Arizona at St. Louis
Time: 8:20 PM (ET)
Network: NFL Network
Tonight, week 5 begins of another week of pigskin begins as we see an important NFC West match-up with the Arizona Cardinals travel to St. Louis and play the Rams. Both teams are coming off mediocre wins in week 3 including the Cardinals having to beat the Miami Dolphins in overtime. The Rams played the Seahawks last Sunday as well with Marshawn Lynch rushing for over 118 yards with a touchdown making the Rams defense look extremely vulnerable with Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Roberts coming up tonight. They are also expected to be without defensive-end Eugene Sims (head) with running back Steven Jackson remaining questionable as well.
Rams QB Sam Bradford, who’s been struggling this year barely keeping an 80 rating intact will face one of the toughest defenses in the NFL as he’ll have play better than he has thus far if his team wants to see a win this week. Kevin Kolb has been one of the big surprises this season around the league and fantasy owners as he’s led the Cardinals to a perfect 4-0 record with a 97.6 QB rating.
The biggest concern for the Cardinals tonight will be the possibly of playing without Todd Heap and Jim Dray as they might have to look to Rob Housler to fill in the void for the tight-end position. The only advantage St. Louis has this week is the shorter week already playing a game at home on Sunday as Arizona traveled form South Beach to the Lou.
I expect the Cardinals to win this game not easily but respectable with St. Louis giving it their all in a 3-point spread. Arizona has more incentive to win tonight with favorable upcoming games against Buffalo and Minnesota before their week 8 Monday Night Football showdown against the 49ers, followed by Green Bay and Atlanta. Cardinals could possibly have the most difficult 3-week stretch in the entire NFL season.