* The Cardinals started the 2012 campaign winning four straight, but then lost 11 of their last 12 to finish 5-11 for the second time in three seasons. The coach that led Arizona to its only Super Bowl appearance (in 2008), Ken Whisenhunt, was let go and replaced by Bruce Arians.
* St. Louis went 7-8-1 last season in Jeff Fisher's first season as the Rams' head coach, its ninth consecutive non-winning season. The last time the Rams won more games than they lost was when they went 12-4 in 2003.
* The Rams swept the two games versus the Cardinals in 2012, winning by 14 points in each game. Two Sam Bradford touchdown passes helped the Rams beat the Cardinals in St. Louis on Oct. 4, 2012, 17-3. St. Louis won at Arizona 31-17 on Nov. 25 behind two more Bradford touchdown passes and 139 yards on the ground by the now-departed Steven Jackson.
* Arizona brought in veteran Carson Palmer to quarterback the Cardinals. Palmer is 535 passing yards shy of joining the 30,000-yard club (34 players all-time have reached 30,000 passing yards). Palmer was 8-16 the last two seasons in Oakland after quarterbacking the Cincinnati Bengals the previous seven seasons. Palmer has never played at St. Louis.
* Steven Jackson, the Rams' all-time leading rusher with 10,138 yards, left St. Louis and went to Atlanta. Since 2006, the Rams had 47 rushing touchdowns by running backs: 44 from Jackson, two from Kenneth Darby (in 2010) and one from Cadillac Williams (in 2011). Only one active running back on the Rams' 53-man roster has even played a game in the NFL (Daryl Richardson, 16 games in 2012), and none has scored an NFL touchdown.
* Larry Fitzgerald has caught at least one pass in 133 consecutive games, the second-longest active streak in the NFL (Tony Gonzalez 195). Fitzgerald has caught at least three passes in all 18 career games against the Rams.
-- STATS LLC
