Sam Bradford completed only seven passes against the Arizona Cardinals in their first meeting, only eight in their second. But he'll take winning by two touchdowns apiece any day of the week. For that, he has his defense to thank. 

After playing so soft over the last month that they could have been cast in a Charmin commercial, the Rams finally found their aggressive streak, and finally unleashed talented rookie Janoris Jenkins from the Tampa Two hell he's been living in. Jenkins, who drew primary coverage on Larry Fitzgerald for much of the day, intercepted two Ryan Lindley passes and returned them both for touchdowns. In so doing, he became the first Rams player ever and only the third rookie in NFL history to accomplish this double-down feat. 

Meanwhile, Brian Schottenheimer finally found occasion to dust off his "ground and pound" playbook, one week too late, giving Steven Jackson 20-plus carries for only the third time this season. Jackson and the defense laid the table for a second-half shutdown effort that drained the drama from a close game and sent the Arizona fans heading to the exits early. 

When the Rams last met the Arizona Cardinals, the birds stood atop the NFC West with a surprising 4-0 record. However, when we talked to Seth Cox of TSHQ at the time, he was not yet ready to start opening champagne bottles.

As it turns out, he was right to put the celebrations on hold. Since that Thursday night primetime matchup, the Cardinals have lost six games and two quarterbacks, and now limp back to the desert to host the Rams with a rookie under center and a lot of question marks about what the rest of the season has left.

At the same time, that 17-3 win for the Rams marked a high point on the season, and our team has a five-game winless streak of its own to worry about.

We come back to Seth for his perspective on this matchup, and what to expect from the last quarter of the season.

As the St Louis Rams' record continues to slide following a heartening 3-2 start to the season, Sam Bradford's progression on the "elite quarterback growth curve" is receiving increasing scrutiny. Whether he has a strong game (275-2-0 versus the 49ers) or a weak one (170-2-1 vs the Jets), unless the Rams win the criticism will always be there. It's just a matter of volume. 

It doesn't help that younger quarterbacks like Andy Dalton, Andrew Luck, and Robert Griffin III have stepped ahead of him in the public spotlight, nor does it help that Bradford signed the last of the big-money rookie contracts, a $79-million-dollar shadow that looms over his unimpressive win-loss total like the Sword of Damocles. 

In fairness, none of those things are relevant to Bradford's growth as a quarterback or his ability to lead the Rams to the playoffs. All we can do is look at the hallmarks of his performance that are improving, or that still need to improve. And we can look to football history for comparables.

As it turns out, we don't have to look back too far to find a highly-paid #1 overall pick who struggled to live up to expectations through his first three years, and turned out okay. That is, if winning two Super Bowls and their corresponding MVP awards is okay. 

Last Sunday marked the first time that Sam Bradford had faced a Rex Ryan defense, and the results generally did not go well. Bradford and the OL struggled to recognize where the pressure was going to come from, particularly on third downs (converting only 5 of 16). Bradford also struggled to find big plays that could beat the blitz, completing only 2 of 12 passes ten or more yards down the field. 

This play in the first quarter marks the exception. The offensive line identified and picked up Ryan's rushers, and Bradford found Austin Pettis in the deepest level of the defense for a huge gain. In this week's Anatomy of a Play, we turn on the video projector once again and take you in-depth to show how this play worked. 

As the NFL Draft becomes a year round affair, it’s never too early to talk who might be receiving a congratulatory shake from the ‘Stache come late April to inform them they’ll be donning the Ram horns.

Presuming the Rams finish the season around 5-10-1 and the Redskins finish around 6-10, St. Louis will have two picks between the fifth and 11th spots based on historical precedent of the last two drafts, leaving them with the potential to grab two elite players.

It also leaves GM Les Snead with some serious bargaining potential as the new CBA rules have now been in place for a full draft and his first shot at the April selection event showed he wasn’t afraid to move around.

In that vein, here are five potential options and scenarios the Rams could pursue while reaping the first round benefits of the RGIII trade.

One of NFL Films analyst Greg Cosell's most common critiques of quarterback play is an inability to make anticipation throws, to know when the receiver will come open before you throw the ball, and have the ball be there when he does. He has a term for quarterbacks who don't make these plays: "See-it, Throw-it quarterbacks." 

Sam Bradford, when he's off his game like he was yesterday, is a see-it, throw-it quarterback. 

When you have to wait to see what the receiver does or how the defense will play him before you throw, you end up holding the ball too long. You end up taking unnecessary hits. You end up throwing balls away. You might even miss your receiver so badly that he breaks his own ankles trying to get back to the ball. 

Sam Bradford did all of those things against the Jets, a defense that is nowhere near as good as the 49ers defense that he shredded a week ago. How could this be? 

This got me thinking. Danny Amendola's presence in the lineup is often pointed to as the difference between good Sam and bad Sam, but I think there's another factor involved: Sam Bradford has seen the 49ers defense multiple times, and has an idea how they'll play. He has never seen the Jets' defense before, not in person anyway. 

Here's a breakdown of Sam's season, between teams he has played before, and teams he is seeing for the first time in his career:  

2012 vs teams Sam has seen before

Detroit: 17-25 198 1 TD 0 INT

Washington: 26-35 310 3 TDs 1 INT

Seattle: 16-30 221 0 TD 1 INT

Arizona (*): 7-21 141 2 TDs 1 INT

Green Bay: 21-34 255 1 TD 1 INT

San Francisco: 26-39 275 2 TD 0 INT

TOTAL: 113-184 (61%), 1400 yards (7.6 ypa), 9 TD, 4 INT, 92.21 QB Rating

2012 vs teams Sam plays for the first time

Chicago: 18-35 152 0 TD 2 INT

Miami (*): 26-39 315 0 TD 0 INT

New England: 22-30 205 1 TD 1 INT

NY Jets: 23-44 170 2 TD 1 INT

TOTAL: 89-148 (60%), 842 yards (5.6 ypa), 3 TD, 4 INT, 71.39 QB Rating

Oddly enough, his completion percentage barely budges. But the key stat to watch, besides touchdown rate, is yards per attempt. These numbers, even including the two outlier games vs Arizona (a pretty good pass defense) and Miami (a pretty poor one) show you the difference between a confident quarterback who is willing to stretch the field, and an unsure quarterback who too often settles for short reads and dump-offs. 

The good news here is that Bradford is showing this kind of improvement against teams he has seen before. The bad news is that the NFL is a league of innovation. Coaches and coordinators change teams every year, and introduce new wrinkles into their schemes every year as well. If he is going to have sustainable success in this league, Bradford has got to learn faster on the field. 

Of course, Bradford said afterwards that the Jets didn't do anything surprising.

Sam Bradford on Loss to Jets "We lost all rhythm." from 101ESPN on Vimeo.

The numbers, and our eyes, say otherwise. 

It was easy to look at the good work the Rams offense did against the 49ers, and call it a turning point. Earlier in the week, we outlined six signs of offensive success that the Rams were capable of repeating. Sam Bradford and the offense utterly failed at four of those six factors, and it cost us a win against a very beatable opponent. 

Aside from limiting pre-snap penalties, here is a complete list of things the Rams did well on offense today: 

- Run blocking

- Red zone conversion

Unfortunately, they didn't do either of those things often enough. On a day when your running backs are averaging 5.6 yards per carry, it's borderline criminal to not keep feeding them. Steven Jackson in particular was running like a man possessed today, or to put it another way, he was running like Steven Jackson.  

Now, here is the list of things the Rams did not do well on offense today: 

- Vary the snap count, or show any amount of urgency at all presnap

- Get the ball out early in the down, in time with the receiver's route

- Target the Jets' aged and creaky linebackers

- Pass blocking

- Stretch the field with Givens or Amendola

- Hold on to the damn ball

- Do anything at all worth cheering for in the second and third quarter

The last point, of course, was the killer. Bradford had two excruciating turnovers that completely bled the life out of the Edward Jones Dome. The Jets took a 10-7 lead in the second quarter, and Bradford's interception and fumble gutted any chance the Rams offense had to answer. The atmosphere in the stands utterly died. I've seen more energy at a book club. But then again, a Hardy Boys book had more drama than the Rams were able to muster in the second half of the game. 

The comments of my friends around me were telling. "I was excited for this game, and I didn't want to get excited because this could happen." "I'm not even upset, I'm just numb." Judging from the lack of volume in the stands, I know they were far from alone. 

The Rams lost more than a game today. They lost a ton of the good will they had built up all season long. When the team is playing well at home, when they're showing compete against more talented opponents and giving fans something to root for through four quarters of football, it's easy to look beyond the standings and find reasons to be positive.

But when they play like this, when they put forth a bedwetting against a bad team that hearkens back to the Rich Brooks era, you can't expect to get a pass from the fans. The Rams are in the third quarter of their season. It's gut check time if we're going to get four full quarters of football worth rooting for.