Arizona at St. Louis: Searching for improved QB play on the road

TEMPE, Ariz. — In The Wizard of Oz, main protagonist Dorothy clicks her heels three times and repeated the phrase, “there’s no place like home” over and over in order to get back to Kansas.

There have been no reports of Arizona Cardinals quarterback Drew Stanton doing anything of the sort when playing away from the friendly confines of University of Phoenix Stadium, though it would be no surprise if he has been anxious to get back to the Valley.

Stanton, who is leading the team in place of the injured Carson Palmer, has had significantly more success at home than on the road.

At home, he has completed 57 percent of his passes for 874 yards with six touchdowns and just two interceptions. His QB rating is a healthy 97.7, and he’s averaging 8.74 yards per attempt.

On the road, however, the 30-year-old has completed just 52.5 percent of his passes for 728 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. He has posted a QB rating of 63.5, and is averaging 6.16 yards per attempt.

It’s quite a difference, though Stanton said it does not feel like his performance on the road is much different than what he does at home.

“I think that it’s one of those things where communication is obviously a premium on the road,” he said. “You have to be able to identify that and do that. I think that at the end of the day, like I said from the get-go, all I’m trying to do is get a win, and whatever that means, at the end of the day, that’s how you’re evaluated.

“We have to go on the road, and obviously the last two times we’ve gone on the road we didn’t take care of the football and we weren’t good on third downs. We have to go do those two things and be more productive in the red zone and come away with touchdowns instead of field goals and hopefully put ourselves in a good position at the end of the game.”

The Cardinals are 3-3 away from home this season, with all three of the losses coming in games Stanton has started. Granted, two of the defeats came against last season’s Super Bowl teams, the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, but even still, his performances have left something to be desired.

But that doesn’t mean, according to head coach Bruce Arians, the QB has played poorly on the road, either.

“He beat the Giants,” Arians said. “He was playing really well in Denver before he got hurt. I don’t know which road games he played so bad in. He didn’t play in Dallas. I don’t think he’s playing poorly on the road. Obviously, you guys (the media) do.”

Perhaps, then again, the stats indicate that yes, there is a difference between home Stanton and the road version.

Maybe that can be attributed to the fact that it is more difficult for anyone to play away from home; or it’s possible the quality of opponents has played a role.

Whatever the case, with two of the team’s final three games away from home to finish the season, the Cardinals would certainly benefit from improved QB play on the road.

So how does that happen?

Arians said he could call better plays, while also noting that better protection from the offensive line would help. That, however, is a bit of a challenge because, as Arians noted, noise hinders the group’s communication on the road.

According to offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin, though, the best way to combat the crowd is to play well offensively.

“To me, personally, you’ve just got to run the ball,” offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin said. “We practice with crowd noise; we know it’s going to be loud. But how do you get rid of crowd noise? You have to be successful on offense. You have to stay on the grass, you have to make plays.”

The Cardinals, he said, did not do that in either of their last two road games.

“We have to be effective on offense, we have to be efficient on offense, and that will take the crowd out of the game.”

Miscellany

Playoffs?

Everyone knows a win Thursday would go a long way toward getting the Cardinals into the playoffs, but it’s possible, and even likely, that a victory would clinch a spot in the postseason. All the details can be found here, but the simplest path involves a Cardinals win coupled with the Dallas/Philadelphia game not ending in a tie. If that happens, Arizona will at least be a Wild Card team.

Another start for Coop

Right guard Paul Fanaika will miss his second consecutive game, which means Jonathan Cooper will get another start. Arians said Cooper’s performance against Kansas City was ‘OK’, but thinks the second-year pro should take some confidence from that effort into Thursday’s game.

Where’s John Brown?

Rookie receiver John Brown had caught a pass in every game this season until last Sunday. Like every rookie, he is adjusting to the longer schedule he will play as a professional. He does not feel like he’s wearing down physically, though.

“My body is used to it, but you know, most of the time, waking up in the morning and you’re just thinking like, ‘Oh, you’ve still got more football to play,’ so it’s just trying to get used to that, waking up in the morning ready to go.”

Points to come at a premium

The Cardinals have allowed 20 or fewer points in 11 of 13 games this season. The Rams have posted shutouts in each of their last two games, and have not allowed a point in 128:09 of game action.

A House of Horrors

The Rams have not exactly been a great team over the last couple of seasons, though the Cardinals have lost each of their last two games in the Gateway City. Last year, the Cardinals blew a fourth-quarter lead in the season opener to lose 27-24; the season before that, Cards QB Kevin Kolb was sacked nine times in a 17-3 loss. Incidentally, that game was also on Thursday Night Football.

Setting records

With a win Thursday, Cardinals coach Bruce Arians would become the first head coach in franchise history to post a .500 or better road record in each of his first two seasons. It would also be Arizona’s 11th victory of the season, which would be the most they’ve earned since moving to the Valley in 1988. The Cardinals have won 11 games in a season in 1925, 1948 and 1975.

Can they run again?

Last week against Kansas City, Kerwynn Williams became the first Cardinal this season to rush for at least 100 yards. An excellent effort, sure, but it came against what was (then) the 30th ranked run defense in the NFL. The Rams enter this game ranked 10th against the run, so it will be interesting to see if the Cardinals’ offensive line can open enough holes for Williams, or any of the team’s other running backs, to run through.

All of the sacks

Through the first eight games of the season, the Cardinals had tallied a total of eight sacks. Then, in game No. 9 against the Rams, they took down Austin Davis six times. The game seems to have served as a springboard for Arizona’s pass rush, which, including that game against the Rams, has amassed 23 sacks over its last five contests.

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