bbgun
If you dur me, do I not bleed?
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Oh, let me clarify: no one relevant.I mentioned it yesterday.
Cardinals Stuff....
- Thread starter bbgun
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Texas Ace
I'll Never Dream Again
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Simpleton
DCC 4Life
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I think that 10.5 is off, the only lines I've seen were 6.5 that has since moved to 7 in some cases.
6.5 is what I saw within an hour or so of the end of the Philly game.
Cujo
Don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride
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Chocolate Lab
Sluggard
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What is with all the hamstrings this year?
Hopefully it's not really anything on Quinnen and Pickens, and just an excuse to rest them.
Hopefully it's not really anything on Quinnen and Pickens, and just an excuse to rest them.
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Yeah "limited" can be concerning or it can be nothing. My guess is since none of those guys appeared hurt in the game, they are probably fine. Just bumps and bruises.
SaveAHorseRideACowboy
DCC 4Life
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This is gonna be a tough game. We cannot get caught looking ahead under any circumstances … the Cards practically own us…and with the way our D continues to play … Brissett has to be licking his chops ..
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Funny how the players can change. The coaches can change. The team can be shitty but at the end of the day the Cardinals always bring their A game against us. I really have no idea why they are such a struggle for us. But they are. And it's a no win situation. We take care of business against the Cards and its kind of like beating the Eagles. Congrats, you beat a team that will pick in the top 10. If we lose to the Cards, it sort of puts a stamp on this teams season not being salvagable.
Feels like a game where there really is no winning.
Simpleton
DCC 4Life
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Winning is winning as long as they dont look completely incompetent doing it.
Lamb basically said yesterday they haven't taken them seriously in the past and come out lacking focus, which tells you all you need to know about the culture around here that persists despite the coaches and players changing.
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Yep, that's the attitude that has led to this team annually having the same problems. The culture here is that you step on the field and you're just somehow automatically better than. Basically need an asshole like Parcells to constantly tell the players they aren't shit to bring them back to reality.
Chocolate Lab
Sluggard
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I couldn't believe he admitted that. And that after Dak admitting basically the same thing about Tampa.
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At least the players realize it. Because I don't know that Schotty and Jerry have any fucking clue.
Simpleton
DCC 4Life
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I couldn't believe he admitted that. And that after Dak admitting basically the same thing about Tampa.
We all knew that's basically what happened against Tampa, and it's one of the reasons I know Schottenheimer is a bullshit coach.
It's just disgusting watching the same patterns play out over the years, I hope when Jerry is gone that some of this flashy self-important bullshit subsides because Stephen certainly isn't that way.
dpf1123
DCC 4Life
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Pregame Thoughts Week 8 – The Cardinal Problem
Sometimes a team having your number just doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense.
Bob Sturm2 hours ago
Will the Cowboys see Jeremiyah Love?
Short week brings us another Cowboys game at noon on Sunday, which is traditionally a spot where Dallas looks pretty sleepy when the game begins.
Well, the other trend that does not shower the Cowboys in confidence is the opponent. Amazingly, the Arizona Cardinals remain a thorn in the side of Wade Phillips, Jason Garrett, Mike McCarthy, and yes, Brian Schottenheimer.
In fact, if you look at the last 20 seasons of Cowboys football, you see that this is the 10th meeting on Sunday against a team that has been pretty poor over that stretch of time. The Arizona Cardinals have averaged about a 7-9 record over these two decades and the Cowboys are just the opposite at an average of 9-7.
Yet, when the two teams play, the same Arizona team is always the underdog and almost always the victor. It really doesn’t matter who is coaching, who is playing, and the relative situations of both franchises. The Groundhog Day component remains exactly the same.
It all started in 2008 in the Tony Romo “broken pinky” game out there, which also included the Cowboys getting a punt blocked in Overtime. Then, every time these teams would meet ever since, we have seen that Vegas picks the Cowboys, everyone then predicts the same thing, but nearly every occasion has been a Cardinals upset – sometimes in a laughable route.
The one exception was in 2017, in a game most notable for the Jerry Jones call from the White House that resulted in the mandated “team kneel” before the anthem on Monday Night Football. Oddly enough, they won that game but we won’t try to tie causation/correlation into that one. It was a very odd time, but then again, what time hasn’t been odd in our recent memories?
2023 gave us one of the more frustrating losses of the Mike McCarthy era as Joshua Dobbs and the running game took advantage of the Cowboys poor performance and then 2025 was a Jacoby Brissett game in which the Cowboys offense did next to nothing on Monday Night Football right as they called in the Quinnen Williams trade.
It has gone from Kurt Warner, to John Skelton, to Kevin Kolb, to Carson Palmer, to Kyler Murray, to Joshua Dobbs, and now to Jacoby Brissett. It is frankly all beyond belief, but here we are again.
Yes, the Cowboys are big favorites and yes, the Arizona Cardinals look like an attractive opponent to play right now. They aren’t very good.
Here we go again.
These are my pregame thoughts:
When Dallas has the ball:
– The Dallas Cowboys will have every interest in controlling this game by putting together long drives and taking many snaps. We assume they have seen the positive results of leaning on their opponents and allowing the running game to take the legs of a discouraged opponent on Monday Night, so we assume they are all bright enough to continue to build off of that as they hit this stretch of winnable games. They must know that there are many big plays available, but the constant concern will be charitable giveaways.In the last four meetings between these two teams, 2020-2025, Dallas is a minus-9 in turnover differential and is 0-4 on the scoreboard. The charity has been everywhere and this franchise does not seem to excel when they are giving the ball away. They lose way too often. Since 2020, Dallas has lost the turnover battle 46 times and has a predictable record of 10-36. Only once have they won a game with a negative turnover differential under Brian Schottenheimer – last Thanksgiving versus the Chiefs.
That is how important taking care of the ball needs to be to this offense.
Otherwise, the tale of the tape shows us many tasty options:
Arizona is the very worst scoring defense in the NFL and they continue to be a defense searching for an identity. Lots of 2-high, lots of zones, below average in blitzing, and below average in overall talent.
Historically more aggressive (high blitz, disguise, and stunt rates). But, this year they’ve been more conservative and base-heavy, with lower pressure and disguise. They ramped up blitzing and aggression effectively in the Week 6 upset win over the Rams (held Stafford in check for much of the game) but haven’t featured it most weeks. We should probably expect a fair amount of pressure on Sunday, if I were to guess what young DC Nick Rallis is thinking.
For Dallas, we will continue to highlight the Tylers and ask those three giant 1st rounders up front to lead the way and to continue to show development. Tyler Smith is going to be great, but if Tyler Guyton and Tyler Booker are now both a much better version of what they were in 2025, this is clearly an asset that must be displayed each week.
I think everyone understands the benefit of a run game that has a physical edge, but it just provides so many better opportunities for the passing game. This is the true intent: don’t pass more, but pass in more favorable situations against more favorable coverages. We aren’t reinventing football here. The more balance you have, the more attractive your chances are. Consider it the idea of giving yourself “hitter’s counts” in baseball. If you only were facing pitchers with an 0-2 count, you would seldom see success. But, 2-0? Now, we can look for the pitch we want and be very aggressive. Football offensive theory is no different. Don’t pass on 3rd and long against blitzes! That is way too difficult to survive on.
Arizona has four players on defense we are very familiar with and three of them are on that defensive front with Walter Nolen who the Cowboys said they were drafting if they didn’t take Booker in 2025 and their two edges, Baron Browning and Josh Sweat.
As for Sweat, I wanted to look at some of his film because I have been asked about my feelings for him as his name comes up as a mid-tier edge option at the trade deadline and we know Dallas is shopping.
Let’s take a look.
Cardinals Defensive Feature: No. 10 Josh Sweat
The first thing that jumped out at me in looking at his last few weeks were some of the run defense reps that I really liked off the edge. That has always been a big part of his game and would help. The pass rush comes and goes, but when he gets home, it is with violence. He is a very long and powerful man who still can run right through a tackle. He rallies to the ball and would probably really assist as a full-time edge. He is signed for 2027 and 2028 at about $17m (non-guaranteed) and I am guessing if they brought him in, it was because they were replacing Rashan Gary in the off-season with that money.
The asking price is somewhere on Day 2 and we know that Dallas doesn’t have many picks left, so I am not sure there is much of a fit. But, yes, he would help your defense for sure and we know Christian Parker is quite familiar because Josh Sweat had a dominant Super Bowl 59 vs Kansas City. I’m at least interested in hearing the situation out. Take a look at him Sunday and maybe he will just stay in town.
Let’s flip it.
When Arizona has the ball:
– We are at a point where any NFL offense of any kind and in any state of health should cause the Cowboys’ defensive side of the ball to be fully on-guard and stressed these days, so I won’t try to convince you that Arizona has a stinky offense. They clearly do, but we now know that shouldn’t matter when they face Dallas.Just yesterday, we discussed the idea that Dallas has made every opponent look like Josh Allen and the Bills, so let’s now apply that to Jacoby Brissett and this Cardinals offense under new coach Mike LaFleur.
They lead the league in 10+ play drives and are strong in time of possession with few turnovers, but rank near the bottom in explosives and red-zone efficiency.
Conservative, short-to-intermediate West Coast-style attack. Brissett gets the ball out very quickly (among the lowest average time-to-throw in the league), emphasizing dink-and-dunk over vertical shots. This, of course, results in sustained drives and ball security but almost no explosive plays.
It certainly is built around being smart. Don’t turn it over, don’t get sacked, and just keep marching. But, yes, at some point, they need more than Trey McBride. After trading Marvin Harrison, the only other receiver that concerns you is Michael Wilson, but that is not terribly threatening.
Meanwhile with Dallas, we ponder where this LB spot is. We opened the season with DeMarvion Overshown and Dee Winters. Then it was Jaishawn Barham and Dee Winters. Then it was Jaishawn Barham and Shemar James. Now it is Shemar James and DeMarvion Overshown.
I would never in a thousand years criticize open competitions for jobs because that must happen, but hopefully we are getting close to deciding who is playing and are willing to let them develop some level of continuity and even chemistry between them so the busts in the zone and responsibilities begin to improve. I have to think the constant change is not helping guys with the play to play jobs.
Now, today’s trivia question. In all of the NFL, from 2024-2026, what player has the most receptions over roughly a 40-game sample?
This is obviously a leading question, but I would never have guessed it was Trey McBride over guys like Puka Nacua, CeeDee Lamb, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Ja’Marr Chase?
I honestly couldn’t believe it.
And the targets! He only trails Chase for most targets during that time. He is their No. 1 option on every play, it seems. They go to him again and again. So, get ready. They show no mystery.
Cardinals Offensive Feature: No. 85 Trey McBride
McBride is such a horse and a true gamer. Hopefully, someday soon, he will have a team around him so that he is as popular in the NFL as he is in fantasy football.
But, yes, Dallas better know where he is at all times. Is this a Caleb Downs spot? I would love to see it.
Prediction:
Well, I am willing to make the mistake again of trusting the Cowboys. This is where we point out that Brian Schottenheimer has one case of consecutive wins as a Cowboys coach from last season when they won three straight. Otherwise, Schotty is 0-6 following a win. They never can string them together.That said, I never learn.
Dallas 30, Arizona 17
Now, let’s have some football.