What are the Cardinals and Rams playing for in this Week 18 matchup?
Arizona is closing out on a very disappointing 3-13 season, going into SoFi Stadium in Week 18. Cardinals are playing for pride and hoping to disrupt the Rams playoff seeding and the Rams at 11-5 are playing for home field in the playoffs.
These are NFC West rivals, the stakes are very different, but you can expect a gritty game.
The Rams head coach Sean McVay has said that the starters will play in this game, nobody who can play is sitting out. That tells you that the Rams are taking their seeding/positioning in the playoffs very serious.
Arizona on the other hand is already out of playoff contention and is purely playing for pride. Coach Gannon will take this game to evaluate young talent; that will help make offseason decisions moving forward.
The Rams are coming off of a disappointing loss to the Atlanta Falcons on primetime television, giving the team more reason to win this game against the Cardinals to get back on track.
The Arizona Cardinals will be looking to give the Rams a second straight disappointing loss.
Arizona's duo of quarterback Jacoby Brissett and tight end Trey McBride will be looking to extend the tight ends reception record set in last week's game.
Brissett is trying to secure not just a starting position with the Cardinals but also a future as a starter somewhere in the NFL.
The Cardinals have multiple injuries on both sides of the ball and coach Gannon plans to leave some veteran players out and try out more younger players in those positions.
For Arizona to spoil this for the Rams they will have to find a running game. The Cardinals defense has to limit the number of big plays they give up for touchdowns.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is in the running for the league MVP and coming off a multi-interception game. Look to see Stafford try and pad the stat sheet and win over some MVP voters in this game.