The Lookaround: Arizona Cardinals Crushed in Motown

With the Los Angeles Rams’ monster win over the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday night, LA holds the top spot in the NFC West for the time being. This was due in part to the Cardinals’ loss to Detroit on Sunday (yeah, I’m not Lion to ya). Not only did Arizona lose, but the 49ers took care of the hapless Falcons as well. Let’s get down to how things look around the division after a crazy weekend of football.

Jared Goffs a triple bogey in Detroit’s win over Cardinals

Dear Jared Goff,

Thank you for our early Christmas present of beating Arizona 30-12. Because of you, the Rams have a chance to take the NFC West crown due to holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Cardinals. See, I knew you still had a little soft spot for ol’ LA! Thank you again and try not to spoil your appetite by biting all those kneecaps before dinner.

XOXO,

Turf Show Times

This game was arguably the biggest WTF result of the entire weekend. It was just a terrible loss all the way around for Arizona, and put them alongside some less-than-elite company:

Oopsies, that wasn’t the company I meant, but what a flattering picture of Kyler I might add. I actually meant this elusive company:

Let’s hope the Redbirds don’t end up joining the ‘95 Cowboys and ‘04 Patriots on that list. Maybe this game won’t matter in the end for Arizona, but it’ll still be hilarious troll game material for LA fans. Kyler Murray was disappointing, going 23-of-41 for 257 yards, a touchdown and an interception, finishing with a 72.9 passer rating. The one touchdown pass he had was pretty nice:

Darn it, did I just make a whoopsies again? Sorry, this is really the aforementioned touchdown:

That touchdown snag was one of Christian Kirk’s nine receptions on the afternoon, for 94 yards. Tight end Zach Ertz also added six catches for 74 yards. One or both of those pass catchers will have to step up since news of DeAndre Hopkins’ injury was announced after the Rams game last week. Don’t worry, D-Hop will be back in time for the NFC Championship. While wishing Hopkins a speedy recovery, Los Angeles fans are hoping the Cardinals won’t even make it that far to give him a chance for a comeback.

Next Week: The Cardinals will host the Indianapolis Colts on Christmas Day. Nothing like celebrating the birth of Jesus by watching Jonathan Taylor shred your division rival’s defense like a honey baked ham.

49ers put the “L” in “Falcons” in blowout win over Atlanta

The San Francisco 49ers keep their stranglehold on a potential playoff berth alive in a 31-13 win over the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta on the other hand continued their fade into nothingness as they have since blowing a Super Bowl they should’ve won easily.

Let’s get into it: Jimmy Garoppolo had yet another solid effort at the office, going 18-of-23 for 235 yards and a touchdown. Don’t look now, but Jimmy G is smoking hot right now and I’m not just talking looks am I right ladies? His hot streak is helping push SF into the playoffs. For further evidence, look no further than the passer ratings he’s strung together over the last several weeks:

While we’re on the topic of hot streaks, here’s a couple more that’ll make any loyal Rams fan cringe. Tight end George Kittle was the Niners’ leading receiver, snagging six passes for 93 yards. With the way he’s been playing for the last three weeks, I think someone is striving to stretch National Tight Ends Day into a whole month:

Another pass catcher, or whatever Kyle Shanahan has in store for Deebo Samuel, the 49ers do-it-all stud rushed for yet another touchdown:

It’s far-fetched to believe that Samuel has a chance for winning MVP as it’s nothing but a “Best QB” award. If Shanahan dialed up more passing plays and Deebo was throwing dimes for touchdowns like Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers, maybe there’d be a stronger case for him. Nevertheless, Samuel is on quite a tear that has rarely been seen in NFL history:

This touchdown run was historic in that in was his seventh of the season. Samuel is the 49ers second-leading rusher after rookie Elijah Mitchell and leads the team in rushing touchdowns. To put that into perspective, no wide receiver in the Super Bowl era (since 1966), has ever led their respective team in rushing touchdowns. He was already the third player in NFL history with 1,000 receiving yards, five touchdown catches and five rushing touchdowns in the same season, joining Roger Craig (1985) and Marshall Faulk (1999). As a fan of the game, I would enjoy seeing Samuel get this record just for the historical value it’ll hold. What Deebo and his opponent on Sunday, Cordarrelle Patterson are doing currently will open the floodgates of position-less football and I for one am all for it. Imagine what Sean McVay could do with a player of Samuel’s caliber.

Next Week: The Niners travel to Nashville to take on the Titans on Thursday Night Football. Both teams are in the playoff hunt so this should make for one exciting Christmas Eve-Eve.

Seahawks’ long-shot playoff odds Rammed in loss to Los Angeles

The Seattle Seahawks won’t be defending their NFC West crown any longer after a 20-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Tuesday Night Football. Of course, any reasonable fan and sportscaster could see that the Seahawks had zero chance from a mile away. The only ones who didn’t seem to get the message were the Seahawks. This loss ended quite an impressive streak for the franchise:

This season marks the first losing campaign of Russell Wilson’s storied NFL career. Russell hasn’t endured a losing season in quite a while:

Wilson was injured for a few weeks earlier in the season, but he has a losing record in the 11 games he’s started (4-7). He clearly didn’t have a signature game, going 17-of-31 for 156 yards and an interception, finishing with a 55.3 passer rating. His heart doesn’t seem to belong to Seattle any longer. Who could blame him when he’s stuck with an ancient offensive game plan orchestrated by his gum-addict of a head coach. Russ probably has his eyes set on greener pastures in the offseason and again, who could blame him?

Seattle had a promising start, eventually taking a 10-3 lead early in the third quarter off a rushing touchdown scored by assistant to the starting running back DeeJay Dallas:

Then after that, shiitake hit the fan for the Seahawks, Pete forgot the USC job got filled and became so depressed that the team failed to score the rest of the night. The cracks in the Seahawks organization have been showing for a number of years now. Seattle’s rein is over now and they should commit to a full-scale rebuild and embrace the suck. Besides, they don’t have anymore first-rounders to waste on players who can’t perform to the best of their abilities.

Next Week: The Seahawks won’t be traveling anywhere (lucky for them as airports will be crazy busy after Christmas). Instead, they get a home matchup against Chicago. Seattle players could show up to the game stuffed full of Christmas dinner and hungover on eggnog and still whoop the Bears by 30.