| St.Louis Rams Team News |
Rams
Posted by: rams on 2010-01-29
Tempe, Arizona - In a game that was a tale of two very different halves, the St. Louis Rams pulled out an improbable come-from-behind victory with under a minute remaining to defeat the Arizona Cardinals, 28-27. Rookie Stephen McGee connected with HB Jerious Norwood in the back of the end zone, and the Rams defense barely held on at the end with the Cardinals closing in on Field Goal range.
The pass to Norwood was McGee's 4th of the day, capping off an up and down day in which he threw both more touchdowns (4) AND interceptions (4) than incompletions (3) while throwing for 317 yards and losing a fumble that led directly to a Cardinals' field goal.
The day started very auspiciously for the Rams, as on the very first play from scrimmage, they attempted a screen pass that bounced off of HB Kyle Alderman's hands into the waiting arms of Adam Jones for an interception deep in Rams territory. For the rest of the half, the Cardinals' defenders did an outstanding job on getting their hands on any ball that came near them, picking off 3 passes and forcing a fumble. Controvery surrounded one of the interceptions - on an attempted deep throw down the left sideline, the ball was picked off at about the 2 yard line, and the referees ruled that the player made no attempt to avoid running into the end zone, where he was tackled for the safety. The safety had very little effect on the game however - without the safety, the Rams would have kicked the extra point twice instead of failing on two 2-point conversions, giving them the same 28 point total. Additionally, 2 plays after the kick following the safety, the Rams threw another interception near midfield, giving the ball back to Arizona anyway.
Nothing seemed to be going right for the rookie McGee - down 17-9, he scrambled for a first down, and it looked he was trying to slide to the ground, but his cleat got caught and he got hit before he could get low, forcing him to lose the football.
without under a minute left in the first half, however, the winds of fortune began to change. On a 3rd and 7 play from a 5-wide set, the Cardinals safety changed the line of scrimmage to attack a pass on a short drag pattern, only to get bumped by the man in coverage on the wide receiver. The resulting collision caused the ball to deflect upfield where it was caught by an alert Robert Chandler for a first down. Half a minute later, McGee found Anthony Gonzalez in the back of the end zone to cut the margin to 27-16 at half time.
After the half, Coach Crash changed up the Rams' defense, calling a lot more 4 man defensive fronts in an effort to contain The Cardinals' QB in the pocket. Said Crash, "In the first half, we called a lot of 3 man fronts, and Croyle was able to roll out a lot and buy time to hit Fitzgerald down the field. We decided that we couldn't afford to let him get outside, and we felt if we could contain him, he might be forced to rush his throws." The strategy seemed to pay off as the Rams tallied 3 sacks in the second half, all by defensive linemen (Warren, Mebane, and Little), while preventing the Cardinals from scoring any more points.
Meanwhile, McGee was able to drive down the field and hit Devin Thomas on a slant in the back of the end zone (his second of the game), pulling the Rams to within 27-22. After a crucial stop on the Cardinals, the Rams got the ball back with about 3 minutes to play, but the turnover bug bit them again as McGee threw his 4th pick of the game, putting the Cardinals near field goal range. Once again though, the defense stood strong, knocking Arizona back, and setting up the game-winning drive with under 2 minutes remaining.
Thanks to HB for a very exciting and difficult game. Just thinking about it has my adrenaline all worked up again!
Next up for the Rams: The Jacksonville Jaguars.
Archived News
St. Louis prepares for invading Buccaneers posted on 2010-08-26
Rams Win In Stunning Fashion posted on 2010-08-15
Rams post comeback victory against the Giants posted on 2010-07-12
Rams and Chargers Broadcast posted on 2010-07-02
Rams steal one from the Saints posted on 2010-06-28
|
 |
|
