Los Angeles Rams at Arizona Cardinals: Live open thread

The Los Angeles Rams are taking on the Philadelphia Eagles in what should be a raucous crowd at the Coliseum officially kicking off the first successful run of football since the Rams returned to LA.

Next week.

Today, the Rams are facing a 5-6 Arizona Cardinals side that has lost QB Carson Palmer and RB David Johnson and made a “break glass in case of emergency” switch at QB from Drew Stanton to Blaine Gabbert.

And that’s the real challenge for the Rams today. To focus on the challenge at hand and not the one ahead.

No, the Cardinals don’t offer a serious test for the Rams in terms of competition. But the Cards aren’t playing for anything this season. And as Seth Cox from Revenge Of The Birds, the SB Nation community for Cardinals fans, helped clarify in our Q&A earlier this week, it could be a long time for them to establish a functional identity in the wake of the Carson Palmer-Larry Fitzgerald era.

But those are concerns for seasons to come in Phoenix. What they face today is a Rams team eager to dip their toes in the playoff waters in the first time in more than a decade.

The question is if the Rams are already looking ahead to the major clashes left on the schedule starting with Philly next Sunday.

The answer is about to play itself out in Phoenix.