Cardinals defense chased out of Cincinnati by Bengals

It’s not hard to pinpoint two of the biggest factors of the Cincinnati Bengals’ offense. They even share the name.

But just because it’s easy to find Ja’Marr Chase and Chase Brown, doesn’t mean it’s easy to stop them.

Just ask the Arizona Cardinals, who were shredded by the duo and the rest of the Bengals offense across a 37-14 defeat on Sunday.

“(We) had chances to make it a game and couldn’t make it a game,” head coach Jonathan Gannon said postgame. “I think it really comes down to … third down. They converted a bunch. We didn’t. They stayed on the field. We didn’t. They scored points. We didn’t. So, we’ll be back at it tomorrow.”

As they have throughout a lot of this season, sloppy tackling and chunk yards plagued much of Arizona’s defensive attack.

Chases’ first of two touchdowns on the day was just one example of the Cardinals failing at the fundamentals. After not finding the end zone since October, Chase made it look easy against Arizona’s defensive backs.

He ended the day with seven catches for 60 yards and the two scores.

Brown, meanwhile, chewed up yardage all afternoon behind 22 carries for 101 yards and two touchdowns.

Those two paired with an uber efficient Joe Burrow had the Bengals out in front early with scoring drives on four of their first five possessions.

Cincinnati’s success on offense also played a major factor in limiting Arizona’s time with the football, dominating the time of possession battle 40:56 to 19:04, highlighted by a 67% third-down conversion rate (10-of-15). The Cardinals, on the other hand, were just 23% on third down (3-of-13).

Even former Cardinals offensive lineman Cody Ford got in on the play-making with a 21-yard catch and run. He marks the third offensive linemen targeted in recent weeks, all of which had a clear path to catching the rock, against the Cardinals defense.

Not even rookie Cody Simons’ career day of 15 tackles and a sack could stop the Cincinnati onslaught.

“We know they can score a bunch of points,” Gannon said. “It’s just when you don’t get off (the field) on third down — and we had chances (to do so), especially in particular in the first half and they extended drives — that’s what’s going to happen.

“You leave (Burrow) on the field, he’s going to score points. That’s why I said that game came down to third down. (On) both sides, they did a better job than we did.”

Cardinals offense nearly nonexistent

And for as much as Arizona was gashed time and time again by Cincinnati’s defense, the Cardinals offense was on another planet when it came to repaying the favor.

Despite the Bengals sporting one of the worst defenses in football, highlighted by an ugly mark against tight ends, they held Arizona’s offense largely in check for four quarters.

Michael Wilson still managed to find the end zone, but the run game that had taken a step forward in recent weeks fell behind with just 42 yards on 13 carries to show for. The game being lopsided early on did the run game zero favors.

Not even tight end Trey McBride’s record-setting day could help jumpstart the Cardinals offense. He ended the day with a garbage-time touchdown to go along with 10 catches for 76 yards, setting a new NFL record for catches by a tight end in a single season in the process with 119.

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