Opposing View: Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury on preparing for a Rams offense with possible personnel changes

Already down their normal starting quarterback in Jared Goff and leading rusher in Darrell Henderson Jr., the Rams offense could also be playing without their leading wide receiver and second-leading rusher on Sunday.

Whether Cooper Kupp and Cam Akers are available or not, and whether young players have to step up, Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury believes Rams head coach Sean McVay will adjust seamlessly.

"Sean, like I said, he does a tremendous job maximizing his personnel, putting those guys in positions to be successful. So, it's not going to change much," Kingsbury said during a conference call with Rams beat writers Wednesday. "This team's beaten us seven times in a row, so there won't be any sort of overlooking what they're capable of, or how many points they can score."

Kupp was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list Tuesday and is unlikely to be available for Sunday's game (1:25 p.m. PT, CBS), according McVay. His 92 receptions and 974 yards this season both lead all Rams receivers, while his three touchdown catches are third-most on the team.

"Yeah, Kupp is one of the best in the game," Kingsbury said. "I mean, he's so good at finding a soft spot, so good at those rhythm routes. He and Goff had such great chemistry together, and third downs come to mind. I mean, he has so many big catches on third downs where he's extending the drive. It's hard to replace a guy like that."

At the same time, Kingsbury knows the Rams have younger players "that have flashed" this season and can be worked into the rotation if necessary, such as rookie wide receiver Van Jefferson. Jefferson had four catches for 27 yards in the first meeting between the two teams on Dec. 6, the reception total matching his season-high.

Kingsbury also anticipates McVay being able to adjust accordingly scheme-wise to make up for potential absences.

"With Sean, he's going to fill the void in different ways, different play calls, whether it's more 12-personnel, or bring in the young wide receiver in from Florida," Kingsbury said. "He'll have a great plan."

With Goff out after undergoing thumb surgery this week, it will be John Wolford under center for the Rams against the Cardinals.

Wolford will be making his first NFL start, and while that leaves no regular season film for the Cardinals to study, Kingsbury said they can review his Alliance of American Football film and his college tape to get an idea of what to expect this weekend.

"Knowing Sean, he's going to have things in that play to (Wolford's) strengths and then what he does well and what he's comfortable with," Kingsbury said. "From what I've seen, he can extend plays, very accurate, gets the ball out quick and very smart player. It's going to be a heck of a challenge. We expect him to a really high level, playing in that offense with Sean calling the plays. So we're preparing for their best shot."

Let me guess, our opponent would be a division winner or the next 2 beat records in the nfc? I bet that’s who our opponent will be.

your welcome.

Dawson and Kemp? That's going back a ways.

Angry Ram said:

And most of those are 1st or 2nd rounders, and of those it's mostly the first rounders that make the biggest impact.

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Of course they get the longest leash, too. Chance after chance after chance.

I hope Wolford shows us enough that we don’t need Bortles. I’ve seen enough of Blake Bortles to know that if he is the best option, then the Rams are screwed.

Loyal said:

Wow...I thought I did a search for it last year and it was spoken of in the past tense....like it was out of business...Do the still have that redonculous 3 foot wide pizza still?

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Yep. Great for large crowds.

Ellard80 said:

well all we have to do is win one game.. plus the bears would have to beat green bay...

green bay is currently motivated to get home field advantage.

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Here we are but without a win.Zona lost which made it good for The Rams I believe?

Doesn’t matter to me. Would of course enjoy Wolford kicking some butt & watching Webster or Jefferson breaking out for a game.

I like the French Bread Cheese and Tomato Sauce Pizzas. And I also like Digorno Pepperoni Pizza. And I like Vito's Pizzeria in West Hollywood and D'Amores in Thousand Oaks and Barones pizza in various locations in both Thousand Oaks and Van Nuys.

FaulkSF said:

From Sean's interview, a player tested positive today. Great...

Hopefully it was only Kupp

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yeah pretty sure he was referring to kupp.

Murray has been banged up on occasion and he has been less willing to run when he’s hurt which hopefully will be the case. The cards haven’t fared well against the ram D for a while, we just need to find some offense.

BatteringRambo said:

Denario the DX Missle, damn he was fun to root for.

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I member Denario.

I also remember Bradford to Mark Clayton. He could t stay healthy either

Matt Flynn wishes his coach did that

I was on a plane once that on takeoff we heard massive "booming" noises. Like... "bang", "bang", bang".

To the point I was watching TV monitors to be sure the plane was still gaining altitude. They were loud and I never heard anything like it.

The pilot makes an announcement "we believe that was cargo shifting to the back of the plane".

I looked at the person next to me... "we believe?"... "I'd prefer he know".

A few hours later... pilot comes back on; "ground observations detected a fire in one of our engines at take off". "Everything is fine, but we need to turn around".

At this point, we are 3hrs out over the ocean. You can't help but wonder why it took 3hrs to decide this.

I can't say I ever felt like that plane was going down, but the pilot sure freaked people out with his announcements. The flight crew was left to walk around and calm a few people that were freaked by the use of the word "fire" in our engine.

Before landing... he announced "we will be unloading fuel before landing"... "if you sit in a window seat near the wings you might notice a discharge from our wings".

That too caused people to panic.

It was a classic case of sharing too much information, but once he did... perhaps not enough. That's a standard procedure. He just didn't say that.

When we landed, the plane erupted in applause.

Again, I never really feared the plane was going down... but that was a weird 3hr flight back to land. There were people crying who didn't believe anything they were told except we had to turn around.

So... You sort of hoped things were "okay" and we would make it. And in reality it wasn't that bad? Or reality was worse and I'll never know.

Juggs said:

Yea, but I live in the woods in the middle of no where. I have to have satellite internet. It is capped and only 25mg. Also over $100 and its the best in the area. Elon Musk needs to get his new internet going!

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Just talked to Dish yesterday.

They offered 25 mbps uncapped plus like 120 channels for 120 and I didn't even mention I'm a senior, plus 55 .

Imho Years ago my baby sis had issues with Dish, told her hey you can get better. She did have a few options but she liked dish.

So I called for her,lowered her bill big time and got her every plus channels for like 6 months free.

If your a long time customer and dish doesn't cut you a break, Cancel at least for a few months.

There's antenna that reach 100 150 200 miles for very fee bucks,20 30 or so.

Watched it. Glad I didn't pay to see it at the theater. The first part was, WTF? And some things that just didn't need to be in there. Like the jet and the fireworks scene. I hope the 3rd one will be better. This one reminded me of the First Star Trek movie, you had to make it, but it should have been better.

RhodyRams said:

ok..let's see if we can get back on track

there was once a ship that was in
Two different days,
Two different months,
Two different years,
Two different seasons
But in two different centuries - all at the same time!

Name the ship

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The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing its way through the waters of the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a star fix and brought Captain John DS. Phillips, the result. The Warrimoo's position was LAT 0º 31' N and LONG 179 30' W. The date was 31 December 1899. "Know what this means?" First Mate Payton broke in, "We're only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line". Captain Phillips was prankish enough to take full advantage of the opportunity for achieving the navigational freak of a lifetime. He called his navigators to the bridge to check & double check the ship's position. He changed course slightly so as to bear directly on his mark. Then he adjusted the engine speed. The calm weather & clear night worked in his favor. At mid-night the SS Warrimoo lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line! The consequences of this bizarre position were many:
The forward part (bow) of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere & in the middle of summer.
The rear (stern) was in the Northern Hemisphere & in the middle of winter.
The date in the aft part of the ship was 31 December 1899.
In the bow (forward) part it was 1 January 1900.
This ship was therefore not only in:
Two different days,
Two different months,
Two different years,
Two different seasons
But in two different centuries - all at the same time!

If you let this defense play with a lead good things will happen, that hasn’t happened often enough. Getting down by multiple scores is a pattern throughout the year.
Last year the offense was weird with the whole Gurley situation, this year the running game has been ok but I keep waiting for someone to break one.
How many games have been lost cuz of turnovers, Miami? No doubt. SF, probably. Jets? I’d say yes. Seattle? Yes. I don’t know what the issue is but this is the 2nd year of these issues, and these aren’t high risk small window throws. Goff himself admits many were just ill advised. I’d be curious to know how many turnovers have been on rollouts, those boots haven’t been near as effective as they were and it cuts the field in half.
Gurley was the one guy who could make everyone better, he made the oline better, he made Goff better cuz you had to account for Gurley, same with the WRs. Now there are very good players no great ones.
If this team isn’t going to get explosive plays then they have to be efficient, converting on 3rd down, scoring tds when you get inside the 5.
McVay has a lot of work to do.

dieterbrock said:

What an ignorant response. Why I would have expected any different is my bad.
Saying that the defense is the best we’ve had in 20 years is somehow belittling? Good grief

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Arguing about the usage of the word elite here is belittling, yes. I've never once seen a fan dispute the use of the word elite when a player or unit was the best in the NFL. It's odd.

Your two game sample size comment was flat out a terrible example. The Denver Broncos had the best offensive season ever and lost the Super Bowl 43-8 - their offense was still "elite". Your arguments are terrible and you cannot accept being wrong, which is a sign that I should never respond to you, so that's on me.

Calling a response ignorant and authoring the opinion that a defense can't be elite because of two games where they were slightly worse than their season averages, with one game coming against the worst offense and one coming against the best is...well ignorant.

So once again, feel free to stop responding to me. I'll do the same.

Ramstien said:

What happens if Wolford outplays Goff when they go to the playoffs?

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It won't be that he outplayed Goff. It will be that he played well against the Cards.

I'm surprised there's people that expect Wolford to struggle vs the Cards tbh. I think the matchup favors us so it's a nice training wheels game for him.

raised_fisT said:

This made me LOL so hard right now. After the Rams loss yesterday and a shitty Monday at work....it was much needed.

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I feel ya on the monday thing. Glad I could make a difference. I work with a bunch of Seattle fans here in northwest Montana and 3 of them were wearing seattle face masks when I came into work today. When they went to lunch I took their masks and added a few plucked sideburns hairs which look amazingly similar to pubic hairs. At the end of the day, on my way out the door, I said in Columbo fashion, "Oh, and one more thing, we're going to dickslap you guys if youre unfortunate enough to play us in the playoffs. After their predictable attempts at trash talk I told them that "You shouldnt overlook the rams....just as You shouldnt overlook what may be in "your masks". I walked out and as I was getting in my car the one who knows me best texted me, "Dude, Im guessing the hairs arent pubs but Kellen and Josh (newbie) think thats fucked up. I replied, Yes, it is.

Man, back to back weeks and with everything on the line... we didnt show up on O... again.. Check it here.


or on iTunes "Rampage Radio"

VegasRam said:

Jane, you ignorant slut.

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Login to view embedded media View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c91XUyg9iWM

AvengerRam said:

11. The bigger question mark, of course, is John Wolford. If you say you think you have a handle on how he'd do if pressed into action, you're either a Wake Forest fan, or a liar.

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...and I'm not sure which is worse.

Go 'Heels!

Who cares about blocking when 99.99% of the time McVay calls a pass play?

Josh Allen has been hit 0 times.

Allen and Rodgers have the best Oline’s in the NFL hands down.

Diggs was a tremendous signing.