The Cardinals don’t have many advantages going up against the Rams on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
asserted
Cardinals → have → Stadium
Sure, they have Trey McBride, an otherworldly tight end who can catch anything in his orbit, but if there is a distinct advantage for the double-digit underdog Cardinals, it lives somewhere inside the mind of coach Mike LaFleur.
asserted
it → have → LaFleur
Sitting inside LaFleur’s head is a treasure trove of intelligence on the Rams that would make any CIA operative jealous.
asserted
operative → sit → Rams
He has three years of Sean McVay’s offensive playbook.
asserted
He → have → playbook
He knows all of Matthew Stafford’s tendencies.
asserted
He → know → tendencies
He knows the terminology that the head coach and quarterback like to use at the line of scrimmage.
asserted
coach → know → scrimmage
Hand signals, audibles and adjustments that make one of football’s most sophisticated offenses tick.
asserted
one → make → offenses
Now, the former Rams offensive coordinator returns to SoFi armed with three seasons of institutional knowledge, but there’s still one rather inconvenient problem:
Just because there’s familiarity with your opponent doesn’t mean you have the personnel to stop them.
asserted
you → return → them
LaFleur’s Cardinals are 1-4 and have surrendered a whopping 142 points over their last four games.
asserted
Cardinals → surrender → games
They enter Sunday’s NFC West showdown as 12 ½-point underdogs.
asserted
They → enter → underdogs
Sean McVay knows former assistants can be dangerous
For McVay, facing former assistants has become an occupational hazard of building one of the NFL’s most influential coaching trees.
asserted
facing → know → trees
At least eight former coordinators have moved into head coaching or prominent coordinator positions around the league.
asserted
coordinators → move → league
McVay is 5-8 against his former assistants, including five losses to Packers coach Matt LaFleur, Mike’s older brother.
asserted
McVay → include → LaFleur
Then there’s Raheem Morris, whose familiarity with the Rams has created headaches in Atlanta and now with the 49ers.
asserted
familiarity → ’ → 49ers
The Rams have become football’s version of a prestigious university whose graduates keep returning to embarrass the professor.
asserted
graduates → become → professor
He spent 2023 through 2025 alongside Stafford and McVay, studying their habits, developing game plans and learning precisely how the Rams attack defensive weaknesses.
But McVay refuses to let paranoia dictate Sunday’s preparation.
asserted
paranoia → spend → preparation
“You want to be careful to chase a ghost because it still is a player’s game,” McVay said Thursday.
asserted
McVay → want → ghost
That’s an excellent philosophy, provided the ghost doesn’t already know your next play call.
asserted
ghost → ’ → call
Thankfully, McVay’s star quarterback isn’t losing any sleep over Arizona’s head coach.
asserted
quarterback → lose → coach
Stafford understands the potential chess match better than anybody.
asserted
Stafford → understand → anybody
LaFleur knows his preferences, how he processes defensive looks and which adjustments he favors when a play begins breaking down.
asserted
play → know → adjustments
Yet Stafford believes there’s a difference between knowing what’s coming and actually stopping it.
asserted
what → believe → it
“With only one year removed, there are things you sit there and you could stay up all night and go, ‘Oh, does he think this or think that?’
uncertain
he → remove → that
You just go play the game,” Stafford said.
asserted
Stafford → go → game
Knowing somebody’s hand doesn’t guarantee you have the cards to beat it.
asserted
you → know → it
Stafford can recognize a blitz and still deliver a touchdown.
asserted
Stafford → recognize → touchdown
Puka Nacua can run a route everybody anticipates and still get open.
asserted
everybody → run → route
And the Rams know a few things about LaFleur, too.
asserted
Rams → know → LaFleur
“He knows us, but we know him, too,” safety Kam Curl said.
asserted
Curl → know → him
Curl also revealed that the Rams regularly change defensive terminology, limiting whatever advantage LaFleur might possess from his time in Los Angeles.
uncertain
LaFleur → reveal → Angeles
“He probably knows our principles and our rules, but we know him, too,” Curl added.
asserted
Curl → know → him
In other words, both sides have read the classified documents and have intel on each other.
asserted
sides → read → other
The Cardinals have nothing to lose, and the Rams have plenty
asserted
Rams → have → plenty
That’s what makes this matchup particularly intriguing.
asserted
matchup → ’ → ?
Arizona already won at SoFi Stadium this season, beating the Chargers 26-14 in September.
asserted
Arizona → win → September
And McVay’s Rams are hardly positioned to overlook anybody after Monday’s gut-wrenching 37-34 overtime loss to Buffalo dropped them to 2-3.
asserted
loss → position → 2
Stafford will operate without suspended left tackle Alaric Jackson, leaving veteran David Quessenberry responsible for protecting his blind side.
asserted
Stafford → operate → side
LaFleur knows enough about the Rams to exploit weaknesses if Los Angeles gives him the opportunity.
asserted
Angeles → know → opportunity
But the Cardinals’ biggest advantage might not be knowledge of McVay’s playbook, it’s knowing how much pressure the Rams are under to win this week and exploiting it.
uncertain
Rams → ’ → it
McVay insists he still loves LaFleur and the two friends talk all the time — just not this week.
asserted
friends → insist → LaFleur
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
