Three Things to Watch for Cardinals-Rams
The Arizona Cardinals are quickly approaching do-or-die mode when it comes to the regular season.
Arizona sits at 3-6 on the season and essentially must win their next two games against divisional opponents Los Angeles and San Francisco in order to keep their head above water in the race for the NFC West.
The Cardinals look to avenge a 20-12 defeat suffered to the Rams back in Week 3. Arizona, already 0-3 within the division, looks to avoid being swept by another divisional opponent after Seattle successfully did so with a win last week.
That's a tall task for a Cardinals team that has won just one of their previous 12 games against Los Angeles.
Yet the motto "any given Sunday" still rings true, regardless of the circumstances. Arizona understands exactly what's on the table at SoFi Stadium.
Here's three storylines the Cardinals need to answer against the Rams:
What's the Plan for Aaron Donald?
Let's go through Arizona's offensive line:
LT: D.J. Humphries (questionable with a back injury)
LG: Cody Ford (questionable with illness, filling in for starter Justin Pugh who tore his ACL)
C: Billy Price (filling in for starter Rodney Hudson who was just placed on IR today)
RG: Lecitus Smith (sixth-round draft pick filling in for starter Will Hernandez who went on IR)
RT: Kelvin Beachum (on injury report for knee/illness but will play)
Needless to say, things are not going great for the Cardinals along the offensive line.
After facing a tough Seattle front, Arizona now has the privilege of facing a Rams front that features one of the greatest defensive players of his generation in Aaron Donald.
Even fighting through constant double teams, Donald tallied six tackles, two TFL's and one sack in the win over the Cardinals in Week 3.
"I think it changes any game you go into with that many pieces out, but particularly when you’re playing one of the best defensive players in the history of the league. He’s as good as he’s ever been and so whatever plan people have when we’re going in never seems to work," Kliff Kingsbury said of Donald.
"We’ll do the best job we can of making sure we know where he is at on every snap and trying to contain him, but he’s going to make his plays and we understand that. We just have to have a good plan in place to try and continue to stay on schedule and not let those plays just wreck the game, which they have in the past.”
With a banged up offensive line, we'll see exactly what the Cardinals have planned for Donald on Sunday.
Will Budda Baker Play?
The fact that Budda Baker is even remotely close to playing after suffering a high-ankle sprain last week is wild.
After missing the first two days of practice, Baker was spotted during practice on Friday moving around just fine and looking capable of playing (albeit, it was just stretching and jogging).
“I heard zero percent chance (of Baker playing this week),” Kingsbury said after practice. “Obviously, he’s been fighting us to get back out there, and we’ll see how he progresses the next couple days. But he’s a special human and wanted to be out there today.”
NFL Media's Ian Rapoport initially reported he was supposed to miss 1-2 weeks with the injury, and should Baker be able to play, he'll again provide the Cardinals with some of the best safety play in the league.
“You watch the film this year, I think he’s playing as good as anybody at any position in the league. Week in and week out the effort, the hustle plays, his attention to detail, the stuff he’s doing to get us lined up on the backend, it’s just been elite," Kingsbury said.
Will Baker play on Sunday?
Earlier this week, the Cardinals designated safety Charles Washington to return from IR, and he was officially activated to the 53-man roster on Saturday as part of the team's roster moves.
If Baker can't play, Chris Banjo (the only other safety on the active roster aside Jalen Thompson) will handle those duties.
There's plenty of uncertainty surrounding his health, but the Cardinals (and Baker) know exactly how important this game is.
Arizona's Offense (Kyler or Not)
We've talked about health status of Baker heading into Sunday, but let's not forget Kyler Murray is questionable with a hamstring injury suffered last week.
There were already plenty of questions surrounding Arizona's offense and their ability to put points on the board without the possibility of Colt McCoy taking over duties, and the newest wrinkle in Kingsbury's offense isn't what anybody wanted.
Even if he's healthy, what will Murray be capable of? Will his ability to move in the pocket and run with the ball be impacted at all?
"If he has to run around, he has that ability obviously, but he can get it done a bunch of different ways," Kingsbury said on Friday.
"We don't want him to feel any sort of pressure to not run or not play his game to an extent and so we'll make sure that he feels fully comfortable if we're going to put him out there on Sunday and we won't know until we get out there and run him around game day."
Hamstring injuries are notoriously nagging, as any moment it could once again emerge and become a problem.
If Murray isn't able to go, what will the Cardinals do with McCoy leading the way? Are they willing to trust the veteran QB, or will Arizona lean on their rushing attack? The Rams allow a mere 98.4 rushing yards per game (fourth-best in the NFL), and trying to run into a wall with possibly four-of-five backup linemen isn't ideal.
Arizona's offense is bound to look different on Sunday, but perhaps not the way fans envisioned it.
Thank you for making All Cardinals your number-one choice for Arizona Cardinals news, updates, analysis, and more. Be sure to give us a like on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Cards content.
TOP ARIZONA CARDINALS STORIES
Steve Keim Affirms Trust in Kliff Kingsbury
