ST. LOUIS -- After two weeks of playing in the flyweight division, the St. Louis Rams stepped back up in class Thursday night at the Edward Jones Dome. But they didn't stop at middleweight or welterweight along the way. They jumped directly into a heavyweight slugfest.
And for four quarters, the Rams mostly stood toe to toe with the NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals. Ultimately, the Cardinals landed about three more punches on their way to a 12-6 decision that once again proved that when the Rams play good teams, they have next to no margin for error.
"Playing this team, you know that they have got a good defense," linebacker James Laurinaitis said. "So typically you go into a football game and you say, 'Hey, we have got to hold a team to under 17 points.' But I have been raised under the thought process of my coaches in college and even here that if we get six, we've got to hold them to three. They made more plays than we did tonight. I think our defense played well, but we didn't play well enough to win this football game."
That statement isn't limited to the defense. Facing an Arizona defense that has been among the best in the league this season, the Rams' offense sputtered throughout most of the game and mounted a charge only in the waning moments. By then, it was too late. But it was too late because of three plays that went Arizona's way and provided the Cardinals with nine gift-wrapped points.
After jumping to an early 3-0 lead, the Rams got a stop and had the ball with a chance to extend their advantage. Instead, running back Tre Mason coughed up a fumble after he failed to secure the ball, giving the Cardinals prime field position at the Rams' 27.
"There's really no excuse for a fumble," Mason said. "I'll never give an excuse for a fumble, no matter how it happened. That's my job as a running back to hold on to the ball."
The defense was up to the task of holding Arizona to Chandler Catanzaro's 23-yard field goal, but those points gave the Cardinals an instant shot of momentum. The kick also ended the Rams' streak of 86 unanswered points dating to the Nov. 23 loss to San Diego -- 144 minutes, 41 seconds of game time.
On a night when the Rams were unable to get a takeaway, it was the game's lone turnover. Every cliché about the importance of turnovers is on the money with this team: The Rams are 4-0 this season when they don't have a giveaway and are winless when they have a negative turnover differential.
"You credit the defense from the standpoint of sudden change going out there and getting the field goal," Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. "But when you turn the ball over deep in your territory like that, they're going to get points. That was unfortunate for us. And then we just didn't get our hands on balls."
While the Rams' defense was again able to keep an opponent out of the end zone, it also had a couple of costly hiccups, the type of big-play miscues that resulted in six more points for Arizona -- the final margin of victory.
Cornerback Janoris Jenkins, who has been no stranger to being on the wrong end of big plays, allowed a 49-yard completion to receiver Michael Floyd in the second quarter and was later flagged for defensive pass interference that covered 36 yards.
Both plays put Arizona in St. Louis territory. Though the defense again kept the Cardinals out of the end zone each time, Catanzaro had two more field goals following those plays. Those six points plus the three after Mason's fumble directly led to nine points. Considering that the Rams scored six, that was the difference in the game.
"I should have made the play; it's over with," Jenkins said. "It's frustrating, but at the same time, you can't point fingers. You've just got to move on to the next week."
Guided by Shaun Hill, the Rams' offense has proved capable of getting the job done against lesser opponents, but a division foe with a passion for blitzing was too much for offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer & Co. to overcome. The Rams mustered just 280 yards of offense, only 69 on the ground, and were 4-for-15 on third down.
Once the Cardinals increased their lead to 12-3, it seemed the Rams would need points from their defense or special teams to close the gap.
"We kept saying it," Laurinaitis said. "It's our goal every week, regardless of the game, to score on defense. We put those standards on ourselves. We didn't get that play. That's the difference. They got a fumble, and we didn't get one. It's the little things, and it just seemed like they got it today."
It's a refrain that's become all too familiar in St. Louis, where the 6-8 Rams now face the certainty of an 11th straight year without a winning record.
