Rams-Cardinals: Failing Grades Pockmark Report Card

QB - 

Two interceptions, a fumble and a litany of examples of what not to do under pressure. Don't worry. This isn't all on Austin Davis.

RB - 

An improved grade as last week for, relatively, the same performance plus some receiving work. Of course the bigger issue was the lack of volume. The Rams' commitment to a pass-heavy offense that doesn't move the ball well is...interesting.

WR - 

On a day when Davis needed his primary target to win, too often they just didn't. The pressure meant he wasn't going to have a ton of time to go through progressions, though he did a terrible job of it nonetheless, but Davis NEEDED his wide receivers yesterday. They came up short. Please send your reason the Rams hate to use Tavon Austin even after he gets off to a nice start to turfshowtimes@gmail.com.

TE - 

Jared Cook's explosion up the seam was the highlight of the day. Lance Kendricks had a plus day marred by a horrendous penalty call that negated a huge play. There's an argument to be made that this is the best unit on the offense. Blocking wasn't beautiful, but there were worse in that area...

O-line - 

Just horrendous. This isn't a personnel issue either. The only difference between yesterday's line and the week one unit was Greg Robinson in for Jake Long at left tackle. This team doesn't have excuses here. These are the guys they brought in. They decided to re-sign Rodger Saffold after the Oakland debacle. They decided to draft Greg Robinson at #2 overall. You could easily claim the line lost the game for the Rams yesterday, and it's a legitimate rebuke of the entire staff that the line they've built over three years was this bad yesterday. Hard to expect them to build other units to a sufficient degree if they can't get this to a playable level.

D-line - 

Had some big moments, but left wanting in some of Arizona's. I might be a bit unfair here given how well they anchored the run defense, but when Arizona really started clicking in the passing game, they needed to make more of an impact.

LB - 

No reason not to give the linebackers the same grade as the line. Perfectly clean in the running game. Enough big plays to have highlights to lean on, but they were a bit slow in closing the middle of the field on the Cards slightly too often. I guess worth pointing out here that the defense had a solid game overall. Ok fine, give em both B's.

Secondary - 

The passing totals weren't pretty as Arizona finished with 307 passing yards, but they supported the run game well. There's at least a backable identity with the defense and their physicality. Holding an opponent to 17 offensive points isn't shameful in the least. It's not great either.

Special Teams - Meh

Dumb penalty. Unfair penalty. A lot of nothing everywhere else. Benny Cunningham has been a revelation this season in delivering positive field position on kick returns with uncanny consistency. Do the Rams wanna try to block on punt returns to give Tavon Austin a chance at a single return this year? Nah? Ok.

Coaching - 

Brian Schottenheimer's resistance to shortening the offense to deal with the pass rush for much of the game was inexplicable. Tavon Austin is a unique talent the Rams are uninterested in committing to despite having traded up to draft him 8th overall. The lack of player development is stunting multiple position units. With nothing to play for in 2014, that's going to be the major concern throughout the next two months.