Former Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur and his Arizona Cardinals pulled off one of the more surprising wins of the season when they beat Sean McVay and company during their Week 6 matchup, 18-16. Since then, the teams have gone in different directions: the Rams have won three straight, while the Cardinals are 1-2, with their one win coming through a wild series of circumstances.
Here are three lessons the Rams have learned about the Cardinals since their first matchup.
Arizona has the NFL's worst quarterback situation
Jimmy Garoppolo made the right decision to stay home because the Cardinals' quarterback situation is Baltimore Ravens-level of bad. I would say Baltimore is the worst, but after Arizona benched starter Jacoby Brissett for Gardner Minshew, they traded Brissett to the Ravens.
Minshew suffered an elbow injury last week that landed him on IR, and the Cardinals are set to start rookie quarterback Carson Beck this week. Beck, a collegiate teammate of CJ Daniels, was the starting quarterback of the Miami Hurricanes last season, leading his side to the National Championship Game.
Beck has not thrown an NFL pass.
The offense is the equivalent of the sports car next to the motor home
Trey McBride and Michael Wilson on the Arizona Cardinals' offense feels like watching fresh rims get put on a car from 1998. It's not any one person's fault, but a combination of things, including injury issues that have ruled Wilson and WR3 Kendrick Bourne out for the year.
The Cardinals have little depth on offense; they're on their third quarterback with Beck, and it feels like this is the usual part of the year where Arizona starts to fall apart. Long story short, if the Rams scheme Trey McBride out of the offense, they've already won half the battle. The problem is that McBride is very good. The good news is that he's the only major threat the offense has, and LaFleur has a lot of tape for the Rams to learn from.
Their defense is awful, and the Rams’ 16 points in Week 16 was unacceptable
The only other team to score less than 17 points against the Cardinals this year is the Los Angeles Chargers and their unplugged offense. The Chargers are the 2026 joke of the NFL, as they remain the only winless team in the league, the result of their horrific offense, which is devoid of stars and devastated by injuries and unacceptable play calling.
Regardless of health status, the Rams should be able to bully the Cardinals into a loss as long as they stay ahead of the chains. McVay is too good to be stopped twice in one season, and there's no reason to give Arizona an opening with interceptions and incompletions. Smart, sustained offenses always wither down Arizona by the third quarter. Explosive ones, even when successful, do not tire out their defense. Therefore, the Rams cannot risk a chance of being ineffective, especially without Puka Nacua.
Run the ball, even when they stack the box. It breaks down their whole system.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: 3 lessons about Cardinals for Rams to know since Week 6 loss
