It’s been an entertaining first half in St. Louis and offseason acquisitions for both the Cardinals and Rams have played a big role in getting the teams to halftime at a 10-10 tie.
Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer, acquired in a trade with the Raiders, has completed 14-of-19 passes for 204 yards, cooling off after completing 10-of-11 throws to start the game. He threw a touchdown to Larry Fitzgerald and got help from Michael Floyd on a ridiculous catch on the previous play to put them in position to score. The offensive line issues haven’t disappeared, Palmer was sacked twice, but the passing offense is light years ahead of where we left the Cardinals in 2012.
That was the only touchdown of the game until Sam Bradford hit Jared Cook, signed as a free agent this offseason, to tie the game at 10 with 26 seconds to go in the half. Cook has three catches for 71 yards, but cost the team a chance to score when he was stripped by Cardinals rookie safety Tyrann Mathieu near the goal line and the Cardinals recovered for a touchback.
It was a good, opportunistic play by Mathieu that likely saved a touchdown and sets up what should be 30 more hard-fought minutes between two closely matched teams.
