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The Arizona Cardinals will be trying to maintain their lead in the NFC West, when they visit the St. Louis Rams on Thursday Night Football.
Arizona Cardinals (10-3) vs. St. Louis Rams (6-7), Thursday, December 11, 8:30 PM. ET. NFL.
The Cardinals remain one of the biggest surprises of the season, because they still have the best record in the NFL, despite losing their quarterback Carson Palmer for most of the season, which is even more impressive because they play in the NFC West. They will be trying to increase their lead over the Seattle Seahawks, who have won six of their last seven games, including a win over the Cardinals.
The Rams have been one of the unluckiest teams in the league over the past two seasons, because they haven't had quarterback Sam Bradford play a full season, so they really don't know how good they would be with a healthy Bradford. Head coach Jeff Fisher has done a great job getting his team ready to play, despite the injuries they have dealt with, and they have had big wins against some of the best teams in the NFL this year, including the Seahawks, 49ers, and Broncos. They are trying to finish their year with a winning record, which will give them something to build on next season.
The Cardinals will be without running back Andre Ellington, who will miss the rest of the season with an injury, they will be hoping that Kerwynn Williams can play as well as he did last week against the Chiefs, which will help them take advantage of the Rams rush defense. Drew Stanton only completed 50% of his passes on Sunday, but he didn't turn the ball over, like he had in previous games, and the Cardinals will expect him to play better in this game also.
St. Louis has had a lot of success running the ball lately, due to the emergence of rookie Tre Mason, who has taken over the starting job from Zac Stacy, and has rushed for over 100 yards in two of his last four games. He will be expected to carry the ball a lot in this game, because the Cardinals had trouble stopping the run last week, which will open up the passing game for Shaun Hill, who has also been playing very well in the last couple of weeks, throwing four touchdowns and zero interceptions in the last two weeks.
The Cardinals have lost two of their last three games, so they cannot afford to lose this game, because the Seattle Seahawks are hot on their trail, and are only one game behind them in the division, with one win against them already, which will give them the tiebreaker advantage. They have to be very focused going into this game, because the Rams have won three straight games at home, including a 52-0 win over the Oakland Raiders in their last home game.
Game line: The Rams are favored to win this game by 4.5 points, the Over/Under is 39.5 points.
Personal Pick: The Cardinals have lost two straight games on the road, and will lose their third straight against the Rams on Thursday night.
