St. Louis Rams 17, Arizona Cardinals 3
Arizona was one of the three teams that came into Week 5 undefeated, joining both the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans. Following Monday night’s action, Arizona was the only team of the three to lose this week after Houston took care of business against the New York Jets.
Kevin Kolb was sacked nine times and hit a total of 11 times as Arizona’s offensive line completely broke-down against the likes of Robert Quinn and Chris Long, among others.
Kolb played decent football, completing 28-of-50 passes for nearly 300 yards and not throwing a single interception against the onslaught of a seemingly never ending pass-rush. If Arizona cannot protect Kolb, they are going to have a tremendous amount of issues going up against some really good competition in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the Rams have now won one more game than they did during the entire 2011 season. Their defense just seems to be completely different under new head coach Jeff Fisher. The additions of both Cortland Finnegan and Janoris Jenkins has really shaped the foundation of that unit.
Quinn, Long and the Rams front seven continue to get a tremendous amount of pressure and are playing some damn good football right now. While their offense leaves a lot to be desired, it is refreshing to see this team turn it around in such a dramatic way.
Sam Bradford completed just 7-of-21 passes for less than 150 yards and threw an interception. Steven Jackson continues to struggle repeating a stellar 2011 performance and is currently on pace for less than 900 rushing yards. St. Louis needs their offense to improve if they are going to have a shot at the postseason.
Injury Report
Danny Amendola, Wide Receiver, St. Louis: Separated clavicle, out indefinitely.
Ryan Williams, Running Back, Arizona: Shoulder injury, out for season.
Seattle Seahawks 16, Carolina Panthers 12
Seattle won just their sixth road game in 19 efforts under Pete Carroll and it didn’t come easy against a lackluster Carolina team. Russell Wilson continued to make mistakes, throwing a pick-six and struggling recognizing coverage on the outside.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks were dominating on the defensive side of the ball once again. They held a talented Carolina offense to 190 total yards and just 13 first downs. As with the Rams before, Seattle needs to improve on the offensive side of the ball if they are going to have any shot at a postseason berth. Their defense will only get them so far.
One thing that did improve on offense is production from the wide receiver group. Sidney Rice, Doug Baldwin and Golden Tate combined for 11 receptions on 14 targets, by far their best performance of the season.
San Francisco 49ers 45, Buffalo Bills 3
Okay, not much to say here that hasn’t been covered by countless media outlets since San Francisco wrapped up their destruction of Buffalo Sunday afternoon. The 49ers broke a franchise-record by recording 621 total yards. More over, they became the first team in NFL history to accumulate a minimum of 300 yards both via the air and on the ground.
San Francisco recorded touchdowns on their final five drives and six of their last seven possessions. Alex Smith recorded a near-perfect 156.2 rating, the highest in the NFL since midway through the 2010 season.
Needless to say, they absolutely dominated Buffalo in every imaginable way. The Bills recorded barely over 200 yards and just 10 first downs for the game.
The 49ers have now outscored their last two opponents by a combined 79-3 score. Meanwhile, Buffalo is in all sorts of trouble right now. They became the first team in NFL history to allow 550-plus total yards in two consecutive outings. That ship needs to get righted immediately or some coaches are going to lose their jobs in the not-so-distant future.
If San Francisco’s offense plays anywhere near the level they did on Sunday there is no team in the NFL that can beat them. The issue here is actually succeeding against better defenses moving forward...Mainly in the NFC West.