December 31, 2025 • 60 mins
The Cardinals were blown out again, this time by the Cincinnati Bengals. Jess and Seth break down their worst offensive performance of the year. They talk about what they know about Jacoby Brissett as a starter, the special season that Trey McBride has had and whether anyone on the defense is worth building around.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Zz No.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is the Rise Up Sea Red podcast all about
the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL, featuring insider and outsider perspectives.
Enjoy the best hour of Cardinals Talk on the Web.
Now Here are your hosts Jess Root and Seth.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Cox, Lower's on the Cardinals fins and Welcome to the
latest edition of the Rise of Seriit podcast. The best
are Cardinals talkholm Web. I'm your host Jess Root from
Cardswire dot com, USA Today's NFL wire site. The covers,
of course the Arezona Cardinals. Episode seven and thirty four
(00:48):
are Cardinals Bengals reaction show, reacting to the thirty seven
to fourteen loss They're eighth straight loss. My co host
Cox from Revenge of the Birds ESB Nations Arizona Cardinals
site joins me as he does pretty much every single week,
(01:08):
and man, what a total As it was kind of
last week against the Atlanta Falcons where it was the
expected performance of how it went. This is one. This
game is one hundred percent again completely expected, nothing surprising
(01:30):
to it where they fall behind by two scorers score
once fall you know, eventually get down by thirty points
and pick up a garbage time touchdown and that, and
and just an utter blowout against a team against the Bengals,
team that's not playing for anything, but they have a
really really talented offense. And once again, the Cardinals defense
(01:53):
and was terrible, and the Cardinals offense was even worse.
I mean, it's they were almost running out of things
that we can say about this team, right.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
I mean, there's really nothing redeeming left about this this
year and this iteration of Theirs and the Cardinals, and
it's it's depressing because it was year three of the rebuild.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
We were.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
Hopeful and expecting to see the next the next step,
and instead we've got a team that basically followed suit
to what their coach said when they decided to name
Jacoby Brissette the starter. And they're like, oh, we're tanking. Okay,
well we'll take the rest of the season off too.
Like there's no other way to explain it. We've seen
(02:41):
a good defensive performance in the last eight games they're
lost to the the Jacksonville Jackuars. You know, we've seen
a I guess good offensive performance, and in the Atlanta
(03:04):
game last week, I mean that was a decent offensive performance,
but really outside of that we haven't seen anything that
looks like a team that's going to win football games.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Right.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's it's wild. And we want to start this show
by talking about how bad the offensive offense is, because
if we if we want to turn back the clock
and we talk about how bad the offense looked through
the first five games when Kyler until Kyler got hurt,
(03:40):
and then those next two games against the Colts and
the Packers, the offense seemed to be playing better. They
beat the Cowboys come out of the break, and the
decision was made to go with Jacoby Brissett as the starter.
That they felt good about where the offense is, but
we have some rowing lee bad numbers that are long
(04:05):
term and so this is these are what the numbers
look like. And and to remind everyone this was the
decision was made under the guise of saying, we have
he's giving us the better chance to win. Now. Granted
that also the they were beating the drum of Kyler
Murray's not healthy enough to play, but they also loved
(04:27):
while the offense was looking under Jacoby Brissett in since
that game, since that Dallas Cowboys game that they that
they won twenty seven to seventeen, and after it was
after that that Jacobe was named the starter, and then
they did everything in their power to keep it that way,
putting Kyler Moran injured reserve even though he was supposedly
(04:48):
close to coming back, and now he's still not close
to coming back. It's just a mystery when it comes
to his that foot injury. But here is the In
eight games Jacoby Brissette has been named the starter, they're
zero to eight. They've been outscored by one hundred and
twenty five points offensively. They have averaged eighteen point five
(05:11):
points per game. They have not scored more than twenty
points offensively in their last six games, and they've lost
five of their last eight games by three scores or more.
And that includes so when you lose by three or
more scores like that, that that gives you plent of
(05:34):
opportunity for garbage time. And even still they've only averaged
eighteen point five points a game and Brissett's having We'll
talk more about Brissett in a bit, but I want
to talk I want to point out just how bad
the offensive performance was on Sunday against the Bengals, because
if we were a call the offense was supposed to
(05:55):
be better that the path. The offense was better under
Jacoby Prissett. And here's what we saw on Sunday. They
scored a season low fourteen points. They gained a season
low two hundred and thirty three yards. That's bad, but
here's if the airs how it gets worse. Those totals
came against a Bengals defense that has given up the
(06:16):
most yards in the league and the second most points.
Their best defensive performance previous to Sunday was giving up
three hundred and seventeen yards, and it does it's even
worse than that. The two hundred and thirty three yards
don't even tell the story because they they put up
(06:40):
one hundred and forty nine of those yards in the
fourth quarter when they were down by thirty points. In
the first three quarters, in seven possessions, they punted six times,
they had only four first downs, and they had only
eighty four total yards. They went three for five, they
(07:04):
had went three and out five different times. And of
those eighty four yards that they had in the first
three quarters, seventy came on their one touchdown touchdown drive,
and thirty eight of those came on that missed tackled spree.
Of that, Michael Wilson had first thirty eight yard touchdown
in other than that scoring possession. In six other possessions
(07:29):
in the first three quarters, they gained fourteen yards. Jacoby
Brissette was six for sixteen for seventy four yards in
a touchdown through three quarters thirty eight. More than half
of those yards came on the one play by Wilson,
So take take away the play by Wilson. Through three quarters,
(07:55):
Jacoby was five for fifteen for thirty six yards through
three quarters.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
That is that's not good.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
That's that's that it's awful. And but we look at
his stat line. We'll talk about Brissette here in a bit.
You know, two hundred twelve yards, two passing touchdowns, no turnovers.
It looks like he had a good day. But but
this Cardinos offense, it's been getting worse and it had
the worst performance of the year against the worst defense
(08:30):
in football. I don't like how. I don't even understand
how how something like this happens or why people are
okay with it.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
Because they've resigned themselves to the fact that injuries are
the reason. I I can read you some crazy stuff
from my side, I don't want to go too deep
into it.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
But.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
There are some crazy notions from fans that that it's
been you know, if Jacoby had the same roster, so
(09:27):
you know, and it's just it's it's wild to think
that people are okay with all of it, because it's like, oh,
we'll just we'll just chalk it up to the injuries, right, like,
look how good Jacoby's playing despite all the injuries. And
(09:55):
and you look at it and you go, but what
are you watching? Like genuinely, like, what are you watching
that makes you think that running it back will make
this any different? And and I go back to the
(10:16):
Jacoby stat that you and I have used previously. And
and I know a lot of people are like, oh,
quarterback wins aren't a are you know, aren't a stat. Okay,
let's just say that they're not, which is fine. But
in his last two years as a starter, he's two
(10:38):
and fourteen, he's about to be two and fifteen as
a starter, He's thrown twenty three touchdowns and eight interceptions.
He's thrown for just under four thousand yards and so
like and and people look at it and they go, okay,
(11:01):
if you give him. You know, well, again, you look
at the New England Patriots who he started last year, right,
they were four and thirteen. Yeah, Drake May wasn't great,
going three and nine, but he had three times the
wins that Jacoby did with the same team, three times
(11:27):
the wins. Kyler in five games had doubled the wins.
And you look at Jacoby's career, he hasn't had a
winning percentage close to Kyler's since twenty twenty one, when
he started five games from Miami, right two and three.
(11:48):
Before that, it was Indy where he was seven and eight,
which is his best performance of his career. And so
like to look at it and go, oh, just run
it back. That's what the absurdity is, right, Like, why
would you think that anything's going to be different? And
(12:09):
you mentioned it just like.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
It's the.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
It's the kind of how bad it's getting as the
season goes along, like it's just continuing to get worse
against inferior competition. Now, I mean, you mentioned it the
worst defense in the NFL, and you you have your
(12:35):
perhaps your worst offensive day of the season against the
worst defense, Like that's what makes it even worse is
that that was against a bad defense like the Seattle loss.
It's really hard to say that that was worse. You know,
that wasn't worse, but Seattle's defense is really good. Cincinnati
(12:58):
literally had the thirty second scoring defense and thirty second
and yards per game, and you the Cardinals.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
They moved up thanks to the Cardinals. They moved up
in scoring though in scoring defense.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
And we've seen that consistently since Jacoby took over. Other
teams defenses are getting better when they are playing the Cardinals.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Right, yeah, then, and for how much better the offense?
Was supposed that the passing game was looking and like
what we're seeing. And I reposted a couple of things
that I saw from from Ian Harditz that we're gonna
(13:45):
pull them up because it was EPA per drop back
and it was the offensive EPA as well, And it
shows that the Cardinals offense through weeks one through five
was plus point zero one EPA per play, which is
basically they were running league average, right, And that was
(14:09):
when the that was when the that could basically league
average play, and that was bad. But since week week
sixteen through seven, team that they're a minus point in
zero two, so they've been a below average offense under
Jacoby Brissett. And if you go by drop back, they
were with Kyler for the first five weeks he was
(14:31):
it was point one, one three or fifteenth in the
league drop back EPA. They that's down to point zero
one seven, which is twentieth in league under Perset. So
in terms of, you know, in terms of metrics, analytical
metrics of the offense overall and in the passing game,
that they are a worse offense under Jacoby Brissett than
(14:54):
with Kyler Murray. Now granted, yes they didn't have no
Yes Connor, James Connor and Trey McBride got hurt and
they but at the same time, James Connent try Benson
were doing virtually nothing in those first five games.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
Yeah, and you know, you look at the reality of
the team this year, and I go back to, you know,
naming Drew Kobe the starter. When they did that, it
signified that, like, hey, winning is not important this year.
And then you can back that up with a number
of things. One, they didn't bring in any running backs
(15:34):
right even after even after Bam and I got injured
four weeks ago, they didn't bring any running backs in.
They they continued to run out the same defense even
though things weren't going well. I mean, we talked about it.
(15:57):
Josh Wett was a great signing, Kalays Campbell was, you know,
he's he's a freak of nature. But Baron Browning two
sacks XAVI and we we don't expect, you know, sacks
from that's not his thing. But one and a half sacks.
You know, Darius Robinson has one sack. B J Jealari
in his seven games back has one sacked. Like these
(16:18):
guys like they got nothing from the draft picks or
their signings outside of Sweaton Campbell. And then you have
this situation going on in the secondary where you've got
a guy in Max Melton who was the second round
(16:40):
pick who's now been relegated to special teams. Right, Like,
there's a lot, there's a lot of things going on,
and that's what makes it really difficult.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Let's let's do a little more Jacobe talk coming up
next on the Razers here at podcastpust Our Cardinals Talking Web.
Let's deal dive more into what we've learned about Jacoby.
That's coming next. Rice up, he read You're back on
the Rise of Here podcast Best Our Cardinals Talk on
the web. Kobe Brissett, We've done. We've done the numbers.
You know, if we look at the number statistically, you know,
(17:19):
as quarterbacks go, He's had a solid year over thirty
one hundred passing yards and in eleven starts, twenty one
touchdown passes, en erd seven interceptions. He got an interception
percentage that is on on par with his career one.
He's been sacked thirty seven times, got a passer rating
of ninety three five, which is, you know, it's above average.
(17:44):
It's not great, but it's not awful. It doesn't fall
into the category of bad. He's been what you would say,
an okay quarterback. Now, what the what have we learned
about Brissette over this over these last three months. It's
an interesting thing because like, do we know what type
(18:05):
of quarterback he is? I think we can he I
think he's a little better than I think we expected
him to be long like over a long period of time,
because he does have the volume yards and that's something
he didn't really have before. He's he's throwing more touchdown
passes than he has ever before. If we look at
(18:29):
his touchdown percentage, which is, you know, at four point
six percent, with the exception of his garbage hit like
the garbage time that he had in Washington at twenty
twenty three, like he when he started games, that's significantly
higher than any year that he's had. And but other
(18:51):
than that, I mean, he's kind of the guy like
he's a guy that can operate the offense at a
decent level, but is no good in high leverage situations
either and so and and what we saw was actual
bad play on Sunday against the Bengals, because he wasn't
(19:16):
hitting the receivers, he was getting sacked. He just there
was nothing until they were down by thirty. And so,
you know, while he is an NFL capable quarterback, sure
is he is he starter talent. He's he's the starter
of he would be a good starter for a terrible team.
And that's exactly what he's been this year.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
Yeah, And you know, when you look at the different
aspects of the game, the question has always become like,
how do you how do you manage expectations with a
backup quarterback that's that's playing, you know, seemingly well through statistics,
(19:59):
but can't can't do anything when the game matters. And
we talked about that.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
With the.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Was it oh for four over five in terms of
end of game scenarios right where he has had chances
and can't convert, and you just look at those and
you just kind of it kind of speaks to what
(20:30):
he is as a player, and that's you know, he's
a he's a stat merchant in garbage time and he's
a bulk you know, a bulk stack guy merchants time
or sorry and garbage time. But he's a guy that's
(20:50):
not going to win you games when they're competitive, and
that's you know, that's the unfortunate thing. You kind of
go back and you look at over things.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
You know, trail.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
Trailing with four minutes to go in the game, right,
his quarterback rating drops from and I think these are
one score games considering not like all games because you
know they're always trailing with four minutes to go. But
(21:27):
you know, his quarterback rating and I'm not like a
huge quarterback rating guy, but like it goes from ninety
three to seventy eight, right, and like those are those
are important things that there are some other interesting stats
just first half of games, which is typically where the
(21:52):
competition is right, like where the game is close he's
got six touchdowns and three interceptions. In the second half
of games, when there's basically no or little competition, he
(22:13):
has sixteen hundred and seventy one yards, fifteen touchdowns and
only four interceptions. Now you might be saying to yourself, well,
that's impressive. The other team knows he's going to be
throwing the ball. But despite the other team knowing that
they're going to be throwing the ball so much, he's
(22:34):
been sacked only eighteen times on two hundred and forty
two attempts. He was sacked eighteen times in the first
half of games on two hundred and six attempts, so
almost forty attempts less the same amount of sacks. And
so it kind of goes to what you've talked about.
(22:56):
He doesn't really do anything to win you games, and
that becomes what the issue is more than anything else. Right, Like,
the numbers are fine, but you look at his numbers
just in trailing as a whole, twenty one hundred yards,
(23:20):
just under twenty two hundred yards, fourteen touchdowns, five interceptions.
His numbers when leading are actually excellent. Four touchdowns, no interceptions,
just under five hundred yards. Just here's what the problem
is in tide games, right, So when the game is
still in the balance, he's got four hundred and fifty
(23:45):
nine yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions.
Speaker 6 (23:48):
He's a below average quarterback when it matters, and that's
when the game is competitive.
Speaker 5 (23:59):
And that that's the craziest thing to think about, is
that his numbers are so bad without having any real
when the when there is a game to be played.
(24:21):
And I don't I mean again, I guess if fans
don't listen to this podcast, don't follow like a Kyle Odegard,
you know, obviously don't follow us, then then you can
you can show off those bulk stats and be like, hey, look,
y'aw good he is right. But and I get that's
(24:43):
kind of where all of this is coming from. All
of this is coming from the idea that.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
They will.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
Sang all of this on injuries, right, Like it's gonna
be about the injuries, and they're gonna hang this on
probably Drew Petsing right when they when they do not
renew his contract, don't let him. Don't let him goad
you into oh they fired him. No, they just didn't
(25:18):
renew his contract. That'll be what this is put on.
So when they run it back with Jacoby next year.
It's like, Okay, you know, we have the guy that
led the NFL in attempts, completions, in yardage, and probably
he's going to finish what top five and passing touchdowns
as a starter. Since he became the starter, that's really good,
(25:42):
Like we can we can work off that, and and
nobody's gonna look into like, well, they were the least
one of the least efficient offenses in the NFL. Most
of these yards and especially most of these touchdowns came
when they were down two plus scores.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
So like.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
Again, I'm not gonna say doesn't matter, but if you
got if you ask people that care, like Trade McBride,
do you think he gives two you know what that
he he's at the NFL wrecord for receptions in a
season when they won three games. Do you think he
really cares about that? I know fantasy football players do, right,
but do you think Tray mc bride cares? I would
(26:23):
say McBride would sacrifice fifty catches if they were ten
and ten and six going into this last.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
One hundred, one hundred percent he would. And and well,
and we know that the narrative shift is you know,
how comfortable people like, the rapport they have with Jacoby,
how much smoother are things from the locker room. But
they're losing, they're losing, and they're losing by a lot,
and like, what what does that say? I mean, there
(26:52):
is a thing to say about being a good teammate,
it's another to not Apparently he's not challenging teammates, Like,
I don't know if there's a isn't I don't know
if you could call it great leadership if you are losing, losing, losing, losing,
(27:16):
and your cool cucumber just chill, you know, fun to
be around. And I know that's been a knock on Kyler. No,
he's he's not fun to be around when they're losing
because he's competitive. But everything that we learned about Jonathan
Gannon through the first two years of his tenure as
head coach is that compete, compete, compete, compete. And yes,
(27:38):
it's true that that overall the effort on the field
isn't bad, but it's just insufficient. They're just like so
they're they're a scrappy, hard working, terrible team that's worth
this is worse than they were in twenty twenty three.
When they were a non talented they were a good
(27:59):
bad team because they played their hearts out and they
were just bad at it. But that's last year. They
were perfectly mid. This year they're supposed to take the
next step, and this year everything's gotten worse. The offense
has gotten worse significantly, the defense didn't get better. And
at the middle of that is, while Jacoby is a
great guy to have on your team and if you
(28:21):
need him to start for a few games, but what
does that say about your team if you name him
the starter and that's your best option and according to
the coach, he gives you the best option, the best
chance of winning when you know that winning has not
(28:42):
been the thing that Jacoby has done his entire career.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
Yeah, and I you know, it begs the question of
who made that call.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
We've seen some stuff.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
Come out online that maybe this was a call that
was made by Monte Austin for as opposed to Jonathan Gannon,
and Gannon, you know, going to play a good soldier
and not rock the boat on anything, right, And so
if that's the truth, then you know, maybe Gannon's okay
with it because he's like, well, I'm not gonna get
(29:14):
through him on the bus for this, Like everybody knows
this was a Monty thing. So I don't care whatever,
like if this gives me another year.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
But it's also distant.
Speaker 5 (29:25):
You know, disan't chanting for fans because eventually fans deserve
a winning product.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
I mean, that's just the reality of it.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Right, Like, eventually they deserve to see the team win
football games. And the one thing that we can say
since Bruce arians left is that they don't win football games.
They've got one winning season, They've had now three head coaches,
(29:57):
and and it just feels like there's no Oh, there's
nothing on the horizon that makes you excited. Right, you
got guys like Klay's Campbell, Buddha Baker that are you know,
either way long in the tooth or getting there. You've
got guys in Darius Robinson and Walter Nolan and Max
(30:25):
Melton and Will Johnson and Marvin Harrison who now you're
legitimately like.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Are these guys even gonna be good?
Speaker 5 (30:33):
Like, I know that's a tough thing to say, especially
with injuries, but are these guys even going to be
any good? And those questions when they come about, right,
especially when you're supposed to be taking that next step,
(30:56):
and now you you know, you don't know who's going
to show up. You don't really know who the better
players are, and so the question becomes like, hey, is
this like what's next for this team? And and who
(31:17):
who are the leaders of it? Because as much as
we all love Klayis Campbell, he's he can't be looked
at as the leader for the future unless he's just
gonna take over as head coach, right, Like, it's like,
he's not the guy.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
Buddha Baker is not the guy.
Speaker 5 (31:35):
And as much as we love Buddha Baker, he's been
here through most of the downtime and so we can
say with you know, certainty that like he's not going
to be the franchise changer. He's a very good safety,
but he's not going to change the you know, the
(31:57):
entire franchise. Uh So, who is Like, who's that guy?
We had hoped that Gannon was a culture center, that
he would be the guy that does that, but he's
come off more of a guy that's just, you know,
kind of content to be where he's at. And that's
(32:17):
a really tough thing when you're talking about year three right, Like,
why are you guys not better? Why have you guys
not taken the next step? And what is you know,
what is the plan for the future, and how do
you sell that? Like, because the biggest issue, you know,
(32:38):
we've spent thirty minutes of this podcast talking about the offense.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
The biggest issue is clearly the defense.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Right, Yes, it clearly like the offense did regress this year,
but the defenses was supposed to be better and it wasn't,
which brings us we got one more offensive topic to
talk about, and that's Trey McBride setting a couple of records.
I'm actually the resid of here podcast is talks the Best
r Cardinals Stalk. Well, let's talk about that, talk about
(33:08):
McBride's season and what it means that's coming next in residence,
he read, you're back on the res of Here podcast,
Best SERFF Cardinals stock in the web. One of the
bright spots, one of the only bride spots of the
Cardinals loss to the Bengals was the play of Trey McBride,
as he had another ten catches for seventy six yards
and a touchdown, setting in that game. Two records, one
(33:28):
franchise record, He now has the most catches in a
single season of any player DeAndre Hopkins, who set the
record in twenty twenty with one hundred and fifteen catches. McBride,
with one game left, now has one hundred and nineteen.
And he also broke the record for the single season
resciord for most receptions by the tight end that held
(33:48):
that was set by Zach Ertz in twenty eighteen with Philadelphia.
McBride topped that and now has one hundred and nineteen.
So he's extending that as he goes into the final
week of the season. I mean, it is a nice
footnote to this year, but it's sad that this this
(34:09):
these two records ultimately mean very little because of how
and when they happened.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Yeah, and it's just that's that's just it.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
It's you're very happy for Trey mcbriden. You're happy that
a guy that had you know, worked hard, that you know,
had a decent rookie season and then started to break
out has taken that next step and become, you know,
maybe the premiere player at his position in the NFL,
(34:46):
which is always a good thing to have. However, when
you look at again his ascension, why are we not
seeing it? And I know, you know, tight ends are
(35:08):
mostly a non impact position group. But like you look
at you look at George Kittle and what he does
for the forty nine ers. You look at thank you
(35:30):
Travis kelceon what he does for the Chiefs, And it's
crazy that McBride is having a historical season.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
And it's.
Speaker 5 (35:44):
Virtually because other teams are like, ah, McBride can beat us,
you know, it's fine whatever, Like it's not going to
change the outcome.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
Of the game.
Speaker 5 (35:56):
You look at the Eagles season when when arts you know,
set that record, they made the playoffs, they actually won
a game in the playoffs, and then they came real
close to beating the New Orleans Saints before the Saints
got screwed in the in the NFC Championship game by
the refs against the Rams.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Right, But like that.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Again, it's not that it was meaningless for McBride, because
anytime he said an NFL record is not meaningless.
Speaker 4 (36:30):
But it's just I mean, you look at last year.
Speaker 5 (36:35):
He has seven or eight more catches than last year, right,
he actually has only twenty eight more yards, he has
less first downs, but he's got eleven touchdowns So that's fun, right,
Like that's what matters in fantasy football, that's what matters, yes,
(37:01):
you know, and it's and it's become obvious that he's
more of like and don't get me wrong, his his
you know, nine point nine yards per reception is very good.
But like you look at his his you know, catch percentage,
it's the lowest of his career. You look at his
yards per targets, the second lowest of his career. Only
(37:23):
his rookie year was less. Right, his yards per touch
is the second lowest of his career. Like all of
the numbers that should be going up reduced this year
because it just became almost like a.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
He's the only guy that they can get the ball to.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
Correct, Like it just became a consistent, Hey, we got
to betray. And again, there's nothing wrong with that at all.
Like I don't want anybody to think that we're saying
there's anything wrong with that, but like it does you
you do look at it and you go, huh, like
why didn't this result in this team being better in
(38:06):
any way, shape or form. And again, I'm telling you
right now, Trey McBride would one thousand percent give up
you know, the record to be on a competitive team
that's playing meaningful football in January and not a team
that's likely going to be likely going to be playing
(38:32):
for a or you know, banking for the second time
in three years, right, Like wins matter to these guys,
and it's it's sad that.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
It's like Bolden, Larry Fitzgerald earlier in their current Larry
Fitzgerald all over again, who had the who just got
to experience you know, eight oh nine then twenty fifteen,
but largely he languished putting up big numbers for a
bad team and a kwon Bolden too for the first
(39:08):
four years of his career three four oh, five oh
six or something, I guess, the first five years of
his career before before they had the run to the
Super Bowl that next year. It's but it does, or
it's like Larry Centers, like Larry centers in the late nineties,
and you're like, hey, you were given the ball to
Trey McBride, but there's not much hope for anything else.
(39:29):
And it's and it's it's sad because like, remember this year,
the offense was supposed to carry the team, like they
they came into this year expecting the offense to be
good and when the only thing good about the offense
this year has been Trey McBride and and I mean
to a second to it, to some extent, the play
of Michael Wilson in limited time as a number one guy.
(39:52):
That's positive, but it's you know, it's great to see,
it's great to see, but then you look at well
bigger picture, like at least he's getting those numbers to
get recognized because too many times, you know, over the
(40:15):
history of the Cardinals, there's been very good players at
their positions who don't get recognized because it's not as flash.
Thanks to fantasy football, everybody knows who true Trey McBride is,
and he is he is. He is an absolute treasure
to watch, with the with the youthful exuberance with which
he plays the game of football, the way he interacts
(40:36):
with fans. It's just a shame that this record is coming.
It literally, it is. The record is being wasted in
terms of on field impact, for for wins and losses,
because at the end of the day, it is a game.
But what what what do teams constantly talk about winnings,
about winning? So you get one hundred and nineteen catches.
(40:57):
You lead the NFL in receiving, and do you only
win three games all year? That's sad. Like he didn't like,
he didn't impact.
Speaker 5 (41:11):
No, And you look at it and and there's an excellent,
you know, current situation that that shows that what matters
at the end of the day is winning. And that's
Tyreek Hill, right, Like we've seen the beg and obviously
(41:31):
Prey is not from a behavioral standpoint, Tyreek Hills. I
don't anyway think I'm saying that, but like you look
at it and you see that while the money is
utterly important, Pray was gonna get paid no matter where
he played, right, And when.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
You start to.
Speaker 5 (41:59):
When you start to like break it down and you
see that, oh crap, I'm getting paid a lot. I'm
putting up these monster numbers. And then I'm you know,
in Cabo or in Cancun. While the while the guys
that are my peers, like George Kittle, you know, typically
(42:23):
Travis Kelcey are playing I that sucks, right, Like that
that just genuinely sucks. And and that's where we're getting
with McBride is like, yeah, that's awesome that I'm the
most prolific tight end in a season in NFL history.
(42:48):
But I'd rather be a prolific tight end, not the
most prolific ever. And also potentially, you know, win games
and get a competed in.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
And you get to compete for.
Speaker 5 (43:02):
A Super Bowl, not not be like, Hey, you're the
guy that had one hundred and twenty five catches on
a three win team, right like that.
Speaker 4 (43:12):
I just don't think people.
Speaker 5 (43:13):
Realize that that starts to wear on you as a
player as well.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
We're not next on the resids Here podcast, mist Arcondaspok
on the web. Let's move to the other side of
the on the other side of the of the team
looking at the defense. Is there anybody worth anything as
we move forward? That's coming next one receups you read
back on the rest of Here podcast, bestarre of Cardinals
talk on the web. With all the talk about the offense,
(43:41):
is anybody on this defense worth anything? Especially as we
look forward to the offseason? Is there as currently constructed?
Do you feel that there are players on this defense
that you feel will be impactful in twenty twenty six,
in twenty twenty seven, Is there anyone to get excited
(44:04):
about right now? I think the most. I think we
can both agree that we can be excited about a
healthy Walter Nolan because in the limited time that he played,
he had far more of an impact than I believed
he would have as a rookie season because of the
time that he missed early on. But he he's in
terms of a first round defensive player. He's given me
(44:27):
the most hope in terms of impact, and yet with
the calf injury and two knee injuries, it gives me
pause and you have to worry about how durable is
he going to be moving forward. But outside of Walter Nolan,
who on this defense do you feel good about beyond
(44:48):
this season?
Speaker 5 (44:49):
Well, and that's the problem that we talked about, right, Like,
you look at Josh Sweat, he had a worth every penny,
probably worth more than what the Cardinals paid for him.
And he'll be twenty nine in the offseason, so you
probably figure he's got two more good years left, right, Like,
(45:10):
he's kind of in his prime right now. So the
next two years, you know, including this year, so three total,
he should be playing at a similar level. You know eleven,
you know, ten plus sacks. One of the most disruptive
players in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
I will say this, I've got some numbers that that
are not great about Josh Sweat, and it's his fourth
quarter impact, like the games that he has in Like
what he's done in the fourth quarter this year. Let
me pull it up Howard wrote about it is he
(45:50):
has this season in the fourth quarter. The only stat
that he has is an assisted tackle once in the
fourth quarter, and that came against Week twelve, and that's
now it doesn't include quarterback hits. But in terms of
(46:10):
like statistical sacks, tackles, pass breakups. He was penalized in
Week two and he had a tackle assist in the
fourth quarter against Jacksonville. He's been a non factor in
the fourth quarter this year. And so while he's had
(46:30):
a good year and you feel good about him moving forward,
you also wonder, especially with the time off that he's had.
He's getting like two rest days a week, the time
off in training camp, You're like, he's twenty nine years old,
he's getting treated like a thirty three year old.
Speaker 5 (46:47):
Like yeah, I mean, it's definitely concerning. And one of
the things that you can look at though, is like
the amount of snaps he's playing right and he's only
played five twenty one, but three hundred and forty one
have been pass rush snaps and so you know, those
snaps end up wearing you down at the end of
the game, especially when you consider that they have nothing
(47:10):
else in terms of pass rush, I mean literally just
nothing else, which there's a problem. You know, Walter, like
you mentioned Walter Nolan, he he offers something as well,
but he's played in six six games. I mean, he's
got less than one hundred pass rush snaps on the season.
(47:33):
So you have to get him healthy. And the fact
that we, you know, don't know what his health status
is because we're not allowed to know what his injury was, right, Like,
there's no we don't get to have that information. So
like that type of stuff is what the issue becomes
for the Cardinals is that we really don't know anything
(48:02):
in terms of what this team has on the defensive
side of the ball. The young corners, what started out
looking like it was going to be fantastic, specifically Will
Johnson has really fallen off this year. You and I
(48:27):
were talking about it in the group text. Denzel Burk's
been the you know, kind of the most impressive in
terms of coverage from the young guys. I mean even
before Garrett Williams popped an achilles, he was not playing
at a high level this.
Speaker 3 (48:41):
Year, right, which makes you worry about him. So if
you're like going on the defensive line, you're like Waltern
Olan yet, Darius Robinson, You're like, I don't know LG.
Colliers a year to year guy, Kalais Campbell's old. Dalvin
Tomlinson he's only signed through one more year and he's
been okay, but he hasn't been good. Dante Stills just
been fine. There's like DJ Mustifer, he's a dude. So
(49:04):
there's no one that you're like, I really look forward
to him next year. It's just Walter Nolan along your edge, guys,
it's just sweat the inside backers like a king. Davis
Gaither didn't really inspire anything. Mac Wilson, like his absence
(49:26):
proved that he's more impactful than than we thought, but
he hasn't been great, So you're not like, oh, yeah,
I can't wait till mac Wilson's back. Cody Simon, I
don't know about him. Like, like when he's calling the defense,
the defense is terrible. You look at the cornerbacks, You're like,
I don't know about Garrett Williams. Max Melton has now
(49:47):
been relegated to special teams. You're like, oh, clearly something's
not right there. Maybe it's partial health, or maybe it's
simply because of how they feel about Burke. It might
simply be that Will Johnson is a cautious optimistic right.
And then and then Buddha's boot Like Jalen Thompson, we
(50:09):
figure he's done, he's gone, he's they haven't talked about contract.
He's up, he's he's he's going to be a free
agent this year. Buddha, you you like to have, but
you know he's on the back end. Rabbit, Yes, but
it's not exciting that. That's kind of where I'm like,
the the only thing You're like, there's hope, Like there's
(50:31):
there's positive hope, there's questionable hope. Like there's positive hope
about Walter Nolan. You're like, I feel great about that guy,
Will Johnson almost so. And then after that you've got
the questionable hope about Rabbit, about Cody Simon and and
Josh Sweat. Outside of that, it's just there's not much
to be excited about. Maybe Denzel Burke, but like, would
(50:56):
he be playing if would he even be playing if
there hadn't had the injuries that they had at the
quarterback position.
Speaker 5 (51:03):
Right, And and that's you know, the question that becomes
the problem is that, like.
Speaker 4 (51:15):
You don't have.
Speaker 5 (51:17):
A singular player that you're like, hey, let's hanger hat
on this guy, right, Like, you don't have a player
that you're like, this is the guy that that's the future.
You have that on offense and Trey McBride. But we
kind of talked about that even with McBride being that
guy on offense that doesn't inspire confidence in terms of
(51:38):
the team as a whole. On defense, you you lack
that even more. You don't even have one guy. And
and so you know, going back to my examples, like
is and you mentioned, you know, Ang Kwan, Larry fitz
But like, and again, I love Trey McBride. I think
(51:59):
he is one of the top three players that his
positioned in the NFL unquestioned. But is he the Buddha
Baker of the offense? Now, like a guy that's going
to be a perennial All Pro that literally just doesn't
change games. I Mean, I love Buddha Baker, one of
(52:20):
my favorite players of all time. But that's a guy
that's been an All Pro on a lot of bad
football teams for a long time, right, Like his All
Pro seasons didn't come on teams that were making deep
playoff runs. And I know that's not what all Pro's
about and everything, but like, when you look at it
(52:43):
from that perspective, is that going to be McBride?
Speaker 6 (52:46):
Right?
Speaker 5 (52:46):
Like, is McBride going to be the guy that's, you know,
an All Pro on a team that that doesn't make
the playoffs?
Speaker 4 (52:58):
Is he going to be the guy that's, you.
Speaker 5 (52:59):
Know, a perennial Pro bowler but doesn't help his team
to wins? And again, I'm not saying that to disparage
Buddha Baker or Trey McBride, but like, having those guys
on your team, it's great for the fans because at
(53:21):
least you have something to tune into week and week out.
But it hasn't changed the trajectory of where they're headed.
So like, how where do you get those guys and
where what positions do you need that it matters? And
you know, when we look back at this season, there's
gonna be a lot of question marks, you know, coming
(53:44):
out of it. And I remember fans very boastfully right
saying early in the season, like, see, like you've got
you've got Kyler Murray who's not playing well, he's not
very good, and look at what you can get with
(54:06):
a guy like Daniel Jones. And then you look at
it and you're like, oh, they were eight and five.
They were they were seven and zho or seven and
one at one point, and then eight and five, and
then he gets hurt and then it just you know,
(54:27):
kind of spiraled off a cliff. Like having a guy
that keeps you competitive, I think is what you and
I have talked about for the last couple of weeks,
and we know that's not Jacoby. He just doesn't keep
you competitive. He puts up good enough numbers. And on
(54:49):
the flip side, you don't have the Houston Texans defense,
right like, you just don't have that that defense that
is just going to I mean the Texans offense. I
know it looked fantastic against Theirs in the Cardinals, but
like it's average at best, league average at best, and
(55:12):
probably below average. But their defense number one points, number
one in yards, They keep them in games, they give
them a chance to win. I mean, you look at
their last couple of games outside of the Cardinals game, right,
and they've won nine in a row I think it is.
Speaker 4 (55:30):
And and.
Speaker 5 (55:35):
Their high score, if you take away that Jacksonville game
that we've talked about where they score twenty six fourth
quarter points, their high score is twenty three. Again, let's
not include the Cardinals because that's like shooting fish in
a barrel.
Speaker 3 (55:49):
It's twenty three.
Speaker 5 (55:52):
They just need to score twenty three points and they
can win a football game. The Cardinals can't even to
be fair, the Cardinals can't even score twenty points. We
also can't keep teams under thirty points, so it makes
it really difficult.
Speaker 4 (56:05):
And and you.
Speaker 5 (56:08):
You know, on defense, who is the guy that you're like, Okay,
we can build around this guy. There's not one. I mean,
we're hopeful that it's Walter Nolan, right, but again we
don't even know what his injury is like mostly like this,
(56:28):
you know, so you just look at it and you
just kind of chuckle because you're like, I don't even
know what to be excited.
Speaker 4 (56:34):
I mean.
Speaker 5 (56:35):
And then while we're doing this podcast, so recording Tuesday afternoon,
did you get the.
Speaker 3 (56:42):
Even more Clark to ir they signed a dude, I've
never heard of.
Speaker 5 (56:48):
So that's what my question was gonna be. They signed
a tight end? Is that Elijah Higgins? Is that is that?
Speaker 3 (56:56):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (56:57):
Josiah Degera, Like what why are you?
Speaker 5 (57:01):
Because the guy has to be on the active roster
because they signed him off the Cowboy.
Speaker 3 (57:04):
So then now they have five tight ends on the
roster like Pharaoh Brown Society, Like what's happening? Like now
they have five? And I know partially the reason why
they're doing that is kind of for off season roster maintenance.
They're bringing guys in that they want to look at
(57:28):
for next year.
Speaker 4 (57:30):
And I get that.
Speaker 5 (57:31):
I understand that the last three weeks that's what it's
maybe even longer for them, but like the last three
weeks for teams that are out of it, that's kind
of been what it's about, right, But at the same
time too, you know, you put Control Clark on jury
reserve and you don't pull up, you don't bring in
a cornerback, So are you finally going to play Max Meltain?
Speaker 3 (57:52):
In fairness, they had seven cornerbacks on the active roster already, so.
Speaker 5 (57:58):
I know, right, well, again, are you gonna play Max Melton?
Are you gonna go to whoever the next guy?
Speaker 3 (58:04):
Is that Aaron Hall oh man, jeez.
Speaker 5 (58:08):
I know, or is it going to be Jayden Davis?
You know, foremost seventh round pick, Jayden Davis. Like that's yeah,
those are the questions. And I think it was it
Theo Macki that was kind of pushing it the other day.
But like, those are the questions that are frustrating for
us because it just it genuinely doesn't seem like they
(58:28):
care or want to answer them, Like there's like, yeah,
what are you gonna do not you know, not cover
the team, Like we don't have to answer this stuff.
So it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (58:37):
Man, oh man. The Cardinals are great And with that
we wrap up this edition the rest of here podcast,
Best Our Cardinals, Talk of the Web.
Speaker 2 (58:45):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (58:46):
We already have lined up a RAMS preview with cam
de Silver Brams Wire, Seth and I will hopefully be
able to record later this week to do our picks,
predictions and Previe picks and predictions, giving you a full
week of show before the final week of the season.
Then we will hit the off season content. But until then,
that's Seth Cox, I'm Jess Rude. Thanks for listening. As always,
(59:08):
We'll be back again soon.
Speaker 7 (59:11):
Thanks for listening to the latest edition of the Rise
Up Sea Red podcast. Listen to previous episodes, and subscribe
to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitch Your Radio, Audio Boom,
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(59:31):
We'll be back soon for the best hour of cardinals
talk on the web, Rise Up Red CEA b Red
Sea Red, and of course Rise Up Sea Red.
Speaker 5 (01:00:00):
There's out, There's out, There's out, There's out.
Zz No.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is the Rise Up Sea Red podcast all about
the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL, featuring insider and outsider perspectives.
Enjoy the best hour of Cardinals Talk on the Web.
Now Here are your hosts Jess Root and Seth.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Cox, Lower's on the Cardinals fins and Welcome to the
latest edition of the Rise of Seriit podcast. The best
are Cardinals talkholm Web. I'm your host Jess Root from
Cardswire dot com, USA Today's NFL wire site. The covers,
of course the Arezona Cardinals. Episode seven and thirty four
(00:48):
are Cardinals Bengals reaction show, reacting to the thirty seven
to fourteen loss They're eighth straight loss. My co host
Cox from Revenge of the Birds ESB Nations Arizona Cardinals
site joins me as he does pretty much every single week,
(01:08):
and man, what a total As it was kind of
last week against the Atlanta Falcons where it was the
expected performance of how it went. This is one. This
game is one hundred percent again completely expected, nothing surprising
(01:30):
to it where they fall behind by two scorers score
once fall you know, eventually get down by thirty points
and pick up a garbage time touchdown and that, and
and just an utter blowout against a team against the Bengals,
team that's not playing for anything, but they have a
really really talented offense. And once again, the Cardinals defense
(01:53):
and was terrible, and the Cardinals offense was even worse.
I mean, it's they were almost running out of things
that we can say about this team, right.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
I mean, there's really nothing redeeming left about this this
year and this iteration of Theirs and the Cardinals, and
it's it's depressing because it was year three of the rebuild.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
We were.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
Hopeful and expecting to see the next the next step,
and instead we've got a team that basically followed suit
to what their coach said when they decided to name
Jacoby Brissette the starter. And they're like, oh, we're tanking. Okay,
well we'll take the rest of the season off too.
Like there's no other way to explain it. We've seen
(02:41):
a good defensive performance in the last eight games they're
lost to the the Jacksonville Jackuars. You know, we've seen
a I guess good offensive performance, and in the Atlanta
(03:04):
game last week, I mean that was a decent offensive performance,
but really outside of that we haven't seen anything that
looks like a team that's going to win football games.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Right.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's it's wild. And we want to start this show
by talking about how bad the offensive offense is, because
if we if we want to turn back the clock
and we talk about how bad the offense looked through
the first five games when Kyler until Kyler got hurt,
(03:40):
and then those next two games against the Colts and
the Packers, the offense seemed to be playing better. They
beat the Cowboys come out of the break, and the
decision was made to go with Jacoby Brissett as the starter.
That they felt good about where the offense is, but
we have some rowing lee bad numbers that are long
(04:05):
term and so this is these are what the numbers
look like. And and to remind everyone this was the
decision was made under the guise of saying, we have
he's giving us the better chance to win. Now. Granted
that also the they were beating the drum of Kyler
Murray's not healthy enough to play, but they also loved
(04:27):
while the offense was looking under Jacoby Brissett in since
that game, since that Dallas Cowboys game that they that
they won twenty seven to seventeen, and after it was
after that that Jacobe was named the starter, and then
they did everything in their power to keep it that way,
putting Kyler Moran injured reserve even though he was supposedly
(04:48):
close to coming back, and now he's still not close
to coming back. It's just a mystery when it comes
to his that foot injury. But here is the In
eight games Jacoby Brissette has been named the starter, they're
zero to eight. They've been outscored by one hundred and
twenty five points offensively. They have averaged eighteen point five
(05:11):
points per game. They have not scored more than twenty
points offensively in their last six games, and they've lost
five of their last eight games by three scores or more.
And that includes so when you lose by three or
more scores like that, that that gives you plent of
(05:34):
opportunity for garbage time. And even still they've only averaged
eighteen point five points a game and Brissett's having We'll
talk more about Brissett in a bit, but I want
to talk I want to point out just how bad
the offensive performance was on Sunday against the Bengals, because
if we were a call the offense was supposed to
(05:55):
be better that the path. The offense was better under
Jacoby Prissett. And here's what we saw on Sunday. They
scored a season low fourteen points. They gained a season
low two hundred and thirty three yards. That's bad, but
here's if the airs how it gets worse. Those totals
came against a Bengals defense that has given up the
(06:16):
most yards in the league and the second most points.
Their best defensive performance previous to Sunday was giving up
three hundred and seventeen yards, and it does it's even
worse than that. The two hundred and thirty three yards
don't even tell the story because they they put up
(06:40):
one hundred and forty nine of those yards in the
fourth quarter when they were down by thirty points. In
the first three quarters, in seven possessions, they punted six times,
they had only four first downs, and they had only
eighty four total yards. They went three for five, they
(07:04):
had went three and out five different times. And of
those eighty four yards that they had in the first
three quarters, seventy came on their one touchdown touchdown drive,
and thirty eight of those came on that missed tackled spree.
Of that, Michael Wilson had first thirty eight yard touchdown
in other than that scoring possession. In six other possessions
(07:29):
in the first three quarters, they gained fourteen yards. Jacoby
Brissette was six for sixteen for seventy four yards in
a touchdown through three quarters thirty eight. More than half
of those yards came on the one play by Wilson,
So take take away the play by Wilson. Through three quarters,
(07:55):
Jacoby was five for fifteen for thirty six yards through
three quarters.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
That is that's not good.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
That's that's that it's awful. And but we look at
his stat line. We'll talk about Brissette here in a bit.
You know, two hundred twelve yards, two passing touchdowns, no turnovers.
It looks like he had a good day. But but
this Cardinos offense, it's been getting worse and it had
the worst performance of the year against the worst defense
(08:30):
in football. I don't like how. I don't even understand
how how something like this happens or why people are
okay with it.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
Because they've resigned themselves to the fact that injuries are
the reason. I I can read you some crazy stuff
from my side, I don't want to go too deep
into it.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
But.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
There are some crazy notions from fans that that it's
been you know, if Jacoby had the same roster, so
(09:27):
you know, and it's just it's it's wild to think
that people are okay with all of it, because it's like, oh,
we'll just we'll just chalk it up to the injuries, right, like,
look how good Jacoby's playing despite all the injuries. And
(09:55):
and you look at it and you go, but what
are you watching? Like genuinely, like, what are you watching
that makes you think that running it back will make
this any different? And and I go back to the
(10:16):
Jacoby stat that you and I have used previously. And
and I know a lot of people are like, oh,
quarterback wins aren't a are you know, aren't a stat. Okay,
let's just say that they're not, which is fine. But
in his last two years as a starter, he's two
(10:38):
and fourteen, he's about to be two and fifteen as
a starter, He's thrown twenty three touchdowns and eight interceptions.
He's thrown for just under four thousand yards and so
like and and people look at it and they go, okay,
(11:01):
if you give him. You know, well, again, you look
at the New England Patriots who he started last year, right,
they were four and thirteen. Yeah, Drake May wasn't great,
going three and nine, but he had three times the
wins that Jacoby did with the same team, three times
(11:27):
the wins. Kyler in five games had doubled the wins.
And you look at Jacoby's career, he hasn't had a
winning percentage close to Kyler's since twenty twenty one, when
he started five games from Miami, right two and three.
(11:48):
Before that, it was Indy where he was seven and eight,
which is his best performance of his career. And so
like to look at it and go, oh, just run
it back. That's what the absurdity is, right, Like, why
would you think that anything's going to be different? And
(12:09):
you mentioned it just like.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
It's the.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
It's the kind of how bad it's getting as the
season goes along, like it's just continuing to get worse
against inferior competition. Now, I mean, you mentioned it the
worst defense in the NFL, and you you have your
(12:35):
perhaps your worst offensive day of the season against the
worst defense, Like that's what makes it even worse is
that that was against a bad defense like the Seattle loss.
It's really hard to say that that was worse. You know,
that wasn't worse, but Seattle's defense is really good. Cincinnati
(12:58):
literally had the thirty second scoring defense and thirty second
and yards per game, and you the Cardinals.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
They moved up thanks to the Cardinals. They moved up
in scoring though in scoring defense.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
And we've seen that consistently since Jacoby took over. Other
teams defenses are getting better when they are playing the Cardinals.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Right, yeah, then, and for how much better the offense?
Was supposed that the passing game was looking and like
what we're seeing. And I reposted a couple of things
that I saw from from Ian Harditz that we're gonna
(13:45):
pull them up because it was EPA per drop back
and it was the offensive EPA as well, And it
shows that the Cardinals offense through weeks one through five
was plus point zero one EPA per play, which is
basically they were running league average, right, And that was
(14:09):
when the that was when the that could basically league
average play, and that was bad. But since week week
sixteen through seven, team that they're a minus point in
zero two, so they've been a below average offense under
Jacoby Brissett. And if you go by drop back, they
were with Kyler for the first five weeks he was
(14:31):
it was point one, one three or fifteenth in the
league drop back EPA. They that's down to point zero
one seven, which is twentieth in league under Perset. So
in terms of, you know, in terms of metrics, analytical
metrics of the offense overall and in the passing game,
that they are a worse offense under Jacoby Brissett than
(14:54):
with Kyler Murray. Now granted, yes they didn't have no
Yes Connor, James Connor and Trey McBride got hurt and
they but at the same time, James Connent try Benson
were doing virtually nothing in those first five games.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
Yeah, and you know, you look at the reality of
the team this year, and I go back to, you know,
naming Drew Kobe the starter. When they did that, it
signified that, like, hey, winning is not important this year.
And then you can back that up with a number
of things. One, they didn't bring in any running backs
(15:34):
right even after even after Bam and I got injured
four weeks ago, they didn't bring any running backs in.
They they continued to run out the same defense even
though things weren't going well. I mean, we talked about it.
(15:57):
Josh Wett was a great signing, Kalays Campbell was, you know,
he's he's a freak of nature. But Baron Browning two
sacks XAVI and we we don't expect, you know, sacks
from that's not his thing. But one and a half sacks.
You know, Darius Robinson has one sack. B J Jealari
in his seven games back has one sacked. Like these
(16:18):
guys like they got nothing from the draft picks or
their signings outside of Sweaton Campbell. And then you have
this situation going on in the secondary where you've got
a guy in Max Melton who was the second round
(16:40):
pick who's now been relegated to special teams. Right, Like,
there's a lot, there's a lot of things going on,
and that's what makes it really difficult.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Let's let's do a little more Jacobe talk coming up
next on the Razers here at podcastpust Our Cardinals Talking Web.
Let's deal dive more into what we've learned about Jacoby.
That's coming next. Rice up, he read You're back on
the Rise of Here podcast Best Our Cardinals Talk on
the web. Kobe Brissett, We've done. We've done the numbers.
You know, if we look at the number statistically, you know,
(17:19):
as quarterbacks go, He's had a solid year over thirty
one hundred passing yards and in eleven starts, twenty one
touchdown passes, en erd seven interceptions. He got an interception
percentage that is on on par with his career one.
He's been sacked thirty seven times, got a passer rating
of ninety three five, which is, you know, it's above average.
(17:44):
It's not great, but it's not awful. It doesn't fall
into the category of bad. He's been what you would say,
an okay quarterback. Now, what the what have we learned
about Brissette over this over these last three months. It's
an interesting thing because like, do we know what type
(18:05):
of quarterback he is? I think we can he I
think he's a little better than I think we expected
him to be long like over a long period of time,
because he does have the volume yards and that's something
he didn't really have before. He's he's throwing more touchdown
passes than he has ever before. If we look at
(18:29):
his touchdown percentage, which is, you know, at four point
six percent, with the exception of his garbage hit like
the garbage time that he had in Washington at twenty
twenty three, like he when he started games, that's significantly
higher than any year that he's had. And but other
(18:51):
than that, I mean, he's kind of the guy like
he's a guy that can operate the offense at a
decent level, but is no good in high leverage situations
either and so and and what we saw was actual
bad play on Sunday against the Bengals, because he wasn't
(19:16):
hitting the receivers, he was getting sacked. He just there
was nothing until they were down by thirty. And so,
you know, while he is an NFL capable quarterback, sure
is he is he starter talent. He's he's the starter
of he would be a good starter for a terrible team.
And that's exactly what he's been this year.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
Yeah, And you know, when you look at the different
aspects of the game, the question has always become like,
how do you how do you manage expectations with a
backup quarterback that's that's playing, you know, seemingly well through statistics,
(19:59):
but can't can't do anything when the game matters. And
we talked about that.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
With the.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Was it oh for four over five in terms of
end of game scenarios right where he has had chances
and can't convert, and you just look at those and
you just kind of it kind of speaks to what
(20:30):
he is as a player, and that's you know, he's
a he's a stat merchant in garbage time and he's
a bulk you know, a bulk stack guy merchants time
or sorry and garbage time. But he's a guy that's
(20:50):
not going to win you games when they're competitive, and
that's you know, that's the unfortunate thing. You kind of
go back and you look at over things.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
You know, trail.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
Trailing with four minutes to go in the game, right,
his quarterback rating drops from and I think these are
one score games considering not like all games because you
know they're always trailing with four minutes to go. But
(21:27):
you know, his quarterback rating and I'm not like a
huge quarterback rating guy, but like it goes from ninety
three to seventy eight, right, and like those are those
are important things that there are some other interesting stats
just first half of games, which is typically where the
(21:52):
competition is right, like where the game is close he's
got six touchdowns and three interceptions. In the second half
of games, when there's basically no or little competition, he
(22:13):
has sixteen hundred and seventy one yards, fifteen touchdowns and
only four interceptions. Now you might be saying to yourself, well,
that's impressive. The other team knows he's going to be
throwing the ball. But despite the other team knowing that
they're going to be throwing the ball so much, he's
(22:34):
been sacked only eighteen times on two hundred and forty
two attempts. He was sacked eighteen times in the first
half of games on two hundred and six attempts, so
almost forty attempts less the same amount of sacks. And
so it kind of goes to what you've talked about.
(22:56):
He doesn't really do anything to win you games, and
that becomes what the issue is more than anything else. Right, Like,
the numbers are fine, but you look at his numbers
just in trailing as a whole, twenty one hundred yards,
(23:20):
just under twenty two hundred yards, fourteen touchdowns, five interceptions.
His numbers when leading are actually excellent. Four touchdowns, no interceptions,
just under five hundred yards. Just here's what the problem
is in tide games, right, So when the game is
still in the balance, he's got four hundred and fifty
(23:45):
nine yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions.
Speaker 6 (23:48):
He's a below average quarterback when it matters, and that's
when the game is competitive.
Speaker 5 (23:59):
And that that's the craziest thing to think about, is
that his numbers are so bad without having any real
when the when there is a game to be played.
(24:21):
And I don't I mean again, I guess if fans
don't listen to this podcast, don't follow like a Kyle Odegard,
you know, obviously don't follow us, then then you can
you can show off those bulk stats and be like, hey, look,
y'aw good he is right. But and I get that's
(24:43):
kind of where all of this is coming from. All
of this is coming from the idea that.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
They will.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
Sang all of this on injuries, right, Like it's gonna
be about the injuries, and they're gonna hang this on
probably Drew Petsing right when they when they do not
renew his contract, don't let him. Don't let him goad
you into oh they fired him. No, they just didn't
(25:18):
renew his contract. That'll be what this is put on.
So when they run it back with Jacoby next year.
It's like, Okay, you know, we have the guy that
led the NFL in attempts, completions, in yardage, and probably
he's going to finish what top five and passing touchdowns
as a starter. Since he became the starter, that's really good,
(25:42):
Like we can we can work off that, and and
nobody's gonna look into like, well, they were the least
one of the least efficient offenses in the NFL. Most
of these yards and especially most of these touchdowns came
when they were down two plus scores.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
So like.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
Again, I'm not gonna say doesn't matter, but if you
got if you ask people that care, like Trade McBride,
do you think he gives two you know what that
he he's at the NFL wrecord for receptions in a
season when they won three games. Do you think he
really cares about that? I know fantasy football players do, right,
but do you think Tray mc bride cares? I would
(26:23):
say McBride would sacrifice fifty catches if they were ten
and ten and six going into this last.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
One hundred, one hundred percent he would. And and well,
and we know that the narrative shift is you know,
how comfortable people like, the rapport they have with Jacoby,
how much smoother are things from the locker room. But
they're losing, they're losing, and they're losing by a lot,
and like, what what does that say? I mean, there
(26:52):
is a thing to say about being a good teammate,
it's another to not Apparently he's not challenging teammates, Like,
I don't know if there's a isn't I don't know
if you could call it great leadership if you are losing, losing, losing, losing,
(27:16):
and your cool cucumber just chill, you know, fun to
be around. And I know that's been a knock on Kyler. No,
he's he's not fun to be around when they're losing
because he's competitive. But everything that we learned about Jonathan
Gannon through the first two years of his tenure as
head coach is that compete, compete, compete, compete. And yes,
(27:38):
it's true that that overall the effort on the field
isn't bad, but it's just insufficient. They're just like so
they're they're a scrappy, hard working, terrible team that's worth
this is worse than they were in twenty twenty three.
When they were a non talented they were a good
(27:59):
bad team because they played their hearts out and they
were just bad at it. But that's last year. They
were perfectly mid. This year they're supposed to take the
next step, and this year everything's gotten worse. The offense
has gotten worse significantly, the defense didn't get better. And
at the middle of that is, while Jacoby is a
great guy to have on your team and if you
(28:21):
need him to start for a few games, but what
does that say about your team if you name him
the starter and that's your best option and according to
the coach, he gives you the best option, the best
chance of winning when you know that winning has not
(28:42):
been the thing that Jacoby has done his entire career.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
Yeah, and I you know, it begs the question of
who made that call.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
We've seen some stuff.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
Come out online that maybe this was a call that
was made by Monte Austin for as opposed to Jonathan Gannon,
and Gannon, you know, going to play a good soldier
and not rock the boat on anything, right, And so
if that's the truth, then you know, maybe Gannon's okay
with it because he's like, well, I'm not gonna get
(29:14):
through him on the bus for this, Like everybody knows
this was a Monty thing. So I don't care whatever,
like if this gives me another year.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
But it's also distant.
Speaker 5 (29:25):
You know, disan't chanting for fans because eventually fans deserve
a winning product.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
I mean, that's just the reality of it.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Right, Like, eventually they deserve to see the team win
football games. And the one thing that we can say
since Bruce arians left is that they don't win football games.
They've got one winning season, They've had now three head coaches,
(29:57):
and and it just feels like there's no Oh, there's
nothing on the horizon that makes you excited. Right, you
got guys like Klay's Campbell, Buddha Baker that are you know,
either way long in the tooth or getting there. You've
got guys in Darius Robinson and Walter Nolan and Max
(30:25):
Melton and Will Johnson and Marvin Harrison who now you're
legitimately like.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Are these guys even gonna be good?
Speaker 5 (30:33):
Like, I know that's a tough thing to say, especially
with injuries, but are these guys even going to be
any good? And those questions when they come about, right,
especially when you're supposed to be taking that next step,
(30:56):
and now you you know, you don't know who's going
to show up. You don't really know who the better
players are, and so the question becomes like, hey, is
this like what's next for this team? And and who
(31:17):
who are the leaders of it? Because as much as
we all love Klayis Campbell, he's he can't be looked
at as the leader for the future unless he's just
gonna take over as head coach, right, Like, it's like,
he's not the guy.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
Buddha Baker is not the guy.
Speaker 5 (31:35):
And as much as we love Buddha Baker, he's been
here through most of the downtime and so we can
say with you know, certainty that like he's not going
to be the franchise changer. He's a very good safety,
but he's not going to change the you know, the
(31:57):
entire franchise. Uh So, who is Like, who's that guy?
We had hoped that Gannon was a culture center, that
he would be the guy that does that, but he's
come off more of a guy that's just, you know,
kind of content to be where he's at. And that's
(32:17):
a really tough thing when you're talking about year three right, Like,
why are you guys not better? Why have you guys
not taken the next step? And what is you know,
what is the plan for the future, and how do
you sell that? Like, because the biggest issue, you know,
(32:38):
we've spent thirty minutes of this podcast talking about the offense.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
The biggest issue is clearly the defense.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Right, Yes, it clearly like the offense did regress this year,
but the defenses was supposed to be better and it wasn't,
which brings us we got one more offensive topic to
talk about, and that's Trey McBride setting a couple of records.
I'm actually the resid of here podcast is talks the Best
r Cardinals Stalk. Well, let's talk about that, talk about
(33:08):
McBride's season and what it means that's coming next in residence,
he read, you're back on the res of Here podcast,
Best SERFF Cardinals stock in the web. One of the
bright spots, one of the only bride spots of the
Cardinals loss to the Bengals was the play of Trey McBride,
as he had another ten catches for seventy six yards
and a touchdown, setting in that game. Two records, one
(33:28):
franchise record, He now has the most catches in a
single season of any player DeAndre Hopkins, who set the
record in twenty twenty with one hundred and fifteen catches. McBride,
with one game left, now has one hundred and nineteen.
And he also broke the record for the single season
resciord for most receptions by the tight end that held
(33:48):
that was set by Zach Ertz in twenty eighteen with Philadelphia.
McBride topped that and now has one hundred and nineteen.
So he's extending that as he goes into the final
week of the season. I mean, it is a nice
footnote to this year, but it's sad that this this
(34:09):
these two records ultimately mean very little because of how
and when they happened.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Yeah, and it's just that's that's just it.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
It's you're very happy for Trey mcbriden. You're happy that
a guy that had you know, worked hard, that you know,
had a decent rookie season and then started to break
out has taken that next step and become, you know,
maybe the premiere player at his position in the NFL,
(34:46):
which is always a good thing to have. However, when
you look at again his ascension, why are we not
seeing it? And I know, you know, tight ends are
(35:08):
mostly a non impact position group. But like you look
at you look at George Kittle and what he does
for the forty nine ers. You look at thank you
(35:30):
Travis kelceon what he does for the Chiefs, And it's
crazy that McBride is having a historical season.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
And it's.
Speaker 5 (35:44):
Virtually because other teams are like, ah, McBride can beat us,
you know, it's fine whatever, Like it's not going to
change the outcome.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
Of the game.
Speaker 5 (35:56):
You look at the Eagles season when when arts you know,
set that record, they made the playoffs, they actually won
a game in the playoffs, and then they came real
close to beating the New Orleans Saints before the Saints
got screwed in the in the NFC Championship game by
the refs against the Rams.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Right, But like that.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Again, it's not that it was meaningless for McBride, because
anytime he said an NFL record is not meaningless.
Speaker 4 (36:30):
But it's just I mean, you look at last year.
Speaker 5 (36:35):
He has seven or eight more catches than last year, right,
he actually has only twenty eight more yards, he has
less first downs, but he's got eleven touchdowns So that's fun, right,
Like that's what matters in fantasy football, that's what matters, yes,
(37:01):
you know, and it's and it's become obvious that he's
more of like and don't get me wrong, his his
you know, nine point nine yards per reception is very good.
But like you look at his his you know, catch percentage,
it's the lowest of his career. You look at his
yards per targets, the second lowest of his career. Only
(37:23):
his rookie year was less. Right, his yards per touch
is the second lowest of his career. Like all of
the numbers that should be going up reduced this year
because it just became almost like a.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
He's the only guy that they can get the ball to.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
Correct, Like it just became a consistent, Hey, we got
to betray. And again, there's nothing wrong with that at all.
Like I don't want anybody to think that we're saying
there's anything wrong with that, but like it does you
you do look at it and you go, huh, like
why didn't this result in this team being better in
(38:06):
any way, shape or form. And again, I'm telling you
right now, Trey McBride would one thousand percent give up
you know, the record to be on a competitive team
that's playing meaningful football in January and not a team
that's likely going to be likely going to be playing
(38:32):
for a or you know, banking for the second time
in three years, right, Like wins matter to these guys,
and it's it's sad that.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
It's like Bolden, Larry Fitzgerald earlier in their current Larry
Fitzgerald all over again, who had the who just got
to experience you know, eight oh nine then twenty fifteen,
but largely he languished putting up big numbers for a
bad team and a kwon Bolden too for the first
(39:08):
four years of his career three four oh, five oh
six or something, I guess, the first five years of
his career before before they had the run to the
Super Bowl that next year. It's but it does, or
it's like Larry Centers, like Larry centers in the late nineties,
and you're like, hey, you were given the ball to
Trey McBride, but there's not much hope for anything else.
(39:29):
And it's and it's it's sad because like, remember this year,
the offense was supposed to carry the team, like they
they came into this year expecting the offense to be
good and when the only thing good about the offense
this year has been Trey McBride and and I mean
to a second to it, to some extent, the play
of Michael Wilson in limited time as a number one guy.
(39:52):
That's positive, but it's you know, it's great to see,
it's great to see, but then you look at well
bigger picture, like at least he's getting those numbers to
get recognized because too many times, you know, over the
(40:15):
history of the Cardinals, there's been very good players at
their positions who don't get recognized because it's not as flash.
Thanks to fantasy football, everybody knows who true Trey McBride is,
and he is he is. He is an absolute treasure
to watch, with the with the youthful exuberance with which
he plays the game of football, the way he interacts
(40:36):
with fans. It's just a shame that this record is coming.
It literally, it is. The record is being wasted in
terms of on field impact, for for wins and losses,
because at the end of the day, it is a game.
But what what what do teams constantly talk about winnings,
about winning? So you get one hundred and nineteen catches.
(40:57):
You lead the NFL in receiving, and do you only
win three games all year? That's sad. Like he didn't like,
he didn't impact.
Speaker 5 (41:11):
No, And you look at it and and there's an excellent,
you know, current situation that that shows that what matters
at the end of the day is winning. And that's
Tyreek Hill, right, Like we've seen the beg and obviously
(41:31):
Prey is not from a behavioral standpoint, Tyreek Hills. I
don't anyway think I'm saying that, but like you look
at it and you see that while the money is
utterly important, Pray was gonna get paid no matter where
he played, right, And when.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
You start to.
Speaker 5 (41:59):
When you start to like break it down and you
see that, oh crap, I'm getting paid a lot. I'm
putting up these monster numbers. And then I'm you know,
in Cabo or in Cancun. While the while the guys
that are my peers, like George Kittle, you know, typically
(42:23):
Travis Kelcey are playing I that sucks, right, Like that
that just genuinely sucks. And and that's where we're getting
with McBride is like, yeah, that's awesome that I'm the
most prolific tight end in a season in NFL history.
(42:48):
But I'd rather be a prolific tight end, not the
most prolific ever. And also potentially, you know, win games
and get a competed in.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
And you get to compete for.
Speaker 5 (43:02):
A Super Bowl, not not be like, Hey, you're the
guy that had one hundred and twenty five catches on
a three win team, right like that.
Speaker 4 (43:12):
I just don't think people.
Speaker 5 (43:13):
Realize that that starts to wear on you as a
player as well.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
We're not next on the resids Here podcast, mist Arcondaspok
on the web. Let's move to the other side of
the on the other side of the of the team
looking at the defense. Is there anybody worth anything as
we move forward? That's coming next one receups you read
back on the rest of Here podcast, bestarre of Cardinals
talk on the web. With all the talk about the offense,
(43:41):
is anybody on this defense worth anything? Especially as we
look forward to the offseason? Is there as currently constructed?
Do you feel that there are players on this defense
that you feel will be impactful in twenty twenty six,
in twenty twenty seven, Is there anyone to get excited
(44:04):
about right now? I think the most. I think we
can both agree that we can be excited about a
healthy Walter Nolan because in the limited time that he played,
he had far more of an impact than I believed
he would have as a rookie season because of the
time that he missed early on. But he he's in
terms of a first round defensive player. He's given me
(44:27):
the most hope in terms of impact, and yet with
the calf injury and two knee injuries, it gives me
pause and you have to worry about how durable is
he going to be moving forward. But outside of Walter Nolan,
who on this defense do you feel good about beyond
(44:48):
this season?
Speaker 5 (44:49):
Well, and that's the problem that we talked about, right, Like,
you look at Josh Sweat, he had a worth every penny,
probably worth more than what the Cardinals paid for him.
And he'll be twenty nine in the offseason, so you
probably figure he's got two more good years left, right, Like,
(45:10):
he's kind of in his prime right now. So the
next two years, you know, including this year, so three total,
he should be playing at a similar level. You know eleven,
you know, ten plus sacks. One of the most disruptive
players in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
I will say this, I've got some numbers that that
are not great about Josh Sweat, and it's his fourth
quarter impact, like the games that he has in Like
what he's done in the fourth quarter this year. Let
me pull it up Howard wrote about it is he
(45:50):
has this season in the fourth quarter. The only stat
that he has is an assisted tackle once in the
fourth quarter, and that came against Week twelve, and that's
now it doesn't include quarterback hits. But in terms of
(46:10):
like statistical sacks, tackles, pass breakups. He was penalized in
Week two and he had a tackle assist in the
fourth quarter against Jacksonville. He's been a non factor in
the fourth quarter this year. And so while he's had
(46:30):
a good year and you feel good about him moving forward,
you also wonder, especially with the time off that he's had.
He's getting like two rest days a week, the time
off in training camp, You're like, he's twenty nine years old,
he's getting treated like a thirty three year old.
Speaker 5 (46:47):
Like yeah, I mean, it's definitely concerning. And one of
the things that you can look at though, is like
the amount of snaps he's playing right and he's only
played five twenty one, but three hundred and forty one
have been pass rush snaps and so you know, those
snaps end up wearing you down at the end of
the game, especially when you consider that they have nothing
(47:10):
else in terms of pass rush, I mean literally just
nothing else, which there's a problem. You know, Walter, like
you mentioned Walter Nolan, he he offers something as well,
but he's played in six six games. I mean, he's
got less than one hundred pass rush snaps on the season.
(47:33):
So you have to get him healthy. And the fact
that we, you know, don't know what his health status
is because we're not allowed to know what his injury was, right, Like,
there's no we don't get to have that information. So
like that type of stuff is what the issue becomes
for the Cardinals is that we really don't know anything
(48:02):
in terms of what this team has on the defensive
side of the ball. The young corners, what started out
looking like it was going to be fantastic, specifically Will
Johnson has really fallen off this year. You and I
(48:27):
were talking about it in the group text. Denzel Burk's
been the you know, kind of the most impressive in
terms of coverage from the young guys. I mean even
before Garrett Williams popped an achilles, he was not playing
at a high level this.
Speaker 3 (48:41):
Year, right, which makes you worry about him. So if
you're like going on the defensive line, you're like Waltern
Olan yet, Darius Robinson, You're like, I don't know LG.
Colliers a year to year guy, Kalais Campbell's old. Dalvin
Tomlinson he's only signed through one more year and he's
been okay, but he hasn't been good. Dante Stills just
been fine. There's like DJ Mustifer, he's a dude. So
(49:04):
there's no one that you're like, I really look forward
to him next year. It's just Walter Nolan along your edge, guys,
it's just sweat the inside backers like a king. Davis
Gaither didn't really inspire anything. Mac Wilson, like his absence
(49:26):
proved that he's more impactful than than we thought, but
he hasn't been great, So you're not like, oh, yeah,
I can't wait till mac Wilson's back. Cody Simon, I
don't know about him. Like, like when he's calling the defense,
the defense is terrible. You look at the cornerbacks, You're like,
I don't know about Garrett Williams. Max Melton has now
(49:47):
been relegated to special teams. You're like, oh, clearly something's
not right there. Maybe it's partial health, or maybe it's
simply because of how they feel about Burke. It might
simply be that Will Johnson is a cautious optimistic right.
And then and then Buddha's boot Like Jalen Thompson, we
(50:09):
figure he's done, he's gone, he's they haven't talked about contract.
He's up, he's he's he's going to be a free
agent this year. Buddha, you you like to have, but
you know he's on the back end. Rabbit, Yes, but
it's not exciting that. That's kind of where I'm like,
the the only thing You're like, there's hope, Like there's
(50:31):
there's positive hope, there's questionable hope. Like there's positive hope
about Walter Nolan. You're like, I feel great about that guy,
Will Johnson almost so. And then after that you've got
the questionable hope about Rabbit, about Cody Simon and and
Josh Sweat. Outside of that, it's just there's not much
to be excited about. Maybe Denzel Burke, but like, would
(50:56):
he be playing if would he even be playing if
there hadn't had the injuries that they had at the
quarterback position.
Speaker 5 (51:03):
Right, And and that's you know, the question that becomes
the problem is that, like.
Speaker 4 (51:15):
You don't have.
Speaker 5 (51:17):
A singular player that you're like, hey, let's hanger hat
on this guy, right, Like, you don't have a player
that you're like, this is the guy that that's the future.
You have that on offense and Trey McBride. But we
kind of talked about that even with McBride being that
guy on offense that doesn't inspire confidence in terms of
(51:38):
the team as a whole. On defense, you you lack
that even more. You don't even have one guy. And
and so you know, going back to my examples, like
is and you mentioned, you know, Ang Kwan, Larry fitz
But like, and again, I love Trey McBride. I think
(51:59):
he is one of the top three players that his
positioned in the NFL unquestioned. But is he the Buddha
Baker of the offense? Now, like a guy that's going
to be a perennial All Pro that literally just doesn't
change games. I Mean, I love Buddha Baker, one of
(52:20):
my favorite players of all time. But that's a guy
that's been an All Pro on a lot of bad
football teams for a long time, right, Like his All
Pro seasons didn't come on teams that were making deep
playoff runs. And I know that's not what all Pro's
about and everything, but like, when you look at it
(52:43):
from that perspective, is that going to be McBride?
Speaker 6 (52:46):
Right?
Speaker 5 (52:46):
Like, is McBride going to be the guy that's, you know,
an All Pro on a team that that doesn't make
the playoffs?
Speaker 4 (52:58):
Is he going to be the guy that's, you.
Speaker 5 (52:59):
Know, a perennial Pro bowler but doesn't help his team
to wins? And again, I'm not saying that to disparage
Buddha Baker or Trey McBride, but like, having those guys
on your team, it's great for the fans because at
(53:21):
least you have something to tune into week and week out.
But it hasn't changed the trajectory of where they're headed.
So like, how where do you get those guys and
where what positions do you need that it matters? And
you know, when we look back at this season, there's
gonna be a lot of question marks, you know, coming
(53:44):
out of it. And I remember fans very boastfully right
saying early in the season, like, see, like you've got
you've got Kyler Murray who's not playing well, he's not
very good, and look at what you can get with
(54:06):
a guy like Daniel Jones. And then you look at
it and you're like, oh, they were eight and five.
They were they were seven and zho or seven and
one at one point, and then eight and five, and
then he gets hurt and then it just you know,
(54:27):
kind of spiraled off a cliff. Like having a guy
that keeps you competitive, I think is what you and
I have talked about for the last couple of weeks,
and we know that's not Jacoby. He just doesn't keep
you competitive. He puts up good enough numbers. And on
(54:49):
the flip side, you don't have the Houston Texans defense,
right like, you just don't have that that defense that
is just going to I mean the Texans offense. I
know it looked fantastic against Theirs in the Cardinals, but
like it's average at best, league average at best, and
(55:12):
probably below average. But their defense number one points, number
one in yards, They keep them in games, they give
them a chance to win. I mean, you look at
their last couple of games outside of the Cardinals game, right,
and they've won nine in a row I think it is.
Speaker 4 (55:30):
And and.
Speaker 5 (55:35):
Their high score, if you take away that Jacksonville game
that we've talked about where they score twenty six fourth
quarter points, their high score is twenty three. Again, let's
not include the Cardinals because that's like shooting fish in
a barrel.
Speaker 3 (55:49):
It's twenty three.
Speaker 5 (55:52):
They just need to score twenty three points and they
can win a football game. The Cardinals can't even to
be fair, the Cardinals can't even score twenty points. We
also can't keep teams under thirty points, so it makes
it really difficult.
Speaker 4 (56:05):
And and you.
Speaker 5 (56:08):
You know, on defense, who is the guy that you're like, Okay,
we can build around this guy. There's not one. I mean,
we're hopeful that it's Walter Nolan, right, but again we
don't even know what his injury is like mostly like this,
(56:28):
you know, so you just look at it and you
just kind of chuckle because you're like, I don't even
know what to be excited.
Speaker 4 (56:34):
I mean.
Speaker 5 (56:35):
And then while we're doing this podcast, so recording Tuesday afternoon,
did you get the.
Speaker 3 (56:42):
Even more Clark to ir they signed a dude, I've
never heard of.
Speaker 5 (56:48):
So that's what my question was gonna be. They signed
a tight end? Is that Elijah Higgins? Is that is that?
Speaker 3 (56:56):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (56:57):
Josiah Degera, Like what why are you?
Speaker 5 (57:01):
Because the guy has to be on the active roster
because they signed him off the Cowboy.
Speaker 3 (57:04):
So then now they have five tight ends on the
roster like Pharaoh Brown Society, Like what's happening? Like now
they have five? And I know partially the reason why
they're doing that is kind of for off season roster maintenance.
They're bringing guys in that they want to look at
(57:28):
for next year.
Speaker 4 (57:30):
And I get that.
Speaker 5 (57:31):
I understand that the last three weeks that's what it's
maybe even longer for them, but like the last three
weeks for teams that are out of it, that's kind
of been what it's about, right, But at the same
time too, you know, you put Control Clark on jury
reserve and you don't pull up, you don't bring in
a cornerback, So are you finally going to play Max Meltain?
Speaker 3 (57:52):
In fairness, they had seven cornerbacks on the active roster already, so.
Speaker 5 (57:58):
I know, right, well, again, are you gonna play Max Melton?
Are you gonna go to whoever the next guy?
Speaker 3 (58:04):
Is that Aaron Hall oh man, jeez.
Speaker 5 (58:08):
I know, or is it going to be Jayden Davis?
You know, foremost seventh round pick, Jayden Davis. Like that's yeah,
those are the questions. And I think it was it
Theo Macki that was kind of pushing it the other day.
But like, those are the questions that are frustrating for
us because it just it genuinely doesn't seem like they
(58:28):
care or want to answer them, Like there's like, yeah,
what are you gonna do not you know, not cover
the team, Like we don't have to answer this stuff.
So it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (58:37):
Man, oh man. The Cardinals are great And with that
we wrap up this edition the rest of here podcast,
Best Our Cardinals, Talk of the Web.
Speaker 2 (58:45):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (58:46):
We already have lined up a RAMS preview with cam
de Silver Brams Wire, Seth and I will hopefully be
able to record later this week to do our picks,
predictions and Previe picks and predictions, giving you a full
week of show before the final week of the season.
Then we will hit the off season content. But until then,
that's Seth Cox, I'm Jess Rude. Thanks for listening. As always,
(59:08):
We'll be back again soon.
Speaker 7 (59:11):
Thanks for listening to the latest edition of the Rise
Up Sea Red podcast. Listen to previous episodes, and subscribe
to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitch Your Radio, Audio Boom,
or many other podcast platforms so shows are delivered directly
to your mobile device. Please give the show a five
star ready and always support the sponsors who support the show.
(59:31):
We'll be back soon for the best hour of cardinals
talk on the web, Rise Up Red CEA b Red
Sea Red, and of course Rise Up Sea Red.
Speaker 5 (01:00:00):
There's out, There's out, There's out, There's out.
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