MUST WIN: Arizona Cardinals MUST Beat Green Bay Packers to Save Their Season

MUST WIN: Arizona Cardinals MUST Beat Green Bay Packers to Save Their Season

The Arizona Cardinal need a win on Sunday or their season may be over before it started. The Green Bay Packers need a win on Sunday because they haven’t won a road game this season. [Music] You are locked on NFL Crossover, part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. Devin appreciate football. Paul, we’re over 33% of the way done. Uh, Alex Clancy, Peter Bukowski for this week seven’s edition of Crossover Thursday between the Arizona Cardinals and the Green Bay Packers. Thank you for making Crossover Thursday your first listen free wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Crossover Thursday is presented by Prize Picks. Now, on the Price Pix app today, use code lockown NFL to get 50 bucks in lineups after you play your first $ five dollar lineup. I was talking to Peter before we recorded and I he’s like the grim reaper for the Cardinals. Like whenever I went on locked on sports today, fantastic show that he hosts daily after week two and then everything’s run a muck since everything started 2021 when AJ Brown didn’t turn around in week seven against the Packers. They don’t play like the Packers don’t make a prominent, you know, role in the Arizona Cardinals dayto day. But when they do, it’s rarely good for the Cardinals. The thing is there was a time when the opposite was true, right? And when you you look at like 2009 was horrible and like there were definitely years where the Packers like it felt like they could not beat the Cardinals that the the 50 burger that the Cardinals hung on Aaron Rogers in 2009. Now that was that was a long time ago now, right? Like you and I are old enough to remember that, but there are people listening to this podcast who are like in first grade when that happened. So it it it has it has been a little while. Uh and and unfortunately for the Cardinals, um quarterback situation is murky and the Packers are going to come in I think with something to prove because as I mentioned in the open, they haven’t won a road game this year. They went to Cleveland and lost. They went to Dallas and tied, god forbid. And so I think you could, you know, if you’re a Cardinal fan, you’re going, “Hey, they might come to the desert and take us lightly.” I just don’t think that’s a a thing that’s going to happen anymore to this team because they’ve shown like if they take a team lightly, they can lose. This is the freaking NFL, man. Like that happens. Yeah. And uh that’s a conversation I had with my viewers when they lost to the Titans two weeks ago. So when the Cardinals lost to the Titans two weeks ago. So the we’ll get into the biggest story lines here. We’ll get into the most you know the the matchups in the next segment and then you know keys to victory in the finals as we always do on crossover. For me the biggest brain mind screw for all of this is that they lost they’ve lost four games by combined nine points. Yeah. So it shows that there’s good in there. And the tough part is, and you very well know this, that bad teams find a way to lose games they’re supposed to win. So, I don’t know if the Cardinals are the best bad team in the NFL or I don’t or the worst good team. I have no idea. It’s kind of in that murky area in the middle. I think it I think it depends on what you thought of them coming in, right? Like glass half full, glass half empty. Like there were there were people and I’m sure you heard it, smart NFL people, an analysts and and oddsmakers who thought, “Hey, this could be a sneaky team in the NFC West.” And so if you were one of those people, you’re like, h, I kind of think that they’re the worst good team in the NFL. And if you were one of those people like me who was dubious of that and just sort of looked around at the talent and went, what am I supposed to get excited about here? Um, I would go, I think there might be the best bad team. And and what’s weird, Alex, is uh if you look at their splits, like they’re a pretty good first quarter team. Y they’re they’re not a bad second or third quarter team. They’re just a really really bad fourth quarter team. And there there was an analyst, I’m going to forget his name, or I’m going forget who it was that would say this, like there were these, you know, like you could you might be a two-quarter team, a three-quarter team, and there are very few four-quarter teams. They feel like sort of the quintessential threequarter teams. Like they’re going to make it a game for three quarters, but ultimately they’re going to do enough stupid stuff down the stretch that they’re going to lose the game. The the Vikings game last year comes to mind, Alex, like there’s no way they should have lost that game to Sam Darnold. And Sam made a couple throws at the end. They they was it the horrible fumble and you lose that game and it’s like well you shouldn’t lose that game but you do because that’s just that’s what this team has been unfortunately the last few seasons. Yeah. Um there it is. I was waiting. I was wondering how long it was going to come until it’s just like it’s not even a criticism. Like I the dubious of I love because you’re like just prove me wrong and I get it. It’s rational, right? I completely understand the reason why and I going into this season I was like if this goes astray arai I will feel duped like I’ve been in this space a long time man so have you like when you see concrete actual things happen that show incremental growth not like oh this game plan’s going to like these this fugazy stuff that you can wrap around and get people excited for like they brought in Josh they brought in Don Thomas and Kas Campbell came back Campbell coming back for the Packers listeners like That’s a huge testament to things being different. He left when they wouldn’t give him $30 million guaranteed and then he went to Jacksonville was all pro because he was over the hill. Like the fact that he came back shows things are different. There was incremental growth. The draft it was supposed to work and it’s just not working. But it’s working but it’s not because they’re losing the games they’re supposed to win. They should be five and one right now. Like legitimately they should be five and one. So talk to me about the Packers. They’ve played down to their opponent the majority of the season except for week one where they um beat Detroit pretty handily. The Cleveland game was like the Tennessee game for the Cardinals. Up 10 nothing. They were up 10 nothing, right? With half left and they ended up losing. And then the Dallas one was insane because the Packers had such a good defense going into going into Dallas. You give up a 40 burger. Like talk to me about them playing to the level of their opponent a little bit this year. Yeah, you know, they the thing is is they beat the crap out of the Lions and they could have won by 20 plus. Yeah. And and so they same thing with Washington. Like they should have scored 40 points on Washington. They they’re like a three and three/arters team right now. They just haven’t quite played four quarters of complimentary football. I have I have been telling people, anyone that will listen, that Dak Prescott just like went he he typed in whatever cheat code you you put in what whatever game you’re playing, he he had the cheat codes in the fourth quarter of that game in particular just was every every audible, every read, every every throw, every Hail Mary was answered in that game. Um, and then in the same thing with the Bengals, like the only reason the Bengals were even competitive in that game is because Jamar Chase made a couple just otherworldly plays. Yes. And I I what I would what I was telling Packer fans in the leadup to that game is they don’t have the Bengals defensively anybody that can that can do that can take over a game the way you know the Browns front did in Cleveland. Sure. Um I don’t I don’t know that the Cardinals have anybody like that either. So, if we’re talking about a game where some one of these teams needs to close that, you you’re going to trust the Packers offense. I was just looking up the stats. The Cardinals 31st in fourth quarter EPA per play, 32nd in success rate. And it’s not close, by the way. They’re giving up a 55% defensive success rate. That is ungodly bad. Yeah. And if you just can’t get stops in the fourth quarter, you’re not gonna be able to beat anybody. So, the thing Yes. Mina K. Yes. The great Mina Kimes, front of the front of the show. uh she had Dominic Foxworth on her show. I think it was before this game last week. So, this was leading up until game six, week six. They were defensively number one in EPA in the first three quarters and 27th in the fourth. And for me, and I don’t know why I’m getting push back on this because people don’t use their eyeholes, that the offense being completely anemic during the second part of the third quarter through the end of game, which yields human beings wearing helmets and pads on the defensive side of the ball to get tired. That’s I think it’s the most human element to it. I know you’re big. You’re you split between analytics and like using your actual common thought. Y that is the most Aman’s razor thing for me. Like that’s why the guys are tired. The offense can’t stay on the field. Now that’s not perfect. They’ve given up game-winning drives multiple times this year when the offense was on the field for the majority of the time in the second half. So the defense is a big question mark, man. Like Nick Rollis looked like the the leader in the clubhouse to be the next Ben Johnson from the defensive side of the ball to get a head coaching gig. Things are kind of starting to regress towards the mean. And when you don’t know who the quarterback’s going to be in week seven, we’ll talk about that in the next segment. Like, you know, I’ve got offensive coordinators saying that the offense looked exactly the same with Jacobe Brassette than it did with Kyler Murray and I’m like, are we just saying things to say things to reporters? It’s not even close. I’m not sure how much you watched that game last week, but they were humming with Jacobe. Yeah, they were throwing the ball down the field. I I was We We’ll We’ll get to that uh for sure here. I I just double checked um those stats and just to see how last week um affected it. They’re they’re now second in first three quarter um defense of EPA and and it’s it’s not any like it’s not that different in success rate either. So like they’re they’re it’s not smoking mirrors. It’s real. This defense is solid uh in the first three quarters and I think to your point they just run out of gas and they need the offense to to take up some of that. Like Alex, you saw it. They should have won last week uh against a really good team. And so the Packers again I think I frankly I think six and a half which is our our friends at FanDuel have set the line at six and a half. I think that is they don’t see Jacobe Brassette playing well enough two weeks in a row because I think this is like six six and a half on a neutral field and it being now there’s going to be how many 25 30,000 Packer fans there on Sunday. Um but still you got to travel like there’s all that stuff like that’s that’s all built in. Um, I I think that the Jacobe Brassette uh consistency that’s that’s the big thing that if you’re if you’re the Packers, you’re going Michael Parsons, just go get that guy. Yeah, it’s the new car smile thing. I’ll I’ll explain my theory that I’ve that I’ve discussed with you in the past, but I I’ll bring it back up. Peter Bowski locked on Packers. Alex Lanti locked on Carlos. We’ll roll on here next. This episode of Locked on Crossover Thursday is brought to you by our friends over at Mint Mobile. If you’re still overpaying for wireless, it’s time to say yes to saying no. At Mint Mobile, their favorite word is no. 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This episode of Crossover Thursday is also brought to you by our friends over at Build. These these guys are awesome. Uh, nobody likes paying rent, but if you must, you might as well get something for it. That’s where Built comes in. Built is changing the game by turning your rent payments into real rewards you can actually use. When you pay rent through Built, you earn flexible points that can be redeemed toward hundreds of hotels and airlines, a future rent payment, your next lift, ride, and more. But Built isn’t just about rent. It’s about rewarding you around your entire neighborhood. Turn your rent into rewards and start earning points around your neighborhood by going to join.com/lockdown NFL. That’s j o i n b i l t.com/lockton NFL. Make sure to use that link so they know we sent you. Uh oh, there he is. All right, cool. Uh Peter Wowski. Um dude, how many years have you done this? Since 2017. Yeah. So me too. So this is season. Yeah, that’s bananas. It’s crazy. Yeah, it’s awesome. Anyways, cool. So, um, talk to me about irrespective of quarterback or maybe not the matchup that you’re looking at or is it just Micah Parsons versus the offensive line? I think it has to be the offensive line. Um, you know, the the Cardinals, when was the last time they had a really good offensive line? Um, it’s been average to slightly above average for a little while now, which you’ll take in this day and like was Lis Brown involved? I like I don’t know. Uh, they’re they’re 27th in adjusted sack rate. So, get give, you know, throwaways out of there. Um, they’re that’s not great. And and the Packers have not been, unfortunately, have not been sacking the quarterback at a really high rate, but they have been pressuring the quarterback at a really high rate. And what I was just I just wrote about this for the Leap, a newsletter I would love for you to subscribe to. Um, is they need to make more splash plays. And so, I think one way you can do that is you got to create negatives. You’ve got to create sacks. You’ve got to turn pressures into interceptions, into floated balls. like they just they’re they’re getting too many pressures to have as few sacks as they have and they’re getting too many pressures to have as few bad passes as they’ve created. Right? We normally think of pressures turning, you know, getting getting quarterbacks to throw the ball off the mark. Oh, it goes off a defender’s hand. It gets tipped. It turns into a turnover that way. It just hasn’t happened. And it it’s it’s not happening at what I think is an unsustainable rate, Alex. I think like eventually they’re going to they’re going to have one of these games where they have six, seven, eight sacks. It might not be this week. Um, but if it’s Kyler at less than 100%, if it’s Jacobe Brassette, um, who’s not the world’s most mobile guy, but is he is hard to sack. He’s a big strong guy. Um, yeah, but he does have a big long wind up. Like I that’s that’s to me is is the key here because if you can create negative plays, I just I don’t know how Arizona has the firepower to keep up with an offense in Green Bay that I think is is really starting to find its its rhythm here. Like, is Marvin Harrison Jr. going to play? What’s the situation at quarterback? Talk to me, Goose. Yeah, I mean, uh, Kyler Murray is not speaking to the media today because apparently a foot injury makes you not able to talk, which is awesome. Um, all all signs like a bad foot injury if you if you become mute. Uh, yeah, it is. It is. It’s a whole other set of issues that, you know, we’ll we’ll discuss more of that at 10. Um, you know, probably going to be Jacobe. They’ve got their buy in week eight. If they didn’t and the the game the season was on the line, maybe he played this week. Foot injuries are tough, man. I mean, we’re seeing it as is like the next like epidemic around the NFL, which is crazy. Um, Marvin Harrison Jr. is trending well, but still in concussion protocol. Walter Nolan, which is the most fun for me because for me it’s going to be can he can they get to Jordan Love. If Walter Nolan practices number 16 overall pick out of Old Miss, was looked by many to be a fringe top 10 guy. Um, if he can play and add that quick twitch in the interior defensive line with Kas Campbell and Davin Tomlinson, maybe it’ll allow the guys to spring off the edge a little bit more easily. And I think like they’re close, but when they’re not close, they’re nowhere in the in the arena. That’s where the 27 and you know, you know, the bottom third of the league, not having Garrett Williams being, you know, the number one corner, you know, you know, you know him well from Syracuse. Yeah. Um, you know, they’ve done wizardry on defense. They’re playing four safeties on the field a lot now with corners down. like they’re making things work, but it’s a bend don’t break thing, but if the offense can’t get it done, which is, you know, I mean, it’s the overarching thing. The defense needs to be the anchor and this is going to be a tough opponent. I mean, you’ve got a bunch of B receivers, which is difficult and having one A and a bunch of C minuses, you know, it’s who’s the poison going to be? I mean, it’s the it’s the Robert Meechum and and Drew Brees and Derey Henderson thing where it’s like who’s it going to be this week? Yeah. And and you know, I I think that that leads to constrnation for Packers fans, right? We just we just had to did a show about this. Um and Matt Laflur is like, I’m not I’m not changing. It’s he started the Nick Sabin like so not so quit asking like, you know, because he’s just like I’m I’m he hates the question. He hates the premise. Um and and to a certain point, I understand that they can just throw the ball wherever they need to on a given play. And and Matt Laflur will tell you, right, like where he believes his team is by who he runs the money plays for. who are their core concepts for um and and you know Romeo Dobs is still is still really the guy. Yeah. Um what’s interesting about Jordan Love this year, Alex, is when he’s clean by all the metrics, pick pick any of them, the old school, the new school, he’s the best quarterback in the NFL this year. Statistically, the the most productive quarterback in the NFL when he is not pressured. When he is blitzed, he is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. top five in all the categories, the nerd stats and the boomer stats. Like, but when he is pressured and it’s not a blitz, if you just get pressure with four, it’s bad. And part of that is that’s true for every quarterback, right? Like pressuring a quarterback makes them worse. But he has been a little more sensitive to pressure this year than he has in in years past. Certainly more than he was in 2023. And so that’s the thing. It’s like, can these guys win one-on-one? Packer fans selfishly are going go to Arizona, beat the brakes off the Cardinals and make them trade Ukas Campbell because the Packers have some interior defensive line issues. Uh Devonte Wyatt is has not practiced this week and they just like they traded Kenny Clark and the Michael Parsons trade and and they’re you know they have some some interior defensive line depth that that you know Lucas Vaness is hurt. So Kas Campbell would solve a lot of problems for the Packers out. Just you know something to think about. Cool. Yeah. You know what? You just want to be the Eagles and just take all the good players and then just say, “Oh, you know, Klay deserves a chance to chase a Super Bowl.” Yeah. He came home for a reason, bro. It was And it wasn’t golf, you know? Like, I don’t even know if he’s a good golfer. Imagine how far that guy hits the ball. Imagine how long those clubs are. Like, I don’t understand how LeBron can have clubs. They’ve got to be double size. Like, Kas, like I don’t They have to be custom clubs for sure. Can you see the ball from the ground? Like, it’s crazy. So, you know, for me, um, defensively fine, Josh Jacobs is going to be a You can take See, the problem with the Packers is they can be flashy. They just choose not to be like they choose to be a team that’s running the ball like it’s Buffalo in December in an ice storm and it’s like you just it’s that’s boring. And then Josh Jacobs, four yards, six yards, nine yards, four yards, nine yards. You you you inject him in the passing game, which is brand new from when he went to Green Bay. Like obviously you had the show out year last year. That’s why when the Cardinals are on offense, I’m in hucket baby territory. I’m throw 45 times. Like the reason why Drew Petting was able to do what he did with the run game was because they had James Connor and because they had, you know, able-bodied backs. That’s not this anymore. Jacobe Bratet throws a nice deep ball. He’s again, he threw the ball 45 times. Look completely confident. It was a little rusty in the first half. threw a bad pick after the Cardinals turned over over the the Colts. But I want everybody getting eight targets. Just throw it. Who cares? That’s the only way. You’re not going to be able to beat this team 13-10. It’s not going to happen. It’s got to be more points scored. It’s got to be more of a shootout. And if the Cardinals can do that, I think they can keep it close and then the defense will probably give up a touchdown at the end of week. Yeah. I mean, I I feel like every team when they’re playing a backup quarterback should just get in hucket mode. Like just create some variance. just throw the ball down the field and you know the offense just generally has the advantage against the defense because they know where they’re going and we saw Joe Flacco do it second half like not everyone has Jamar Chase Marvin Harrison Jr. certainly not proven he is on Jamar Chase’s level but they just thought like just give me a couple chances to throw the ball deep to Jamar Chase and you know you can be in this now he still ultimately averaged less than five yards of an attempt and they only scored 18 points. I like to your point Cardinals can’t win this game with 18 points. I just don’t think that’s going to happen. And I don’t think the defense is good enough as currently constituted. And the Packers found something last week, Alex, with this run game. The run game looked much better last week. Their offensive line seems healthy. Although Zack Tom didn’t practice on on Wednesday, he was he was, get this, he was in so much pain dealing with an oblique injury on Sunday. He said he blacked out in the second half. He does not remember the second half. That’s how much pain he was in. So, uh, hopefully he just gets a little I I would I frankly I wouldn’t be surprised. Anthony Belton, their second round pick from this year, was back at practice on Wednesday dealing with an ankle. I I would not be surprised if they just said, “Hey, Anthony Belton, it’s going to be your week.” And uh Jordan Morgan is the right guard now and and Aaron Banks is the left guard now. He’s healthy. Everybody seems healthy. Let’s give Zack Tom a week off because you got TJ Watt coming up in two weeks. And so you’d really like to have him for that one. Um so yeah, this is this is a Cardinal team that’s going to have to manufacture points. Like this is pull out your trick plays. This is, you know, and the Packers are going to have to be ready for that stuff because the Cardinals are desperate, right? Like this is Jonathan Ganon is desperate. This this team is on the brink right now and you have the chance if you get if you get out to an early lead, you have the chance to just have this team say, “We’re we’re done.” Like, this is not going to happen for us. Sorry. Let me ask you this before we pivot keys to victory. This is a wildly selfish question that I’m going to ask because I talked about this on the on the show today. You know, I try to think about things a little bit. I try to challenge, oh, this is how it is because this is why it is, you know, it’s just like, well, that’s lazy. Can we challenge that maybe like for me when it comes to firing coaches mid-season? Okay. Where the Cardinals were with the with their dysfunction and fractured foundation, everything like that. It’s still kind of like that because it’s Michael Bidwell, but like what Monty Osford has brought in and Jonathan Gan has brought in is stability and culture and an adulthood from the front office and the coaching staff that they didn’t have before. For me, even if they’re lame duck for the rest of the year and they lose this game and they lose a couple, like sustaining that culture, the catalyst for that, even if they’re not back next year, is keeping them through the entirety of the season. Firing somebody just to say, “Well, look, we did something. Who cares?” Like, that’s what I’m challenging. It’s like, what are you going to do then? You’re just going to trade everybody and start over? Like, I understand it’s somewhat irrational. Does that make sense? I don’t think it’s irrational. No, I I think you’re I think you’re right. Um, especially because this is not like this was a team that had high expectations. Like it no one expected them to be a Super Bowl contender this year. If it goes worse than if it what I always ba base it on is is the team still playing for you? If the team is like the team in Miami is still playing for Mike McDonald. They’re still trying. They almost beat the Chargers last week. They’re still playing their butts off for him. And so as long as they’re playing hard, I think you can justify keeping the coach. when you look at Tennessee and like that was just an untenable situation. Like that team was lost in the wilderness. They they had no like they were embarrassingly bad. And you just you can’t you can’t have that for the same reasons you’re saying. Like if you want to build the culture forward and you want a replacement at the end of the season, fine. But it doesn’t help. There’s no benefit in doing it now or in a week or two weeks, whatever. I think the same thing is is true in in the reverse where there’s no benefit for Brian Callahan to finish out the season. that team was a a hot mess. And if you’re the ownership or the GM, you have to step in and say this is not acceptable. We cannot do this. I don’t think the Cardinals, like Alex or I don’t think the Cardinals are at that point at all. I mean, I I think that they’ve won some games that they probably feel like they should have or lost some games they probably feel like they should have won. I think that’s a good position for a team to be in to say, “Hey, look, we’re close. Like, let’s go. Let’s keep pushing. Let’s keep building.” I wouldn’t be surprised if you know Kyler gets healthy in a week or two and by the end of the year this this like is a nine- win team. Like I that would not surprise me that much because I I do think you know you mentioned it the defense is for three quarters like it’s it’s really good and and so if you unfortunately James Connor was a huge catalyst and and losing him is such a bummer. Um but like why can’t Marvin Harrison Jr. become something really good this year? Why can’t Kyler Murray make a couple plays? Why can’t they win some of these games that they have been losing late? This stuff is this stuff is so random. The ball is oblong. It bounces weird. Yeah. And it’s interesting, you know. I wonder if Brian Callahan’s upset that he had to work an extra week after beating the Cardinals instead of just losing to them like they were supposed to. And he would have had an extra week of vacation. I don’t know. We’ll never We’ll never know. Keys to victory. We’ve talked about him a little bit. We’ll iron them home next. This episode of Crossover Thursday is brought to you by Mazda. Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. They deliver confidence with every ride with more IHS top safety pick awards than anybody else as of last month, which is uh pretty accurate. From football to breath, from footwork to breath work, athletes sweat all the details. And Mazda brings this same intention to how we craft every model. You can make everyday drives feel like anything. But from smooth handling to intuitive controls, and with all-wheel drive standard in every crossover SUV, you can drive with confidence throughout almost any season. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when we make every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda move and be moving. All right, wrapping up week seven crossover. I can’t, Dude, I cannot believe it’s week seven. Like, it’s like you just kind of black out for the entire season. It’s week 15. It’s like, what what’s going on? Yeah. Um, it’s crazy. So, keys to victory. We’ve kind of we went a little bit more in depth last segment, so we’ve kind of hit on the majority of them here. I’m going to take one. The keys to victory. If it’s Jacobia set, which it most likely will be as we’re recording this show, it’s no restrictor plate. Throw the ball. Like that’s it. And hopefully Marv plays because he had a couple chunk games with with Jacobe Brassette. Like this is what we’ve been waiting for with Kyler. I wonder if it’s just the six inch height difference. Like I I I feel like Kyler gets shorter every year. Like it’s it’s the weird It’s like a Benjamin Button thing. It’s the weirdest thing. We didn’t have these issues year one, year two, year three. I know defenses adjust obviously over the years, but like I don’t know. But throw the ball down the field. Trey McBride, Michael Wilson is a hot button name for football nerds. He was a really solid college football wide receiver. He’s big. He catches everything. He’s great with contested balls. He’s great with his feet along the sidelines and in pay dirt. Just huck it, bro. Like, throw the ball 45 times again and I’m in. I’m in. I’m in. I think for that reason the Green Bay Packers the key and I feel like a broken record every week I do this but every week they play someone where I just feel like if they don’t turn the ball over they’re going to win. And so not only do you want to win the turnover battle I think it is it is more about offensively just don’t don’t waste possessions. Like if you go back to the Bengals game the the Packers were 14 and a half point favorites. They win that game by nine, right? Well, they they marched right down the field on the opening drive and Jordan Love throws a bad interception in uh it wasn’t quite the red zone, but it was it was field goal range. If he just doesn’t do that, they win by 12 and it doesn’t feel like the same. If you just like, you know, you extrapolate these things, 12 doesn’t feel that different than 14, right? They they basically do what you you win a game 30 to 18, people are pretty happy about that. It’s that same sort of thing like they left points on the board against Dallas when they get a field goal blocked or an extra point blocked that turns into two points. It’s those little things that let inferior opponents play to your level and you then play down to their level, right? So, don’t turn the ball over because you don’t waste possessions. This defense, we’ve talked about it the first three quarters, it’s good. And so, if you can possess the ball, wear them down by the by the time it gets to the fourth quarter with Josh Jacobs, if you haven’t wasted possessions, you’ll get to 24 27 points. And the question is then can Jacobe Brassette get to that same number of points or has Micah Parsons taken his soul at some point over the course of you know the 45 previous minutes? We’ll see. But that it I feel like such an old school like Joe football when I talk about the turnovers being the key. But it it just the more I watch football the more I just kind of feel like in basketball it’s like just shoot the ball better than the other team and you’re going to win. Like just don’t turn the freaking ball over and you’re probably going to win. Yeah, I do that a turnover about every time every show. So, I I I feel it. Uh, do you have Brandon Aubrey nightmares? More more more importantly, like No, Matt Laflur does. I I don’t because it’s like he was the guy that Matt Laflur was so freaking scared of. And I did I did a whole segment on like I can’t believe how cowardly Matt Laflur played the end because he was so freaking worried about Brandon Aubrey making a field goal in overtime. It’s like just score a touchdown, Matthew. What are you worried about? Go win the freaking game. God bless America. He pulled the Matthew out. Gez. Is Brandon Aubrey worth a first round pick in Dynasty? I don’t know. We’re we’re we’re going sideways here. Okay. I know it’s close. I thought if I thought you had the button ready, I would have I would have I would have pulled it out, but I don’t I didn’t I didn’t think you had the button ready. Um I had to do it on my show. I had to drop one, Alex. I don’t I don’t do it often, but I had to I had to I had to I fbombed it because I was just like this is it was so bad, dude. Like it was so pathetic to be afraid of the multiple times in the game to be afraid to not go for it on fourth and short in plus territory because you’re like well they’re just one first down away from being in Brandon Aubrey still go in the game. What are we talking about? He dropped the Matthew. He’s not even close to a Matthew. He’s more of a Matty than a Matthew. Uh for me like one year the Cardinals have had a proclivity like not I’m not even putting a time stamp. They’ve had a proclivity for their existence in not being able to stop tight ends. For me, Tucker Craft is the scariest weapon that the that the Packers have because not only is he their best red zone threat, I I’m not I’m not going to go into X’s and O’s because I don’t cover the Packers, but he’s I draft him in fantasy every year because I know if he’s healthy, he’s going to be a top five guy because of the targets, the value of targets, the way that he can break away. He has good enough breakaway speed for a tight end to be kind of hybrid in that underrated break like speed for a tight end. He had a huge touchdown catch. Oh, he had a 19 and he reached out. He’s super athletic from last week. He had that touchdown 19 yarder that he reached out for. Like he’s the one that scares me the most because he’s kind of a tweener. Like you kind of know what Matthew Golden skill set is. Romeo Dobs can run the routes. He’s, you know, whatever. He’s a he’s a Stefon Diggs light. Like but you know what they can do. Tucker Craft can do everything. So for me, stop the tight end and let the like the one thing that I will say to defend the Cardinals that is going overlooked a lot. Even losing Garrett Williams, Will Johnson is the highest rated pro football focused guy through through week six. It wasn’t I don’t through week five. So like he’s really good at football. Okay, Max Melton, the juryy’s still out if he can be a bonafide CB1 light. He’s more of a CB2. And then you’ve got Drien Teller, Dmerson, Buddha Baker, and Jaylen Thompson over the top with the three safety set that like they’ve got a good secondary. They have an opportunistic secondary and the pass rush just needs to get home more in the second half than they have. And the Cardinal’s like if you told me this was a one-sore game at the end, I’m not I don’t think this is going to be a blowout. Like I don’t if it is, we’re having completely different conversations. If it’s 30 to 10, we’re having different conversations and I just don’t know when that ball is going to drop if it if it will. Let me ask you a question. Have Have they played a really good offense this year? Have they played a really good offense this year? Seattle was really good through three quarters. Um, but no, the Colts are really good offense. I think the Colts are really number one in all the nerd stats. They they’ve scored, you know, they scored 30 on Tampa. Like, I think you can make the case that they belong in there, but the Colts last week are probably the best offense that they’ve faced just statistically. Yeah. And they scored 30. Now, when I was going through this trying to make predictions and also, you know, maybe for some personal interests that I have and um I I was trying to figure out, okay, what does the score look like? And I was like, I kind of think the Cardinals are even with Jacobe Brassette going to be able to get to 20 21. Um especially at home. Um I who’s healthy at running back, I don’t know. But I kind of also don’t care. Like I just feel like Drew Petting is he’s a really good coach. I really like um the way that that that offense can can manufacture stuff. I just don’t think they can get to like 24 and I think this is a game the Packers have scored 27 points I think three times this year. So it feels like cheating to say 2721 but that’s how it feels to me 2720. I I don’t think it’s going to be a blowout. Um and so like this going to be a game where it’s the Cardinals are going to lose a game where they feel like they probably could have won it and didn’t. And that’s just like that’s the difference between a, you know, a really good team and a team that’s trying to be really good. Yeah. You know, Groundhog’s Day was one of my favorite movies growing up. So, I mean, why not reimplement Sunny and Sher at this point? Peter Bowski, Lock Packers, you know, the I mean, you’ve seen that movie multiple times, right? We’re in the same age range. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I said shout out Bill Murray. Oh, shout out Bill Murray. Yeah. Okay, cool. Um, yeah. Sweet. Locked on Packers, locked on Cardinals. That was Crossover Thursday, week seven. We’ll talk to you on our respective podcast tomorrow.

This week’s episode dives deep into the highly anticipated matchup between the Arizona Cardinals and the Green Bay Packers. Hosts Alex Clancy and Peter Bukowski offer their expert analysis on two teams desperately seeking to turn their seasons around.

The Cardinals, coming off a series of narrow defeats, face a critical test against a Packers squad struggling on the road. Our hosts examine the potential absence of Kyler Murray and its implications for Arizona’s offensive strategy. They also dissect the Cardinals’ offensive line woes and how they might hold up against Green Bay’s aggressive defensive front.

On the Packers’ side, we explore their road game challenges and the adjustments needed to secure a crucial away victory. The episode breaks down key player matchups, coaching decisions, and the strategic chess match between two teams fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Listeners will gain valuable insights into both teams’ strengths and weaknesses, injury reports, and potential game-changing factors. Whether you’re a die-hard fan of either team or just a football enthusiast, this episode provides all the analysis you need to prepare for this pivotal NFL clash.

Join us for an in-depth look at this week’s most intriguing matchup, as we predict which team will take a step towards salvaging their season. Let’s discuss.

The Best Daily Arizona Cardinals Podcast. Host Alex Clancy (@ClancysCorner) take an unbiased approach covering the biggest Cards stories.

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