Angry Birds

If you can imagine the powerful, agile and stately Ram as a helmeted, tough-as-nails, scheming piggy, then there just might be some very angry birds in Phoenix after tonight. 

The Rams have surprised many this season with their re-vamped Defense, picking up a 2nd in the league 8 INTs in just four games.  The Jeff Fisher-led, confounding pass defense is relying more on the Secondary and less on the blitzing packages that suspended coach, Greg Williams, would surely have employed....and it's working.  The Rams have given up only 2 passing TDs so far this year.  And who could have imagined at the beginning of the season that a pair of rookies would lead a thinned-out kicking corps to 41 of the Rams' 79 points this year?  Skill players at key positions can make all the difference.  Enter....the twin-pack of power:  Kicker, Greg "The Leg" Zuerlein and Punter, Johnny Hekker, with a capital K and a capital P out of respect, respectively.  A 6th round draft pick out of Missouri Western, Zuerlein kicked a franchise record 58- and then 60-yard FG last week in a gruntfest win against Division rivals, the Seahawks.   Anything south of the opponent's 50-yard line is points territory for the Rams now, sending Defensive coordinators back to the drawing board. 

While the Miami Dolphins found their way through the Cards' O-Line 8 times last week, out-toughing the heart of the Cardinal offense will still be no easy task.  According to Albert Breer of NFL.com, receivers Roberts and Fitzgerald will attempt to spread The Rams defense thin.  If the Rams have surprised some, then the Cards have surprised everyone with their 4-0 mark in a league that saw record-breaking numbers put up by offenses last year and tough defenses making all the rules this year.  2-0 in Division play, they beat the Patriots at home, and embarrassed a struggling Philadelphia in Arizona.  And their defense gets the added injection of Defensive Tackle, Darnell Dockett, back on the field tonight.  The Rams D will have to hold off the Cardinals' hard-charging offense and slow them down just long enough for the boots to kick a hole in the Birds' hull.

Vegas is giving the Arizona Cardinals a 1.5 point voucher to use against the Rams, which, with kickers like theirs, just might not be enough.  Thanks to the Rams new-found confidence on Defense and in the kicking game, all-purpose awesomeness, Danny Amendola, bruiser, Steven Jackson, and QB, Sam Bradford, may just get the opening they need to pull off a victory against the shaky but effective Kolb/Fitzgerald machine and end the Cardinals' winning streak at home tonight in St. Louis.  The game will be broadcast on NFL Network at 7pm CST/8pm EST. 

Anastasia Roark