The quality of Sam Bradford’s play went largely unnoticed in 2013. St. Louis was in one of those autumn baseball comas, with the Cardinals having just clinched their 19th National League pennant and preparing for a World Series date with the Boston Red Sox.
When the Rams played at Carolina on Oct. 20 of that year, Bradford was in the midst of his best NFL season. He had a passer rating slightly over 90, and was on pace for 3,900 yards, 32 touchdowns and just nine interceptions when he went scrambling out of bounds with 5½ minutes to play.