20 Random Wild Card Domination Thoughts

[sdakotaram]

19. One negative tonight was the number of holding penalties (eliminating some productive plays). Got to clean that up.

IMO a few of the holding calls were very/very questionable calls.......but you are right no reason to give them an excuse.

 

[AvengerRam]

That depends on what their cap looks like.

Spotrac estimates that they'll have about $22M in cap space. If that is correct, they can retain 2-3 of those guys, certainly. If they decide to extend Kyler Murray early, that could impact things, though.

 

[dang]

*21. Nothing wrong with the home crowd tonight!

Last night hooked another 20k+ New generation Rams fans.

 

[Loyal]

There is that chance the Rams win out and shut them up for the offseason.

Some of us never shut up..... Wait, that doesn't sound right.....

 

[Ramlock]

I've said for a couple of years that he's among the most overrated players in the league. Not that he's bad... he's just not the elite/MVP type of player that the talking heads want to make him out to be.

Agree 100%

Can't be an MVP if you only throw outside the numbers and because you run around.

Mobile QB inflation and deflation.

 

[Flatlyner]

Great post as always @AvengerRam . It was so amazing to see Akers back, and not just back, but back with the same burst and toughness that I remember last season. TB run defense is certainly superior to cards, but, IMO, we will be more successful with the run against them then the whiners, who literally know what run play we are running before we do it.

 

[AZRams]

The Cardinals will have a tough time recovering from this one. As they enter the final year of Kyler Murray's rookie contract, look at their list of key UFAs:

James Conner
Chase Edmunds
A.J. Green
Christian Kirk
Max Garcia
Chandler Jones
Zach Ertz
Andy Lee

Is losing Green that big a deal for them? Don't think so.

Local media has soured on him some as he's done nothing of note to fill in during Hopkins' absence(s).

 

[Hram]

Imo it’s only his height that holds him back. He’s an accurate passer.

But to your point, the pregame hype from Riddick was absurd. At one point he said Kyler Murray does things that we have never seen before from an NFL QB.
I guess he doesn’t remember Randall Cunningham, Mike Vick, or even RGIII in his first season.
I used to like Riddick for his draft coverage but he’s gotten to be too much of a hype man now.

Riddick’s pregame prediction that JJ Watt was going to go off in this game was laughable too. JJ hasn’t been his dominant self for five years or more.

Watt had several really good plays. Pretty impressive given he hasn’t played recently.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Watt had several really good plays. Pretty impressive given he hasn’t played recently.

I recall two. One really good play. Far from the dominance that Riddick predicted.

I think some of these former players, like Riddick tend to think of the dominant players from when they played in the same context as when they were on the field. That or maybe he was told to hype certain talking points to get fans excited.

 

[rdlkgliders]

Is losing Green that big a deal for them? Don't think so.

Local media has soured on him some as he's done nothing of note to fill in during Hopkins' absence(s).

I feel like they could replace almost half that list, Green, Edmunds (depending on price) Ertz, Lee if he even will cost much. All of those could be replaced if needed

 

[AvengerRam]

I feel like they could replace almost half that list, Green, Edmunds (depending on price) Ertz, Lee if he even will cost much. All of those could be replaced if needed

What does that mean? That they could replace those guys with equivalent players so they can lose by 20+ in the first round of next year's playoffs?

 

[BuffaloRam]

Imo it’s only his height that holds him back. He’s an accurate passer.

But to your point, the pregame hype from Riddick was absurd. At one point he said Kyler Murray does things that we have never seen before from an NFL QB.
I guess he doesn’t remember Randall Cunningham, Mike Vick, or even RGIII in his first season.
I used to like Riddick for his draft coverage but he’s gotten to be too much of a hype man now.

Riddick’s pregame prediction that JJ Watt was going to go off in this game was laughable too. JJ hasn’t been his dominant self for five years or more.

The whole pre-game and first quarter coverage was about how good Kyler is, how JJ will be a force and that Stafford couldn’t win a playoff game. SMH - that narrative was dead by half time!

 

[rdlkgliders]

What does that mean? That they could replace those guys with equivalent players so they can lose by 20+ in the first round of next year's playoffs?

LOL, It means UFA's like Edmunds, Punters, 33 year old WR's and 31 year old TE's will not be difficult to replace as upcoming UFA's
The Cards have choices. Edmonds is a nice RB but I would think they prioritize Connor and if Edmonds wants too much money they can get another RB2. As far as the the 20 point loses those are your words and who knows what next season will bring them.
I am a lot more concerned about our roster.

We certainly have them rethinking their roster

 

[Merlin]

The whole pre-game and first quarter coverage was about how good Kyler is, how JJ will be a force and that Stafford couldn’t win a playoff game. SMH - that narrative was dead by half time!

Yeah I'm really fucking tired of the storyline. Griese and that other dude got under my skin practically rooting for Arizona. I mean if you want to be the analyst you gotta be middle of the road in your leanings or at least sound that way. But don't be offering advice to the team like the guy at the bar acting like if they took your advice they'd be winning. Sure fans do that however we're not getting paid to do analysis.

 

[majrleaged]

Nah. Given how beaten up they are, they're going to lose to Green Bay by 10+ points.

I don't have a problem with that

 

[majrleaged]

Agreed, Stafford’s not a bad athlete, just get out of there and get what you can.

He does tend to hold the ball a long time sometimes instead of reading that the play is no go and throwing it away.

 

[majrleaged]

Kyler has been a media darling since he came into the league. From the begining I have been saying he can't live up to it and every year he falls like a rock. They list him as 5'11'' but I remember draft discussions talking about under 5'10''. He is way to little to play great from the pocket consistently. He also ducks a little early when pressure comes sometimes. It is obvious to me he really hates to be hit. No matter how long he plays he will never be much more than he is right now. If I am AZ I move on. I don't give him that big second contract. It will doom them to being close but no cigar every year.

 

[Ballhawk]

We need SF to beat the Packers so that we can have our last two games at SOFI!

 

[Loyal]

Is Cam Akers our Deebo Samuel?

I get that one is called an RB and the other is an WR, but they do each other's job. Watching Cam Akers making moves on DB's almost seemed unfair, especially when he's catching passes among them. Deebo is similar in the difficulty of DB's to bring him down. Samuel is one inch taller, but Cam is 7lbs heavier, as Budda found out.

Cam is a freakin problem for the rest of the playoff teams. Dude is fresh and is ready to hit....

 

[Flint]

Kyler has been a media darling since he came into the league. From the begining I have been saying he can't live up to it and every year he falls like a rock. They list him as 5'11'' but I remember draft discussions talking about under 5'10''. He is way to little to play great from the pocket consistently. He also ducks a little early when pressure comes sometimes. It is obvious to me he really hates to be hit. No matter how long he plays he will never be much more than he is right now. If I am AZ I move on. I don't give him that big second contract. It will doom them to being close but no cigar every year.

If you can close the pocket down on him he’s screwed, he can’t stand in there and deliver the ball cuz he can’t see. Plus he’s a small guy and having nose tackles fall on him is not something he wants any part of so he bails out or goes down. He is fast though but it’s gotta be hard to throw accurately if you’re running as fast as you can which is why he misses Hopkins so badly, get it anywhere close and he’ll get it.
Hard to believe there was mvp and coach of the year talk and now people are wondering about their futures.