The Good, Bad & Ugly From Rams' Win Over Cardinals

WOODLAND HILLS, Ca. The Los Angeles Rams took care of business in the desert and as they move forward from their victory over the Cardinals, here are the positives and negatives from the contest.

The Good: The Rushing Attack

What more can you say? Kyren Williams and Blake Corum are one of the best running back tandems in football, finally getting the platform to display their skills over the last few weeks. On top of that, the Rams have an offensive line that they can take into next season, with a rising star in tackle Warren McClendon Jr.

For the Rams, as they have done for Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald, they already have the perfect succession plan in place for Rob Havenstein.

The Bad: The Holes on Defense

While this issue was able to be fixed with straight up effort from everyone on the field, the Rams have two clear deficiencies on defense. They can be maniuplated via personell packages to be attacked with the run and pass, depending on the amount of tight ends and running backs on the field, while the pass rush has struggled to put quarterbacks on the ground.

Yes, the Rams defense has put good pressure on quarterbacks but this week will be the ultimate test because if Jared Goff is able to slip tackles and get the ball out, he has weapons galore to target with Rams' secondary leaving themselves up to be exploited because the men up front took too long and weren't able to finish the job.

Dec 7, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Rams linebacker Byron Young (0) and Jared Verse (8) and against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

With that, the Lions have one of the best rosters in football and if the Rams do not figure out a way to keep Omar Speights on the field, while maintaining their aerial dominance, that opens the door to victory for Detroit.

The good news is that both problems are fixable and the Rams have continuously adjusted this season with strong results.

The Ugly: Red Zone Play Calling

Before anyone says anything, there really wasn't anything that could be considered ugly in such a dominant win, so this is more nitpicking than anything, but in the postseason, this slight issue could become one that determines the season if not taken care of.

On the first drive of the game, something occurred that has been a repeating issue for the offense, and that is the quickness with which the Rams are willing to take the ball out of their running back's hands, especially Kyren Williams.

Nov 23, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams (17) acknowledges the crowd after scoring a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second quarter Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Rams' ground attack took them from their own 38-yard line to the Arizona eight. The Rams, with first and goal, ran three straight passing plays, all to Davante Adams. It's as if the Rams lack creativity in the critical area and are simply willing to let their season ride with Adams. While that's not a bad idea, it's still important to keep all options available. Hopefully, this is a case of the Rams' banking their top concepts for critical games but... running the ball is still a good idea as well.

The Takeaway: The Rams Want the Lombardi

As stated, there wasn't much to take away from this game in terms of negatives. The backups played the fourth quarter, and for a team that has yet to lose consecutive games this season, a blowout win was exactly what was needed as the team gets set to play two playoff contenders in a span of five days.

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