Rams vs Cardinals: Preview, Game Time, and Channel Info

It’s almost here Rams fans, in two days the St. Louis Rams will be  hosting the Arizona Cardinals in the home opener. Thursday night’s game has gotten the football juices flowing, and now all there is left to do is wait for Sunday to finally arrive, and as if that wasnt hard enough. The Rams will play in one of the two later afternoon games at 3:25 CT on Fox in the local area and channel 714 if you have Sunday NFL ticket. Dick Stockton and Ronde Barber will be on the call, you can also listen to the game online with NFL.com’s audio pass, NFL mobile, and Sirius/XM will broadcast the game on channel 91.

Thursday night’s game was delayed half an hour due to rain and lightning. Thankfully the Rams play in a dome and weather is never an issue. Dome sweet dome, right? Last season the Rams swept the Cardinals for the first time since 2003. The Rams also ended the Cardinals “quest for perfection” when they played in week 5 and the Rams beat the Cardinals 17-3 in the Edward Jones Dome.

On Sunday the Rams will be playing their first game without Steven Jackson on the sidelines since 2004, and now it will be 2nd year player Daryl Richardson carrying the load. The Rams have a lot of other new weapons that are just waiting to be unleashed. It will be interesting to see what they all bring to the table. We saw a little of what Cook and Austin can do in the preseason, but with now that it is the regular season we will get to see them at their best.

It will also be interesting to see how the Rams safeties hold up against the Cardinals passing game. The Cardinals have some talented wide receivers and the Rams safeties have zero starts between the two. McDonald and McLeod will be expected to play big.

The Cardinals have a new QB in Carson Palmer and they can’t wait to see him and Larry Fitzgerald connect on some deep balls. The Cardinals havent had a guy since Warner that could get the ball to Fitzgerald and now they finally have that guy. Unfortunately for Palmer however, is that the Cardinals lost their rookie OL Jonathan Cooper for the season, which can only mean the Rams front four could have another successful day. Maybe not 9 sacks successful, but successful enough to make Palmer uncomfortable and force a few bad throws.

The injury report isnt that big for both teams which is always a good sign this early in the season. For the Cardinals TE Rob Housler has not practiced all week due to an ankle injury, CB Javier Arena was limited in practice on Wednesday, but was all systems go on Thursday. RB Andre Ellington was limited Thursday with a hamstring, TE DC Jefferson and RB Rashard Mendenhall were both limited all week with knee injuries, WR Andre Roberts was limited Thursday with a quad, DT Dan Williams has been limited all week with an ankle injury, and finally LS Mike Leach was limited Thursday with a hamstring.

For the Rams TE Corey Harkey, S Darian Stewart, CB Quinton Pointer, and LB Jonathan Stewart all have not practiced all week. Stewart and Pointer have been sidelined with thigh injuries, Harkey has been out with a hip problem, and Stewart with a knee.

Havent gotten your tickets yet? There are still some available, so make sure to buy some and help fill the dome on Sunday. The Edward Jones Dome will be insane on Sunday and will be the place to be. Because this matchup is in the dome is the only reason why I am giving the Rams the leg up. This will be a tight matchup that you wont want to miss. NFL.com’s Elliot Harrison has the Rams winning in overtime. Hopefully when we revisit the game on Sunday night the Rams will be 1-0 and on their way to making the playoffs.