PHNX Daily: Cardinals Continue Abysmal Descent

👋 GOOD MORNING – What was that…?

At this point, we probably shouldn’t be too surprised to see our beloved Arizona Cardinals play this poorly, but that beatdown by the Bengals felt like one of the lowest moments of this low season — somehow.

We’ll talk about some of the (few) bright spots, but first, a dive into the ugly, for the 13th time this season.

Brace yourselves!

— Alex D’Agostino, PHNX Sports Daily Editor

Cardinals Blown Out by Bengals

Another day, another Cardinals blowout. Man, this one was pretty bad.

There have been more than a few bad ones this season, but this 37-14 smacking felt like it might have been the ugliest so far, somehow.

Not only did the Cardinals put up a poor defensive effort, they could hardly even manage garbage-time production offensively. While the Bengals came into Sunday allowing an NFL-worst 30.5 points per game, the Cardinals only managed seven points until their final drive of the day.

Arizona has yet to eclipse that 30-point threshold offensively, and their 14 points in this game was their fewest in a contest this season. They haven’t even managed more than 20 in well over a month’s time.

But their continuously-struggling defense yet again headlined the understandable deluge of criticisms for this week’s loss.

Granted, the Bengals’ offense hasn’t really been their issue since Joe Burrow came back. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are elite-level wideouts catching passes from an elite QB, as well.

But the Cardinals just looked to be completely outclassed defensively — a sight that has happened far too often this season, regardless of injury or personnel status. There were wide-open players littering the field for Cincinnati, and Arizona’s tackling seems to be getting worse with each passing game.

Burrow completed 24-of-31 passes for 305 yards and three scores. 11 different Bengals caught a pass, and none had more than 60 yards. Joe Flacco was in the game with 12 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

To me, this signals much more than just a mismatch facing Chase, Higgins, or any of Cincinnati’s plus weapons. It matches the eye test of what has been a total breakdown in both fundamentals and schematics for Arizona’s defense.

Soft zone is being exploited, poor pass rush allows time to find the open man, and receivers just aren’t being brought down when they should be. It’s difficult to reconcile this result with a defensive-minded head coach in Jonathan Gannon, and a coordinator in Nick Rallis that has shown flashes of being an excellent young coach.

The team will point to injuries, and that has to be accepted as a partial factor. But this defense was struggling before the injuries, and the problems seem to go much deeper than personnel. This Cardinals team just can’t play right now — on either side of the ball.

I’m not going to make any declarations on the status of Jonathan Gannon and his staff, but I will say: these losses are getting tougher and tougher to justify. It’s going to be difficult to imagine the Cardinals running it back without changes next year.

With all that said, it’s time to talk about some positives. There haven’t been many, and I get it, you probably don’t want to hear it. But let’s give some love to an NFL record-breaker and some other rising players — it’s not their fault this season has gone this way…

Cardinals Top Performances

TE Trey McBride – 10 catches, 76 yards and a touchdown. But in doing so, the star TE set an NFL record for most catches in a single season by a tight end — passing Zach Ertz’s previous record of 116. McBride is up to 119 on the season with a game still to be played. He’s almost a one-man team at this point; it’s truly unreal to watch.

WR Michael Wilson – Five receptions, 89 yards, and an impressive tightrope-act touchdown. Wilson, despite such a slow start to 2025, sits at 907 yards and has a legitimate chance at a 1,000-yard season with a strong performance next week.

LB Cody Simon – It’s been a slow process for the fourth-round rookie, but Simon led the Cardinals in tackles with an impressive 15 yesterday, including a QB hit and half a sack.

CB Denzel Burke – Burke was given a tough task, but held mostly sturdy in coverage, with two passes defended, six tackles and a TFL. The Cardinals might not know how to do much, but they sure can draft DBs.

Look, I know, it’s not going to make anyone feel better. But there is a slight amount of hope in the fact that this team does have talent — it just isn’t translating to results (which might be the most frustrating reality of all, to be honest).

Quick Hits

Going streaking: We all blinked, and suddenly the Suns are five games over .500 (18-13) and on a three-game win streak. After hammering the Lakers on Tuesday, Phoenix followed up with back-to-back wins (115-108 and 123-114 respectively) over the struggling New Orleans Pelicans on the road, even enduring some truly wild officiating and some pretty embarrassing antics from Jose Alvarado.

One last tune-up: The No. 1-ranked Wildcat basketball squad continues to roll, and they’ll have one more shot at a tune-up (as if they really need it?) before conference play begins on January 2. Tonight, they’ll take on South Dakota State for a 7:00 p.m. matchup at McKale Center.