Mike LaFleur spent three seasons in the Los Angeles Rams’ offensive meeting rooms. On Sunday he walks back into SoFi Stadium as the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach, with a 1-4 team whose defense gave up 142 points over its last four games.
The Rams are 12½-point favorites, according to The Associated Press, and they need the win after a 37-34 overtime loss to Buffalo that made unwanted NFL history. Big lines invite flat afternoons in Inglewood. These are the reasons this one shouldn’t be.
Mike LaFleur knows the playbook
Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
LaFleur was Sean McVay’s offensive coordinator for three years before Arizona hired him. McVay is 5-8 all-time against former assistants, per Rams On SI, and the man across the field this week helped build the game plans he’ll be defending.
Both coaches are playing it down. “As much as I love Sean, I haven’t really thought of him too much,” LaFleur said, according to the AP. McVay warned his own staff about overthinking it, saying “you want to be careful to chase a ghost because it is still a player’s game.”
Arizona already won at SoFi this season
The Cardinals’ only win came in this building. Arizona beat the Chargers 26-14 at SoFi on Sept. 13, then lost four straight.
There’s history here too. Arizona’s last win over the Rams was a 41-10 rout on Sept. 15, 2024, a game Los Angeles played without left tackle Alaric Jackson. Jackson is out again Sunday serving a one-game suspension, and 36-year-old La Jolla native David Quessenberry starts at left tackle.
Trey McBride hunts linebackers
McBride has 19 catches for 139 yards against linebackers this season, the most in the NFL, per Rams On SI. The Rams’ defensive backs have allowed the fewest catches and yards to tight ends, so expect Arizona to steer McBride toward the second level.
That puts pressure on Nate Landman, who was limited Wednesday and Thursday with wrist and shoulder injuries, according to the Week 6 injury report. McBride doesn’t take plays off either. “I’m going to play until the game is over, and I’m going to do that every single week,” he told the team website.
Jacoby Brissett always finds the end zone
Brissett has thrown at least one touchdown pass in all 17 of his starts for Arizona, the AP noted, even while going 2-15 in those games. Meanwhile, the Rams have allowed 30 or more points in seven of their last 14 games, playoffs included.
Add a brand-new kicker in Blake Grupe after McVay said the kicking game “cost us the game tonight” against Buffalo, per the Rams team site, and a comfortable afternoon can become a one-score game in a hurry. Kickoff is 4:05 p.m. ET on FOX.
