Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - FIRST LOOK | Another Shootout? Bengals Preparing For Spiraling Arizona Cardinals in the Post-Kyler Era
Episode Date: December 24, 2025Playoff hopes are gone, but fireworks could be on deck as the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals square off in a high-octane Week 17 battle. Can Joe Burrow torch the Cardinals’ battered second...ary? Will Jacoby Brissett keep pace with Trey McBride and Michael Wilson? James Rapien and Locked On Cardinals host Alex Clancy break down quarterback futures, key defensive concerns, and receiving studs Tee Higgins, Ja'Marr Chase, McBride, Wilson, and Marvin Harrison Jr. The guys also dive into Zac Taylor’s strategy, the Bengals’ urgent offseason needs, and whether injuries should spare Jonathan Gannon’s job.Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans.Click here to learn more and join your team’s community:** https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclubJoin the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!CarGurusShop the way you want with the tools, data, and unbiased deal ratings that make it easy. Buy or sell your next car today at http://CarGurus.com.FanDuelIf you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
It's Bengals, it's Cardinals. It's a matchup of two teams, not going to the playoffs.
Plenty to discuss. We'll do it right now on a special Locked-on crossover.
The Locked-on NFL crossover, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.
Your team every day.
Hi again, everyone. And welcome in to the Locked-on Bengals and Locked-on Cardinals podcast.
I'm James Rupin, joined by Alex Clancy.
And we're going to get you ready for clearly the biggest game of a week.
Week 17. It's Bengals and Cardinals at Baycourt Stadium. Of course, this crossover is brought to
you by Price Picks. Download the Price Picks app today and use code locked on NFL to get $50 in
lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Obviously, Alex, we cover two teams not going to the
playoffs. So special shout out to all the everydayers that support us, that listen, that watch.
And we're going to have you covered even during a holiday week like this. We're crossing over
looking ahead to Sunday's matchup.
And Alex, I've followed some of what's gone on in Arizona,
mostly from a fantasy perspective.
But what's the biggest story here for the Arizona Cardinals with a couple of things?
Well, James, you know, for those that live in Cincinnati,
let me maybe relay kind of a metaphor.
You know, those car crashes you see on TV during the snow
where there's 97 cars that just can't stop because there's snow on the freeway.
and it's very slow and just slowly just mold into one big car with all little dents and stuff.
That's been the Cardinal season pretty much throughout its entirety.
Like everything that could go wrong has gone wrong in the most fantastical way for it to go wrong.
So in a year, much like with the Bengals where it's like, hey, sky's the limit.
I know things aren't perfect, but let's rip.
They haven't.
They've done the opposite of whatever ripping is.
In so many words, RIP, then on arrival kind of season for the Cardinals, unfortunately.
unfortunately. Yeah, it feels that way. And to me, it begins and ends with the Kyler Murray situation
from a thousand foot view because one thing that I've, especially over the past couple of weeks,
really tried to hammer home is when you have Joe, you have the franchise quarterback,
you can reset much faster. You can find defensive players that are going to make your defense
better and do that. But finding the quarterback is much, much tougher. And the team the Bengals played
last week the dolphins, they're going through that now with Tua.
It feels for different reasons,
but it feels like that's what's going on in Arizona right now
with Jacoby Brissette starting for the past month plus.
The toughest part about it is, I mean, James,
we've done these over,
they don't play every year,
but we've done enough over, you know,
the time with Kyla Murray since 2019.
And I was always a Kyler guy over Cliff.
He's winning in spite of Cliff Kingsbury,
not because of him, things like that.
When he got hurt against Tennessee,
and then Jacoby Brissette went to Indy and unlocked this offense.
Like we hadn't seen with Kyla Murray.
I'm like, oh, no.
It was immediate.
It's like, oh, no.
Michael Wilson, Marv, Trey McBride, down the field, not digging and dunking,
even without a run game.
Jacoby Reset comes off the street pretty much.
And even though, you know, he's had history with Cleveland and with, with Drew
at the time.
But like, yeah.
And that's it.
That was enough for me.
And, you know, he got put on IR and the offense.
the carters a lost bunch of games but the offense looks better would you go over said that it did with
kairla murray and yes there are like five teams who or maybe seven or eight teams who absolutely know
who their quarterback for the future is now the other 20 or 22 23 don't and if you if you got a
quarterback he got a chance always so i share that sentiment with you yeah and here in cincinnati it's
it isn't the quarterback conversation but it's everything else because it feels like zach taylor's
return is inevitable. It feels like they're not going to make major changes to the front office.
So, yeah, naturally, it's like, all right, well, what do you want to happen? You want the best
draft pick, but you look at this matchup. And I think, given that Joe Burrow is starting,
you would expect the Bengals to win this matchup. That doesn't mean that's going to happen.
The Cardinals' offense, you're at has played well, but Jacoby Brissette.
But there are Bengals fans that are like, they're going to do this again. Last year, they won
five straight and missed the playoffs. This year, they're already eliminated. But in, I'm
a potential position to win three straight, and for what?
To say they went six and two without Joe Burrow,
and everything would have been fine if he was healthy.
And so I think that's sort of a concern among the fan bases.
All right, well, if they finish strong,
do they still think they're close?
Because they're not.
They need to add multiple proven pieces and free agency on defense,
resign some of their guys on offense,
and probably add a piece or two there as well.
And we'll see if they do.
we'll see if they know that they need to do that because last year they only added really one
proven piece and free agency on defense and it clearly wasn't enough.
So let me ask you this because, you know, they've had some success of late, you know,
decades ago they had success.
But, you know, the Bengals and the Cardinals are not dissimilar in their history.
Lost more than they've won during a large portion of their career.
You have the Carson Palmer's, so did the Cardinals.
Joe Burrow, you know, making the Super Bowl run.
the antithesis of what you're supposed to do to build a roster is pay wide receivers first.
Like that's just Cardinal Sin number one.
Is it not?
Even if you're your two best players outside of your quarterback.
So when you look at it, Teagans is a wide receiver one playing with a 0.1% or wide receiver.
So them getting paid isn't an issue.
But with the current state of the roster, is that like the sticking point for this?
It's like, why did you pay this?
Why did you do this?
or it was like, listen, it was a necessary evil.
You're just doing it a little bit backwards.
Yeah.
I think it's necessary because they just, they drafted so poorly and they were so
inactive in free agency.
I don't know where that money would have gone.
And paying T didn't, there's a two-headed monster here.
They got the T. Higgins and Jamar Chase extensions done during free agency.
They should have waited and focused on free agency.
I think they were worried about what those deals would look like.
In reality, they should have paid both guys soon.
But they didn't.
So they waited.
They should have pushed it a little more into the offseason into April.
And so they could focus on free agency.
Instead, I think they were worried about the numbers and the cap hits and all of those things
when it came to Jamar and T.
But on a overall level, like I get that you don't need to pay two wide receivers for this team.
I don't know who else they would have paid.
Like if you look at this roster, it's so top heavy.
Like, and if you subtract T, like we knew Trey Hendrickson was a question.
Mark, and I think he's more likely to be a Cardinal than a Bengal.
It seems like at this, at this point next year, and I have no idea what the Cardinals
cap situation is.
I just think that he's probably going to leave in free agency.
And so that's the tough spot.
So I don't blame them.
I think it was the right move, and it shouldn't have prevented them from making other
moves in free agency, but either it did or they did for whatever reason because maybe they
thought that it was going to get fixed with the guys they've drafted.
That hasn't happened.
And so they really need to get aggressive here because three straight years without the playoffs with Joe Burrock quarterback.
I'll give you a Mulligan in 2023 when he hurt the wrist.
Last year he was healthy.
This year you went one and eight without him.
If they would have went four and five without him, they'd be right in it with a couple of games to go.
Yeah.
I mean, but like the Joe Burr, yeah, it's fascinating because it's like it's an age old question.
Would you rather have Joe Burrow for nine games or a B level quarterback for 17?
It's just fascinating because of how especially is.
Now, with the issues that the Bengals knew they were going to have going into the season,
the Cardinals didn't have that.
They thought that everything was ready to rip the third year in the rebuild with the draft,
you would think with Walter Nolan and Will Johnson going one, two punch them, adding Josh Sweat,
them adding Dalvin Tomlinson, bringing Clayus Campbell back, having that team on defense ready to go
with Kyler Murray coming in with Marvin, you know, got the rookie cobwebs off,
having Trey McBride who had all pro trajectory, which we've seen this year,
an improved offensive line, James Connor and Trey Benson,
all the boxes were checked for them to actually compete this year at a very, very high level.
And the opposite, pretty much out the gate happened.
They could have lost week one in Orleans.
They could have lost week two to Carolina.
They lost to Tennessee in incredible fashion.
And then, you know, all these one-score games, they weren't able to win,
and now they're getting boat raced after the buy.
It's like, this is what.
what gets everybody fired.
On top of that, and let me ask you this before you pivot,
like the Cardinals have been decimated as the term.
They have more games missed due to injury by far than any team in the NFL,
in very key positions.
Is that enough to bring Jonathan Gannon back if it were you for his final year
of his contract?
Or he's like, you know what, dude,
sometimes it doesn't matter how it looks,
injuries or otherwise,
you've got to make a change.
What will they do at quarterback?
What is the plan there?
I think that's a huge part of it.
So, yeah, so here's the thing.
I think if you run it back with Jacoby Preset,
you draft the right tackle,
you draft the left guard,
you have a run game that can rush them off
over 100 yards more than once since week eight.
Like, Jacoby Reset is a competent,
good leader at quarterback.
And this is a terrible draft class.
I would draft everything else
and then either trade for a guy
or draft one in 2027 when,
It's not a historically bad quarterback class.
It's not perfect, but there's a lot less perfect situations
as a quarterback than even average ones in the NFL.
So I think he's on play.
Yeah.
And so if that's the case, maybe you do bring Jonathan Gannon back because you don't want to hand
the new coach, a quarterback that isn't going to be here in 2027.
Right.
Right.
And maybe he is, but that would be probably my logic.
And who knows, maybe Gannon and Taylor.
know, Zach Taylor's probably going to be back.
So there are some key matchups to talk about.
I think Jacoby Brissette's going to be involved in those.
We will continue the conversation with those matchups coming up next.
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All right.
Let's get to these matchups, Alex.
And plenty of big ones.
I think that, well, we should start with the quarterbacks.
We were on Jacoby percent.
So let's start there.
How this Bengals Young defense does.
And they've been very up and down, historically bad for a lot of the year.
Last week, take an advantage of a matchup against Quinn U.
I feel like it's going to be much different against a veteran like Jacoby Brissette,
someone that led the Patriots past the Bengals last year in week one.
That matchup alone is going to be interesting because you just mentioned it.
He's a veteran.
He's seen a lot.
He's done pretty well with this Cardinals' offense.
And this Bengals defense has been bad for most of the season.
Yeah, it'll be interesting.
Unfortunately, it's not so much about the Bengals defense as it is Drew Petting versus himself.
Like the offensive coordinator is probably,
probably going to be served his,
we're not going to re-up you papers at the end of the year.
The problem with this offense is that, first of all,
they haven't been able to run the ball.
That's not necessarily on him that James Conner and Trey Benson have been out.
The problem is this offense is only equipped for one X receiver's numbers.
So anybody that's played fantasy football over the last six weeks knows Michael Wilson's name now.
That's what everybody was hoping that Marvin Harrison Jr. would be.
Marvers has been out for the better part of the last six weeks.
So it's been Trey McBride, it's been Michael Wilson with Jacoby Resett, and Jacoby has fed them the rock.
Like, this is Joe Burrow-Gamar Chase target numbers with T. Higgins out.
Like, it is madden on easy numbers, 30 targets between the two of them, 25 targets between the two of them.
And then Marv comes back.
Everything drops off.
Everything drops off.
And Mark had a touchdown catch the drop last week.
Jacoby Brissette, listen, should have had two more passing touchdowns last week.
Jacoby Brissette is not the problem with this offense.
he is trying his damnedest to be the catalyst.
And it's like for defensive perspective for the Bengals,
if you don't stop Trey McBride, he's going to catch 15 passes.
Like that is a that is a foregone conclusion.
Degoy Brissette finds his dudes who eat for him and he feeds him and feeds him.
Yeah, that is scary because the Bengals have been awful.
I mean, awful at guarding tight ends all season long.
There's not a tight end that hasn't beaten them in one form or facet.
it feels like Pat Friermuth on Thursday night football,
plenty of other matchups like that,
where it's just been,
even Darren Waller last week had multiple nice plays,
and that was with Quinn yours at quarterback.
So buckle up Bengals fans,
because I don't really know how they're going to stop him.
In the tight ends, they're so tough because for this Bengals defense,
because they have rookie linebackers,
their top cover corners,
DJ Turner,
but he's going to lose that size matchup against every tight end.
And so what do you do?
And that's, yeah, you've got to start with,
with Trey McBride and trying to slow him down.
He's really, really good.
Well, and tell me about this, because Garrett Williams,
Cardinals' lead corner, is out within Achilles.
The Cardinals, again, him and Walter Nolan last week,
they cannot stay healthy.
And these are now scary into five, week, seven,
week eight of next season injuries.
So you hope that nobody gets injured for the rest of the year,
let alone at any time.
But you're going to be seeing Will Johnson,
number zero, rookie out of Michigan.
him, he's going to go up against either T. Higgins or Jamar Chase.
Talk to me about how good Joe Burrow is at exposing weaknesses in the secondary.
And I know that's super general, but when you have those two dudes, and his acumen,
it's got to be a nightmare for opposing D.Bs.
It is. Yeah, it is.
It would be just like if he's going up against the Bengals defense,
or then Mike is sicky and I know a fan when he's healthy,
he might have 22 catches.
because he can just he's like oh well if you take jemar away i'll lean on tea and and that's what happened
early last week against the dolphins they were playing a little single coverage downfield and so they're
like all right i'm going to throw it deep and t higgins really got the bengal's offense jump started with a
35-yard catch it was a great ball great catch and that's that's what they'll do and if you play double
double, well then, you know, maybe you do take away Jamar for most of the game and T for most
of the game. But then Joe's relying on Chase Brown and he'll find Mike Gaseki and Andre Yosefash.
So he's he's been really good at picking, picking his poison and they do a good job of getting
Jamar Chase open. He has 110 catches, a 17 away from tying last year's number. Obviously,
he led the NFL in receptions last year. So maybe he gets there. T. Higgins, 10 touchdowns,
probably going to fall short of 1,000 yards on the season.
And part of that Joe Burroughs been out.
But second straight year with 10 touchdowns, they're just really tough to contain.
And that's if you're fully healthy.
If you try to double both guys or cloud them, it matters.
But they're still going to get theirs.
And that's before Joe finds these other guys.
So I think that's Joe's best attribute or one.
of them is being able to read a defense, find where it's weakest and making the right
decision. Yeah, it's kind of, I always go back to the Drew Breeze years with Devery Henderson and
Marcus Colston and Robert Meachman's like, don't know who it's going to be. It's going to be
somebody's going to be open and somebody's going to get all the targets one day, obviously
a little different because Jamar is, is elite of elite. Chase Brown terrifies me in this
matchup, especially because they've realized that Chase Brown was still on the roster midway through
the season. I know a lot of that had to do with Joe being out. I want to have a
I'm a football nerd and this may not necessarily be with this matcham, but it's about the Bengals.
Isn't there a world where the Bengals need to go get a starting quarterback to play backup next year for Joe Burrow?
Like with this offense, with him being injured how he's been, not saying he's prone, whatever it is.
This locomotive has the opportunity to not slow down if you pony up a little extra cash to have a backup,
like an old school Jimmy G, not him, but what he was is a backup and with the Raiders and the Rams and otherwise.
Like is that a conversation?
Yeah, I think it should be.
And you just need, it can't crumble if he misses four games.
Right.
Like go two and two when Joe's out.
And it was so bad with Jake Browning that they had to trade for Joe Flacco.
I don't know.
Is Joe Flacco going to be open to being Joe Burroughs backup?
I would be open to that.
I think that that could work.
And Joe Flacco performed pretty darn well.
It was similar for most of that run.
I would say like a thousand foot view.
you to Jacoby Brissette where they were putting up numbers.
They were still losing games, but they were effective.
And at the end, the magic had kind of worn out a little bit.
And part of that had to do with Joe Flacco suffering a shoulder injury.
But he gave them a shot.
And they should have won more than one game without Joe Burrow and one game with Flacco
at quarterback.
It didn't work out that way.
But he wasn't the reason why.
So yeah, I think that's a huge, that should be a huge priority.
And it should be someone like,
Jacoby Brissette or Joe Flacko or or someone like that, that Phil Rivers, dare I say.
I'm kidding.
But, you know, like someone like that that can read a defense and get you out of a game with a win
and in hold serve for a few weeks if that goes down.
Oh, you know, the guy that can just throw the ball 20 yards down the field with some sort
of accuracy, you know, and like with the car.
And read a defense and not get confused right away.
And, yes.
I mean, the Philip Rivers thing is kind of fascinating where it's like, man,
quarterbacking used to be so much better just an average level.
double. Like he's just doing this coming off the street. Doesn't matter at 44. The Cardinals defense now
is the Bengals defense during the first seven or eight weeks of the season. They're giving up 40
burgers like it's Halloween and that's candy. So this is something that is nightmare fuel for the
Cardinals right now, especially with the season lost. Now with Walter Nolan gone with Garrett Williams,
got Will Johnson and Denzel Burke, two rookies leading at the quarterback position. No real
semblance of a pass rush really that we've seen. So this is going to be all systems go. If you've
got Joe Burrow and your fantasy football championship, you're welcome. You're welcome. This is going to be
a bad day. A weather notwithstanding, I don't think there's going to be any sort of real inclement
weather. So it should be cool and clean. And Joe Burrow will have a day. Man, yeah, I lean your way.
I check the fan over under. It was 53 and a half.
And the over might be an easy one.
We'll dive into keys to victory for this playoff preview.
All right, I'll stop making jokes for this matchup between Bengals and Cardinals coming up next.
All right.
Let's keep things rolling with a playoff preview.
Like I said, it's Bengals, it's Cardinals.
It could really be a fun game, a back-and-forth offensive, spectacular,
plenty of fireworks.
Sign me up for that.
If it's meaningless football from a postseason standpoint,
Well, then I'll take a 70 point game between the two teams, both teams in the 30s going back and forth.
What would you say, Alex, are the keys for the Cardinals to snap their losing streak and get on the winning side?
Figure out wide receiver one.
See, the thing is, because you're going to have to outscore the Bengals.
You're not going to be able to stop the locomotive.
And I say this with longer lasting impressions.
Like, we say tongue and chugel, like, yeah, this is going to be a fun game.
Okay.
if Marvin Harrison Jr. gets the wide receiver one moniker ripped away from him by Michael Wilson,
that's going to have lingering effects. Now, with Drew Petsing most likely not coming back as OC,
it may be 6 of 1, and it may not matter that much. If there's a new offense, it's going to be fun and more West Coastie and stuff.
But this is now becoming a thing with Marvin Harrison Jr. Michael Wilson had the acrobatic Cirque Day's a leg catch that ended up being a touchdown last week.
Marvin Harrison Jr. tried to catch a ball like you were a six-year-old
catching a kickball when you were playing kickball with the ball super big.
What's going with you? Like what's up with him?
I don't know. He makes magical. He makes magical things look super easy.
And other things, elementary things look not like. This is how I tweeted it out.
And it's not exact. But for Bengals fans especially, this will kind of translate.
Michael Wilson is Jacoby Reset. Marvin Harrison Jr. is Kyla Murray.
where it's like the ceiling for Marv is definitely higher.
We've seen magic, just like with Kyler.
But if you want the metronome,
if you want that equilibrium wide receiver,
Michael Wilson can run every route.
He catches contested balls.
He's six three.
He's not the fastest,
but he just produces when everybody knows he's getting the ball,
which has happened over the last six weeks.
That's the best I can describe it.
But yeah, it's frustrating.
It's because Jamar Chase came in and he's like,
I'm the guy.
I'm a Hall of Famer immediately on the field.
And you thought Marr could be.
something like that and it hasn't been close.
Is there any scenario where he's not a cardinal next year?
No, absolutely not.
Unless it's like mid-season and like State Farm Stadium is on fire.
And it's like everybody's gone.
We don't know which way up is potentially.
But I think with all of the influx of Kyler and Jacoby and him being injured and this
season being lost, I think next year will be the telltale.
Yeah.
It's just wild that we're here out because a lot of bank.
fans obviously watched him at Ohio State and he just felt so safe and like he was going to be like
walk into the league and be like current T. Higgins, you know, like like just big, strong, fast, physical.
And it's just, yeah, it's, it's surprising. It is, right? At least to me.
It's, um, it's not because he's a good kid. Like, it just sucks. No, I know. The weight on the world on
your shoulders, that's fine. It's not an original story. And the story's not written yet. Like,
People say Malik neighbors, Malik neighbors.
I played more games than Malik neighbors in the NFL.
You know, it's like the best abilities,
availability in a lot of senses,
and he's missed time after their biweek.
But story's not done yet.
The story's not done yet. Now, for me,
defensively,
Mike Gisicki and Chase Brown are my two
that the Cardinals need to stop. Like, obviously,
you're going to try and curtail Jamar Chasing de Jans.
Tight ends with the Cardinals, bad.
Mike Gisickey, Joe Burrow, good.
Chase Brown, I mean, he's a...
Bijon Robinson light, right?
I mean, he's kind of,
Bijon Robinson had almost 170 all purpose yards in a touchdown last week.
Chase Brown could mirror that as well.
So this offense is just a nightmare for the Arizona Cardinals going in.
He could, and his confidence is really high right now.
He's over 1,200 yards from scrimmage for the year.
I had five straight, six straight games with 100 yards from scrimmage earlier this season.
It got snapped a few weeks ago, but got back on that side of things against the dolphins.
No, I think that's a big part of it.
Like if you can, if you're able to run the football and operate through Chase Brown,
it's just going to open things up for tomorrow and T.
And it really becomes a pick your poison type of offense.
And that's it.
If Joe Burrow plays the way Joe Burrow played against the offense where he's just super clean,
super efficient, accurate, where you're going to put up points.
And so that's an easy one that needs to happen.
All eyes are on this defense.
And I don't know.
I don't know if they can do anything to convince me
that they don't need significant changes in the offseason.
It's just been so bad.
But if they can show some sort of,
hey, let's not let Trey McBride have 15 catches on us
because he very well could.
That would be a huge key.
The turnovers, they're a defense.
They gave up yards even last week.
And then suddenly they were able to force a couple of turnovers.
And they forced them.
It wasn't like Quinn yours just threw them the ball.
they were pretty nice plays, batted play.
It might not be a great decision, but if you can force a couple of turnovers,
it clearly goes a long way for this defense that is vulnerable and could give up plenty of points.
Who's the best offensive player for the Bengals?
Well, it obviously would have been Trey.
It's not a DJ Turner, their corner.
And that's going to be a fun matchup if he's been drawing the best receiver and guarding him.
And so how do they go with that?
What do they do?
and then Dax Hill's been playing really well on the outside over the past month as well.
He moved from Nickel outside when Kim Taylor-Brick got hurt.
So that corner tandem versus the Cardinals wide receivers could be interesting as well.
Yeah.
You know, I think this is just, man, what if things panned out the way they were supposed to?
And we're looking at a week 17 game with two teams on the fringe of playoffs.
This is just have completely different, completely different aura.
Because, I mean, the popcorn's there.
Like the matchup's going to be fun.
and it's just, damn it.
May as well be a preseason game.
I mean, the last time the Cardinals played the Bengals,
it was, I mean, Bengals had their way with them
at State Farm Stadium a couple years ago.
Is that last year or two years ago?
It was two years ago.
Yeah, because the Bengals needed it.
Yeah, they were up against it a bit.
They needed to win that game.
Yeah.
So, I don't know, man.
It's, I'm excited to watch the Y receivers
for the Bengals on the same field as the Cardinals.
Because this is a huge test for Will Johnson.
Like, if he's going to lead this charge,
you heard it here first on December,
20, whenever we're recording this.
I'm not going to tell you when.
That Budabaker is probably going to be out after this year.
I would, like, there are a couple, there are a couple T-lews.
I don't have insider information.
I'm reading human things.
The fact that he got voted as a pro bowler in one of his worst years,
like other teams are watching that there's blood in the water with this team.
And Budapaker could be had.
And he tweeted out, last home game, thank you Cardinals fans.
He didn't say for this year.
He left it vague.
So Will Johnson may need to be the face of this defense moving forward come next year.
Yeah.
It's still early to tell that.
Like it's-
Buddha would be a trade you're saying?
He's got one year left.
He got an extension.
They added one year.
There's an out afterwards, but it's an obvious trade-for restructure, extend at another year.
He's going to be 30.
Got it.
How respect, like, for those who don't know who Boudoubaker, like, he is one of the most respected players,
especially on a bad team.
in the NFL getting voted to a Pro Bowl makes me think other teams are looking like hey it's a
perfect time to go get them yeah yeah could totally see i mean you mentioned it and i was like oh
buda baker right and so other teams are certainly going to to feel that way and you know i have
interest man it's uh hopefully it's a fun game i i do think it's going to be fun i'll be there in
person so it better be fun it better be worth the the time don't fail me bengals cardinals but um yeah
unfortunate you're right that uh the popcorn that could be had
doesn't have any kind of postseason ties in the 30s do you think we're looking in the 30s
i do it feels that way doesn't it doesn't it i mean i hope so maybe 30 20s one way or the other
like if there's a car was you put up 30 points for once yeah yeah have they not have they
wins they they put up 30 against dallas i believe um but no it's been it's been uh it's not
been great it's not been great well you could use those that that phrase to describe both of these
teams. We're obviously going to have you covered all week long and Sunday with your postgame coverage
as well. So check out Locked-on Cardinals for more with Alex and Locked-on Bengals for more as well.
Until next time for Alex Clancy, I'm James Rupin. Thank you so much for watching and listening
to Lockdown Bengals and Locked on Lockdown Cardinals on the Lockdown Podcast Network.
