Cardinals hoping extended stay in London leads to victory over Rams

Kent Somers
The Republic | azcentral.com
Arizona Cardinals running back Adrian Peterson takes part in an NFL training session at the London Irish rugby team training ground in the Sunbury-onThames suburb of south west London, Friday, Oct. 20, 2017. The Arizona Cardinals are preparing for an NFL regular season game against the Los Angeles Rams in London on Sunday. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

LONDON – The temperatures were in the 50s, the wind was blowing hard and the skies were threatening to spit at the Cardinals as they practiced Friday afternoon in preparation for their game against the Rams on Sunday.

In other words, the day was perfect.

The weather has been like that for days here, which is one reason the Cardinals decided to spend the week rather than only a couple of days. Factor in the eight-hour time change, and it made perfect sense to coach Bruce Arians to spend the entire week away from home.

“I’ve been very pleased,” Arians said on Friday. “I talked to a bunch of them (players) this morning, how they felt, and they’re all on a good sleep pattern. So, I feel like they’ve adjusted, and the energy at practice has been very good.”

Of the eight NFL teams that will play in London this year, the Cardinals and Saints are the only ones who arrived early the week of their games. The Saints beat the Dolphins 20-0 here three weeks ago.

The Rams played in Jacksonville last Sunday and stayed in Florida for most of the week. They arrived in London on Thursday.

Kicker Phil Dawson said it’s hard to say whether a longer stay here will help the Cardinals on Sunday,

“We’ll be judged by how we play on Sunday,” he said. “If we play poorly, people will say it didn’t do us a whole lot of good. If we play well, they’ll probably say it worked. That’s just the nature of the deal.”

If they have complaints about this trip, the Cardinals have kept them private. Rams running back Todd Gurley, however, told reporters he’s no fan of international games.

“Terrible,” Gurley said. “They need to stop this, all this stuff. This London, this Mexico City stuff, it needs to stop.

“It’s cool playing over there, don’t get me wrong,” Gurley said. “Just more of the long week, messes up a bunch of people’s schedules. I’m pretty sure y’all (the media) wanna be in y’all bed right now, too. But naw, it’s all good. It’ll be love. The fans over there are great.”

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Early arrival

Like most kickers, Dawson is a creature of habit. And one of his habits is arriving at a game about four hours early.

“I don’t have an opponent across the line of scrimmage, per se, that I have prepare for, but the conditions of the day are my opponents,” he said. “I’ll take several different shoes out there, assess the field conditions and kind of figure out what I have to do that day.”

The Cardinals have a walk-through planned at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday, so they will get an idea of the field’s conditions.

Dawson thinks it will be akin to kicking in Cleveland, which he did for 15 years. “The grass here reminds me a lot of Cleveland, Ohio,” he said. “The wind, the misty rain, the longer grass. Hopefully, those years will prove me well.”

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Cardinals Injury report

Cornerback Patrick Peterson aggravated a quadriceps injury last Sunday but has made it through practices here without problems, Arians said.

Peterson might have a new starter opposite him. Arians said Tramon Williams, who intercepted a pass last week, needs to play more, although the coach stopped barely short of saying Williams would replace Justin Bethel in the starting lineup.

“Yeah, he’s in a bunch of packages,” Arians said, “and he’ll be playing a bunch.”

Running back Andre Ellington (quadriceps) did not practice on Thursday or Friday but Arians is optimistic Ellington will be able to play.

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They’ve been around

Two of the most experienced coaches in the NFL will be matching wits on Sunday. Arians, who calls plays for the Cardinals, is 65 and in his 25th NFL season. Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips is 70 and in his 35th NFL season.

“Yeah, we’re old (expletives),” Arians said. “That’s for sure.”

Arians said he enjoys these kinds of matchups: "I used to really look (forward to) going against Mike Zimmer (former Bengals defensive coordinator and current Vikings head coach), Wade, all those guys that have been around for a very long time, Gregg Williams (former Rams and current Browns defensive coordinator), all those guys.”

Road kings of the West

The Cardinals, designated the visiting team on Sunday, put their six-game road win streak against division opponents on the line. With Kansas City's loss in Oakland on Thursday snapping the Chiefs' seven-game streak vs. the AFC West, Arizona's current run against NFC West foes is the longest active division road winning streak in the NFL.

Road win streak vs. division opponents

Arizona, six games, NFC West

Pittsburgh, four games, AFC North

New England, four games, AFC East

Atlanta, three games, NFC South

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