CARDS BEAT RAMS DESPITE WARNER’S INJURY

Despite losing starting quarterback Kurt Warner for the second half, the Arizona Cardinals made short work of the St. Louis Rams on Sunday with a 21-13 NFL victory.  St. Louis scored first to take a 3-0 lead, but Arizona took over from that point to build a 21-3 halftime lead and coasted to the victory.  Warner got hit in the head and preliminary indications were that he may have suffered a concussion.  Matt Leinart played the second half of low risk, mistake free football to secure the win.  The Cardinals are now 7-3 on the year while the Rams dropped to 1-9.

While the 10 points St. Louis put on the board in the second half might have seemed meaningless they made all the difference in the world to NFL football betting enthusiasts.  A touchdown midway through the fourth quarter pared the margin to eight points and allowed the Rams to cover the spread as +8’ road underdogs.  St. Louis has covered three straight and four of their last five games as they evened their NFL pointspread mark at 5-5.  Arizona dropped to 6-4 against the number.  The 34 points scored went UNDER the posted total of 46’.  Arizona has gone under in six of ten games this season, while St. Louis evened their NFL totals mark at 5-5.

After the game, Warner said that he could have played the second half if necessary but was held out for precautionary measures:

"I felt pretty good coming out right after halftime, but I just wanted to be smart. It was one of those situations where I didn't feel perfect.  I've had a couple of minor concussions, very minor, nothing that's been prolonged. So not a state of panic. I feel good. I think I'm going to be just fine, but we'll take it day by day and we'll see."

Coach Ken Whisenhunt said there was never any question about putting Warner back out in the second half:

"He's started over 30 games for us and he hasn't missed much. What you don't want to do is jeopardize games down the road."

Arizona has now won six of seven games, and Warner couldn’t be happier with how his team is playing:

"We were hitting on all cylinders. We were making some big plays, and I think we had them off-balance a little bit. When we're clicking and in rhythm, that's how we can play."

The Cardinals will now play on the road at Tennessee.  Warner has practiced this week and expects to start the game under center.  Arizona is a +3 road underdog with the total set at 46.  After that they’ll return home to host the Minnesota Vikings the following Sunday before playing on the road at San Francisco on Monday, December 14.  The Rams host the Seattle Seahawks this week with St. Louis a +3 home underdog and the total set at 42.  They’ll then play their next two games on the road, challenging the Tennessee Titans and Chicago Bears.