.
Sleeper? Yeah. Like Rip van Winkle.
Nevertheless, when we win the toss I’ve absolutely no hesitation in giving St.
Louis the ball first, finding time to offer our defence a few words of
encouragement:
“Look, I know you coughed up more points last season than any team in NFL
history, but I can remember at least two or three plays that you honestly didn’t
suck all that badly. Let’s go out there and build on that, shall we?”
And build on it we do, new head coach Monte Kiffin’s Cover-2 helping us slowly
strangle the Rams, with new boy Jed Bowden making the big play as he drags Isaac
Bruce down inches short of converting a 3rd and 7 at halfway. The punt sails
into the endzone, and it’s game on.
The pre-game plan is to test the Ram corners, and test them we do with four
quick passes that take us straight downfield into the red zone. Marcel’s
champing at the bit by this stage, and finally we let him loose to crash over
tacklers all the way to the 6, first and goal. The strong St. Louis D-line
stiffens and stuffs consecutive runs, but they can’t resist the temptation to
bring a blitz on 3rd down and get punished for it – Blake to Johnson for 6 yards
and our first score of the new season. ARI 7-0 STL
Can our defence build on its strong start? Can it nadgers. We go back to a
recurring theme from last year, the “Play Okay For Two Downs Then Have A
Tea-Break During The Third” routine that livened up so many games that might
have otherwise had relatively sane scorelines. This one is a particularly fine
example – 3rd and goal at the 17 following a Wendell Bryant sack, and Bulger
finds an impossible gap between three defenders, touchdown Kevin Curtis. Arse.
ARI 7-7 STL
Maybe it’s catching? 3rd and 4 at our own 38, the Rams once again can’t help but
blitz, Jeff once again finds Bryant Johnson, who’s absolutely destroyed his
corner on the quick slant, and Johnno outruns Groce and Adam Archuletta 62 yards
to put us back in front as the crowd look on in complete silence. We’re giving
St. Louis all they can handle and more right now. ARI 14-7 STL
And – shock horror – our defence is doing just enough to keep our noses in
front. They’re still making yardage, but they’re not flying up and down the
field like they have in games past. Another big play from a cornerback – Dave
“No Mark” Barrett this time, getting waaaaay up in the air to claw a pass away
from Isaac Bruce – forces the Rams to try a long field-goal, Jeff Wilkins
dropping his 52-yarder just short. We can’t capitalise, though, and following a
3-and-out and a sliced punt, St. Louis drive straight back into field-goal
range. Given a second chance, Wilkins makes no mistake and with less than five
minutes to go in the half it’s ARI 14-10 STL
It looks like we’re about going to have to punt it straight back, but Jeff
Blake’s desperation heave on 3rd-and-long somehow finds Bryant Johnson, and
we’re still alive. Suddenly Marcel’s finding some space and making it happen,
running down the clock until we reach the 2-minute warning at the St. Louis 16.
Aware that if we leave the Rams more than about a nanosecond after we score
they’re likely to be able to get into our endzone, we stay on the ground and
work the clock – Shipp, Shipp, Shipp then Minor in to cap off the drive with his
first TD as a Cardinal, from all of 1 yard. There are 17 seconds left on the
clock, and the Rams get the ball back to halfway, but Bulger’s one-tick-left
Hail Mary gets batted down, so we head off the field to the gratifying sound of
sporadic boos, the score ARI 21-10 STL
-
Christ. We’re winning. This is bizarre. Almost unheard-of, in fact.
“Just, you know, keep doing what you’re doing. And try not to screw it up,
yeah?”
Our offence has been almost immaculate, and if we can somehow get ourselves a
touchdown on the opening drive of the 3rd quarter, even St. Louis are going to
find it difficult to get back into the game. The crowd seem to know it, too, and
the noise is unbelievable as we ease downfield into Ram territory before hitting
the traditional stumbling block and finding ourselves in an Official Down And
Distance Of The Arizona Cardinals situation. Travis Minor sneaks out of the
backfield and heads unnoticed down the right sideline, Jeff Blake puts up a
touch-pass... too low, too slow, too easy for Travis Fisher to pick off. Minor
races back and makes the tackle, but it’s 1st down Rams at our 31. Inevitably,
we get them to 3rd-and-long. Inevitably, our defence collectively takes the play
off and Marshall Faulk makes a catch in the endzone to cut the deficit to 4.
Yikes. ARI 21-17 STL
Needing a drive and some points to take the pressure off, our offence responds
with a three-and-out. Yeah. That’ll show them. The Rams have got some wheels
under them now, but once again the defence steps up as Torry Holt seems to have
made the grab that would convert a 3rd and 5, but Adrian Wilson steps up to put
a lick on him and jars the ball loose. Phew. The third quarter ends with Wilkins
kicking a 44-yard trey to make this a one point game, and things are officially
getting a bit nervous on the Arizona sideline. ARI 21-20 STL
Time for our offence to continue its collapse with another three-and-out? Yeah,
I think so. Christ. Alarm bells ringing all over, now. The Rams are making it
look easy, and we’re having to take a few chances to try and get this back under
control. On a first and 10 on our 40, with St. Louis showing a three-wide set,
we come out in a 4-6 and throw six men into a strongside blitz – kill or cure.
The pass-blocking is good, and Bulger hangs on and hangs on and hangs on until
the very last minute before the protection starts to break down and the
quarterback makes the decision to sling a missile the left sideline toward a
double-covered Isaac Bruce – up go all three players, and down comes strong
safety Adrian Wilson with the ball! Seven and a half minutes to play, 1st down
at our 24, and we’re still in this, just about.
We’re still okay, but we badly need a drive to give our defence a rest and get
the crowd back out of this game. We get a quick first through Marcel and Anquan,
but on the ensuing 2nd and 5 Leonard Little gets in to sack Jeff Blake leaving
us with a 3rd and 13. We really should run it, grind the clock and punt away,
but Jeff thinks he sees Bryan Gilmore open on a crossing-pattern and tries to
squeeze the ball in, inevitably throwing it right to linebacker Tommy Polley at
the St. Louis 45 (man, I really, really hope Polley becomes a cap-casualty next
year...). 5:19 to play.
The Rams glide into a first-and-goal, but for the umpteenth time today our
defence comes through, stuffing Faulk, Faulk again then Bulger on the sneak (a
QB sneak? From our 5-yard line?) at the 2-minute warning. Wilkins gets the
chipshot, and with 1:58 remaining we’re behind for the first time today - ARI
21-23 STL
Still loads of time. Still three timeouts left. Still the same offence that ran
up about a million points last season, despite it managing less than 30 yards in
this second half. Here we go. Blake finds Boldin on a hook-pattern for a first
down, and we hurry to the line to go again. Jeff sees Anquan get free up the
right sideline and lets fly... And for the second time this game, he doesn’t get
enough on it, and for the second time this game, Travis Fisher gets in for the
gut-punch interception. Showing admirable presence of mind, Anquan gets back and
flattens Fisher on our 39, but with less than two minutes to play we’ve really
put ourselves up against it.
The defence drag their weary bodies back onto the field for one last effort, and
hold 3 Faulk runs to just 5 yards total, but we’ve had to burn all 3 timeouts
and with 1:27 to play Jeff Wilkins hits a 51-yarder to leave us needing a
touchdown to save the game. ARI 21-26 STL
Can Jeff Blake redeem himself? Can he hell. Another over-optimistic pass in the
middle of the field, another pick by a Ram linebacker and our offence’s
self-destruction is complete. We’ve squandered an 11-point lead in the second
half, and just for once, our defence can’t be blamed at all as our offence in
general, and Blake in particular, just melted down for two quarters. Final score
- ARI 21-26 STL, 0-1 on the season.
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(c) daniel
roe 2004
