The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 14 matchup between the Cardinals and Rams.
Find a breakdown of every Week 14 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| LA Rams | Rank | @ | Arizona | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -8.0 | Spread | 8.0 | ||
| 28.25 | Implied Total | 20.25 | ||
| 27.8 | 6 | Points/Gm | 22.1 | 20 |
| 17.5 | 2 | Points All./Gm | 25.3 | 24 |
| 60.8 | 20 | Plays/Gm | 65.6 | 3 |
| 65.0 | 28 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 61.8 | 17 |
| 5.9 | 6 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.1 | 21 |
| 4.8 | 6 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.4 | 19 |
| 42.52% | 19 | Rush% | 35.58% | 30 |
| 57.48% | 14 | Pass% | 64.42% | 3 |
| 42.18% | 14 | Opp. Rush % | 42.72% | 16 |
| 57.82% | 19 | Opp. Pass % | 57.28% | 17 |
- The Rams are 14-3 against Arizona under Sean McVay, 3-1 against Jonathan Gannon.
- The Rams have gone three and out on a league-low 15.3% of their possessions.
- The Rams have a first down or touchdown on a league-high 31.6% of their early down snaps, and their opponents have a 22.8% rate (6th). That margin is the best in the league.
- Arizona has scored on 28.9% of their possessions over the past four weeks (24th) after scoring on 51.7% of their drives in Jacoby Brissett's first three starts (4th).
- The Cardinals have been outscored 83-34 (-49) in the first half over that span, the worst margin in the league.
- 60.2% of Los Angeles passes have resulted in a first down or touchdown, the highest rate in the league.
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Matthew Stafford: Stafford had a hiccup last week in a loss to Carolina.
He still threw for 8.7 yards per pass attempt and a pair of touchdowns.
The Rams moved the ball all game (1 punt) and posted a league-high 7.4 yards per play on Sunday, but 3 turnovers were his undoing, all of which cost the Rams significantly.
Stafford’s first interception was a tipped pass at the line of scrimmage that flew caromed into the middle of the field and was picked off in the end zone.
He then threw a pick-6 late on the outside to Puka Nacua.
The day closed with a strip sack with the Rams already in position to attempt a game-tying field goal with 2:30 left in the game.
Credit Ejiro Evero (who coached under Sean McVay) for getting enough disruptive plays in a game where Carolina was down multiple defensive starters in the secondary.
Stafford will look to bounce back against an Arizona defense that has given him issues in the past.
In four games against Jonathan Gannon-led defenses, Stafford has thrown 1 or fewer touchdowns three times.
He also had a 4-touchdown game in that sample.
Arizona did get Will Johnson back on Sunday, and he once again made an impact as Arizona allowed their fewest yards per pass attempt (6.9) since Johnson’s last game in Week 9.
With Johnson on the field this season (235 attempts), the Cardinals have allowed a 63% completion rate, 6.4 yards per pass attempt, and a 3.4% touchdown rate.
With him off the field (166 attempts), Arizona has allowed a 66.3% completion rate, 7.8 yards per pass attempt, and a 5.4% touchdown rate.
Arizona has also been sturdy against play-action this season, allowing a league-low 57% completion rate and 6.6 Y/A (8th), but they have allowed big plays when they have been beaten, with an 8.1% touchdown rate (29th).
The same goes for under-center passing.
Arizona has allowed a 55.8% completion rate (sixth) and 7.1 Y/A (11th) on those passes, but once again, has given up the touchdowns, allowing a 7% touchdown rate (20th).
That is something we always look to highlight with Stafford, who leads the NFL in snaps under center (59.4%) and play-action rate (37.7%).
Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones are the two quarterbacks who most closely resemble the stuff Los Angeles is doing and have faced the Cardinals.
Jones was the QB4 (22.5 points) against Arizona, but he also added 8.0 rushing points in that game.
Darnold threw for 9.3 Y/A and 14.8 Y/A in the two meetings against Arizona.
There is enough here to at least make you think about being extremely confident in front-end expectations for Stafford in this matchup, but he is still playing as well as anyone in the league, and the Rams are sporting a team total just below 30 points.
Stafford has still thrown multiple passing touchdowns in 10 of his past 11 games.
That is enough to keep Stafford in lineups who have been riding him to this point, rather than going to the stream.
Jacoby Brissett: Brissett got there again in the end on Sunday, finishing the week as the QB10 (19.6 points).
He has been a QB1 scorer in each of his seven starts this season.
He is tied for the NFL lead with four 300-yard passing games.
Brissett keeps getting there in the end through passing volume.
He had another 40 pass attempts on Sunday.
Since taking over as the starter, Brissett is averaging a league-high 48.9 dropbacks and 43.0 pass attempts per game.
Brissett is not providing any front-end scoring weeks, so all of that volume is necessary.
He has not thrown more than 2 touchdown passes in any game and is averaging 7.3 Y/A in his starts (15th).
Over the past month, Brissett has been bad in the first half of games.
He has not had a first-half touchdown pass since Week 9.
He has scored 4.5 fantasy points per game over the first half of games the past four weeks, which is QB24, right between Geno Smith and Cam Ward.
But in the second half of those games, Brissett is posting 15.4 points per game, second in the league.
Eventually, Brissett won't be able to pass his way out of a massive hole, but I have been saying that for a month.
Even in saying that, the matchups these past three weeks for Brissett have all been good enough to keep throwing him in as a back-end QB1.
This is one of the matchups where you would at least raise some added concerns.
The Rams are allowing 6.5 yards per pass attempt (7th) and a 3.8% touchdown rate (10th).
They are sixth in passing points allowed per attempt (0.356).
That said, we have seen Mac Jones throw for over 300 yards against the Rams twice. Byrce Young just threw 3 passing touchdowns and 10.3 yards per pass attempt against them.
We know the Rams are likely to score points, and Brissett should be throwing the ball with bulk again, which at least puts him in play as a higher-end QB2 with upside.
Running Back
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Learn MoreMore Week 14 Fantasy Breakdowns From The Worksheet:
| Matchup | Time |
|---|---|
| Cowboys @ Lions | Thursday Night Football |
| Seahawks @ Falcons | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Colts @ Jaguars | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Bengals @ Bills | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Titans @ Browns | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Commanders @ Vikings | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Dolphins @ Jets | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Saints @ Bucs | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Steelers @ Ravens | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Broncos @ Raiders | Sunday -- 4:05 p.m. ET |
| Bears @ Packers | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Rams @ Cardinals | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Texans @ Chiefs | Sunday Night Football |
| Eagles @ Chargers | Monday Night Football |