That’s the prevailing sentiment in the locker room as the Cardinals prepare to play the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday night in Glendale. Last week was the Seattle Seahawks, this week it will be the Cincinnati Bengals.
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It was the most dead-on response yet from an underachieving, 4-5, two-time defending NFC champion – one that hasn’t had many positive responses this season. Division rival Arizona came into their house last Sunday night, took a seat on the sofa directly across from the TV, put their feet up on the coffee table, raided the liquor cabinet and ordered the most inappropriate and unambiguously titled thing imaginable on pay-per-view.
“We can’t let there be any carry-over”, Dalton said.
“I had my buddies in the sideline, right four or five rows up”, Palmer said. “I did when he was here”. I regret it broke apart the way it did. “But we want to play well for him”. “Yes, you recognize that special things like this happen but you can’t see yourself in that position because you are still in the thick of things, still entrenched in being a player”. “We disagree with each other and that’s how it ended, but now is not the time or place to get into a ‘what he said, what she said, ‘ type of deal”.
Carson Palmer (Quarterback): Palmer was next to flawless as he blew the doors off of the Legion of Boom’s headquarters. Four of the last five games between the two teams were decided by no more than eight points. Adam Jones is in the middle of an incredible season, but he’s going to have his hands full with Fitzgerald.
THE DEFENSE: The Cardinals will throw an array of confusing sets and schemes at Dalton, often leaving their talented secondary to defend receivers one-on-one.
Arizona coach Bruce Arians loves to throw the ball deep.
The Cardinals’ 33.6 points per game are just 0.1 behind the NFL-leading New England Patriots, but the Bengals are allowing an NFL-low 16.9 PPG. Clearly this is one stoked-up Cardinals team.
Cincinnati is no slouch defensively, either. Andy Dalton has had a few games where he wasn’t a superstar, but the fact remains that this team is still exceedingly talented this year.
“There are two sides of every story”, Palmer said, “I know the truth and I know my side and obviously his side”. He allowed only one completion for 14 yards on six targets and had a pass defensed.
Just to add insult to injury, the Bengals heave up a long pass at the end of regulation.
The Bengals are on fire on both sides of the football. “I saw them pretty excited, and it got me excited to see them excited”. When’s the last time we had a kicker calling players out publicly?
Chris Johnson’s numbers may be down, but neither he nor the Cardinals feel like he’s wearing down. Look for “CJ2K” to have another stellar day in Arizona, and look for Andre Ellington to be more involved this week. Johnson had 25 rushing attempts but could only gain 58 yards.
-WR John Brown (hamstring) missed a few practice time this week.
The No-Fly-Zone, aka Patrick Peterson, Tyrann Mathieu, Rashad Johnson, Jerraud Powers, Tony Jefferson, and Justin Bethel will have to cover a lot of space as the Cincinnati offense will stretch the field.
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So Dalton should have time to look for AJ Green (4TDs) and prolific tight end Tyler Eifert (9TDs). Those calmed in recent weeks as teams are forcing Andy Dalton and company to move the ball with long, sustained drives. Going on a losing streak could panic the franchise and the organization. I think this is the most likely situation, but still this is going to be a very hard game to predict and could very well be the game of the week. Intensity is everything and you have to have it week in and week out.
