REALITY CHECK: Arizona Cardinals Get EMBARRASSED In Must Win Game Against Seattle Seahawks

REALITY CHECK: Arizona Cardinals Get EMBARRASSED In Must Win Game Against Seattle Seahawks

That’s what we call a good old-fashioned butt whooping and a massive reality check for the Arizona Cardinals. Let’s discuss. [Music] You are locked on Cardinals, your daily Arizona Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Cardinals. Alex Clancy here. Oh man, didn’t do an instant reaction show last night. Um, I didn’t even know what to say. So, I would have just sat there and just fumbled around. I wanted to take a day, wanted to go right to the Cardinal Squad show. Um, but wanted to collect myself. Okay. What we saw yesterday was the reality check that was in the back of many of our minds and didn’t know if it was actually going to come to fruition or not. I’ll break it all down. Okay, everybody take a chill pill. All right, the Cardinals are still okay. Not for this season, but they’re still a pretty good position. Let’s just woo off for a second. Okay, the good is really good. I will talk about that in the final segment. And spoiler alert, it’s about Trey McBride. And then I’m going to do a couple minutes on the Jacobe Brzette verse Kyler Murray thing that happened on Twitter yesterday. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never seen anything like it in this space with this team ever. Um, I will talk. So, you will get your five minutes at the end of the show. Hopefully, you don’t fast forward to that. There’s a lot to talk about. The offensive line was atrocious. Atrocious. Easy for me to say. Atrocious. Second segment. The reality check above all reality checks is the Arizona Cardinals aren’t close to being even a borderline above average fringe elite team. And it was evident yesterday. Today’s episode of Lockdown Cardinals is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Here’s the thing. The blame pie for me, the majority of it goes to the production of the players yesterday. Calling for a coach’s head, calling for this, calling for that. While the body of work for this coaching staff hasn’t been great in win loss, you look at the functionality of this organization outside of the lines, outside of game time has grown exponentially in a positive direction. Okay, this isn’t like a green ribbon thing. This is a truthful thing since the last regime. And now I got to just compare it. Since Steve Kim is gone, they have ushered in stability outside the lines. Okay? And I know it matters what happens when you play football and the games happen. They don’t happen outside the lines. They happen with jerseys and football and and tackles and touchdowns. I know all of that. But what has been ushered in may just be that quote unquote bridge quarterback coaching class that needed to get the Cardinals out of the the animals of hell. Maybe what we saw yesterday was ineptitude in some stretches, namely on the offensive line. And then once that happens, once you get smacked in the face like that where Seattle just marches down and scores, uh, Jackson Smith and Jigba, I mean, Garrett Williams tripped at the end. He may have been able to make a play on the ball, but 40 plus yard touchdown and then whatever the couple snaps from scrimmage for the Cardinals and it’s a scoop and score for Demarcus Lawrence. It’s like, okay, now the game plan is now out the door. So, it’s not play calling. You’re down 14 nothing before the game even starts. You’re in your two-minute drill for the rest of the game. So I will point blame at Drew Petting as much as the next, not as much as many people, but as much as the next person predominantly around the third and one and fourth and ones. Let’s just run it up the gut. But the game plan and the script that they had was urinated and lit on fire after their first possession on offense because they already got 14 nothing. The semblance of the run game really isn’t there. Mari Marcato had one chunk run that ballooned his stats a little bit, but this team, it wasn’t so much the coaches didn’t have him prepared. Okay? And this isn’t me defending one thing or the other. It’s me watching the game and seeing when it gets blown up like that and you’re down 14 nothing, the game completely changes. You flip the script. I know there’s three and a half, even more than three and a half quarters left, but still the game plan that you put together and manicured all week with the deficiencies that you’ve got both on both sides of the ball, the defensive deficiencies were evident with Maxwell Johnson, M. Wilson out, that gets blown up, too. Okay? So, if you’re going to quick fire this person, fire this person, fire this person. This is one of those times where I implore to you, don’t just think on the surface level about it because they got to fire somebody. Just take a beat. Okay, take a beat. Drew Petting wasn’t playing on the offensive line that got absolutely abused yesterday. And this isn’t even a an off the offensive line is really bad. This is the offensive line is average. The right side is lesser than average. And the defensive front from Seattle is borderline elite. It was just that perfect storm. And they showed some fight. They turned Seattle over three times on defense. There was one of those and then of course they had multiple possessions inside the 20 that they didn’t score on. Um it was an embarrassing first half of football. Whatever Jonathan Ganon says at the end of games, I don’t care anymore. I got to be better. We got to be better. You know, whatever. Like, he’s not going to say anything. That’s what coach is supposed to say. He’s not going to say anything. There’s no revelation here. They’ve got no run game. The offensive line has been poorer. And you’re playing with your number two quarterback because the first quarterback wasn’t good enough to win games and wasn’t able to be potent enough in this offense to get the ball to the playmakers. So, the biggest takeaway from yesterday, this team isn’t close to being that level. This team isn’t close. With that said though, and this, you know, I don’t say positive things just for my health when they’re fully, I mean, they were down two of their top three corners and their starting off ball backer. Cody played okay. He wasn’t close to the issue. when healthy, this defense is is good. Okay. Blaming this on the defense when they’re already playing with their heels, play on their heels because, you know, they’re I feel like I’m making excuses, but I’m not. Like, this was just a game script nightmare all around. It’s like, well, you just got to throw everything out the window. And this is the last thing that could have happened for the Cardinals yesterday if they wanted to save their seed. This is the last thing sacked five times in the first in the first half. And here you go. Here’s your little because I know the comments are going to start your head. Here’s your little, you know, uh uh come on, dude. What is it? eye drop. Here’s your little eye drop for what’s going to happen in the last segment. Just because Kyler Murray is mobile, doesn’t mean that every starting quarterback who is a pocket passer that’s been the majority of them for the history of the sport is going to get quote unquote teed up on. Every defense that has that’s going against Jared Gooff or Matthew Stafford or any pocket passing quarterback tries to tee off on him every week. The offensive line just protects better than what the Cardinals did yesterday. So it’s like, oh, Kyler is mobile. Jacobe Brass isn’t. This isn’t going to work. The history of football tells you otherwise. pocket packs and quarterbacks aren’t sitting ducks. They are when they have no time to throw. So, get out of here with that. Just get out of here with that. I’m not I’m not going to entertain that. That’s ridiculous. With that said, they’ve got a lot of things to figure out. The playoffs are pretty much over. And going back to the first thing I said was I’m not thinking that firing a coach is gonna help anything. Well, something’s got to be done. Why? Well, because that’s what happens. Okay, that’s great. What’s it going to change? What’s it going to change? You need to salvage some salvage some sort of face this year and learning a new offense. Who’s going to call the plays? Oh, they’ll figure it out. Oh, okay. That’s a really good plan. Fantastic plan. Fire the coach. Oh, cool. That’s a really good idea. A really good idea. It’s easy to say that without any sort of solution. You look like the smartest person in the room. Give me a break. The offensive line look terrible. Um, there’s a couple things you can go back and forth on and I will do that with you. you know um one other thing that I wanted to mention here is uh you know it’s really really troubling that a large portion I’ll talk about this more later in the week a large portion of the top draft picks are now injury guys and I can’t pack it in today’s show, but it’s really tough to watch. Um, yeah, I’ll discuss that tomorrow, but we’ll talk about the offensive line rules next. Today’s show is brought to you by our friends over there at Pelaton. Look, folks, it’s time to break through the busiest time of the year with a brand new Pelaton cross trainining tread plus that’s powered by Pelaton IQ. It’s Pelaton’s most elevated technology and equipment yet that gives you real-time guidance and it gives you endless ways to move. 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Uh, it was eyeopening, but we were just covering our eyes with a blindfold. Like I And hold on. I thought that the Cardinals, how they played against Dallas and how they played against the Packers, could go in and compete with Seattle. Like, and I don’t think that that was some sort of far-fetched fairy tale story. When the first scoop and score happened, this offense isn’t equipped to put up 40 points or 30 points. It wasn’t with Kyler Murray either because they didn’t. So when one thing one thing happens, it’s the the metaphor that I use. It’s like, you know, in Arizona, you definitely know this, where you have that little crack in the lower right side of your windshield that a pebble just nailed and then it starts to slowly open. It’s like ice age. It starts to slowly spiderweb out. It’s like that was already there and then a boulder hit it and it just spiderwebed everywhere. Like the reason why you kind of have to give Drew Petting a pass yesterday is aside from the short yardage stuff, you have to throw out the game plan. So the the reality check, the rude awakening from yesterday is this team couldn’t have one thing go wrong if they wanted to make a push this year. Okay, Mars looked pretty good. I listen, three catches on 12 targets. I think a lot of them were just 50/50 balls. Not poorly thrown like forced in. Mark did have two drops. But there was that and then Trey McBride, who we’ll talk about in the final segment, was he’s just elite. He’s just elite. The offensive line woes are going to be the Achilles heel for this team for the rest of the year. The problem is there is no recipe to change it. So, I talked to Jamil Douglas, who’s um Cardinal Squad Show co-host of ours. He does a great job. Was played Oline for multiple teams in the NFL over about, you know, seven year career. I asked him, I asked him this and I text, full disclosure, I text him like, “Hey man, I’m going to ask you something awkward on the show. I don’t want to tell you what it is, but I want to get your actual visceral reaction.” And I asked him, “How can offensive linemen continue when they know they’re outmatched? when they know they’re not as good as def the defensive line on the other side and you’ve got to play 50 plus snaps. He just laughed. He’s like mentally you just got to stay prepared and hope you can block for long enough to allow the quarterback to to get the ball off. Like the Cardinals had the Cardinals ran 73 plays yesterday. 73. That’s insane. And Joret threw the ball 44 times. Okay. And that’s so his drop backs at least five more because he got sacked five times. So it’s like the offense the best recipe for bad pass pro is running the ball and the Cardinal first and second best running backs are out. So this is a purgatory of well you got to do this thing but the offensive line isn’t built well enough to be able to do that thing. So, with that said, I will not take the victory lap because it’s not going to serve any purpose. Um, the Arizona Cardinals need to draft the best right tackle in football in the draft next year. They need to sign the best left guard on the market, dump money into the offensive line, do what Chicago did. Even though Chicago’s offensive line, they’re getting a lot better. Caleb Williams still run for his life. Um, they need to address that first and foremost. I don’t want to hear receiver. I don’t want to hear quarterback in the first round. If anybody who agrees with me has friends who don’t, show them that game. Be like, “Hey, just watch this. You tell me. I don’t care how good this the Seattle’s pass rush is.” Dallas’s pass rush got home five times with Dante Fowler and Javian Clowny are like a combined hundred years old. This just shows how much worse it is with the with an elite pass rush. And they didn’t give up any sacks in the second half. Those guys were just they took an ambient and they’re just chilling through 30 minutes of football because they’re up 357. It’s a problem. I said and and and let me clarify to my past self. I thought that this offensive line was going to be good enough to withstand the 2025 season. Okay, bringing Will Hernandez back. I told you Isaiah Adams wasn’t going to work. I said Evan Brown probably isn’t the guy. It’s so painfully obvious that it’s going to be tough sledding the rest of the year because it’s not like, okay, you know, maybe the offensive line’s got to gel more. These guys have played together. I know that blocking for a different quarterback is different. There’s a lot more drop backs and it’s not fair for an offensive line of any caliber to have to deal with between 30 and 50 dropbacks a game. So, this isn’t a quarterback like it’s it’s a they don’t it’s a they don’t have a run game thing. Sure. The Kyler Murray thing where Yeah. Oh, he would have gotten out of the pocket. Okay, that’s great. That’s great. Then Longs, whatever they were in Jory Brassette completes at a far higher, exponentially meteorically higher rate. So, I know it’s easy to be like, “Oh, see, you shouldn’t have sat Kyler.” It’s like, do better, please. I implore you to actually think and watch what this offense has been before and now. Look at the numbers. Look at the numbers. The grim reality is, and there’s not really a positive spin here. I don’t know how they fix the problem. I did I have mentioned multiple times that they’re missing Tip Ryman a lot. He would be in seemingly on every third down right next to Jonah Williams. And he’s not a he’s not a guy who chips. He’s a guy who can actually block backers and block if if they if they bring DBs. Like he’s a guy who can do that. And he’s not here. I’m exhausted. I’m like 20 27 exhausted week 10 of this of this year. I don’t know, man. I don’t even know where to start. This is why I didn’t do one last night. It’s like I didn’t want to put you through my brain just like shortcircuiting because I can’t believe how bad it looked yesterday. Well, I told you. No, you didn’t. Come on. Let’s be better. Let’s be better. It was unforgivably bad in the grand schemes of this season, but there was some really good and I can’t even do a full segment on it because it was only one person. This Trey McBride I’ll talk about it next. Man, this episode of Lockown Cardinals is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score the next, who will score next to the fourth quarter comebacks, which we’ve seen a bunch this year. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Maybe like going into the fourth quarter, your team’s down nine or 10 and it’s plus, you know, 600 to win. You put some cheese on that. Maybe bet a little, win a lot. FanDuel’s got you covered for all of it. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up today and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Trey McBride, thank you. Stevie Baby, the last parting gift. Total mistake to draft him. Really happy he did. Uh yeah, he’s the next one. The writing was on the wall. We saw it step up last year and now he’s there. He’s there. And he’s under contract for a long time, which is great. Marv was under contract for a long time, which is great. Like I don’t know. And I’ll talk about Marv tomorrow. We’ve got so much. I could do two hours today. Truly, I could do two hours. I could probably do a four hour when I was doing four hour shows. I could probably do a four-h hour show today. They’ve got what a lot of teams don’t have. You want to still want to take Brian Thomas Jr. over Marv? Anybody? Oh, cool. Just didn’t know. Um, they’ve got pieces that other teams don’t. We’ll see what happens with Trey Benson coming back. Hopefully he shows that he can be RB1 and you can just move him in depending on if James Connor plays again. We’ll see. Um not this year, just in general. Uh Trey McBride is that transcendent talent that there are only very few of Travis Kelce, George KD, and I’m not comparing Trey McBride to either of those players because he still obviously is very young in his career. Those guys, excuse me, played over 10 years, but they’ve been consistently great. I’m not saying Trevor Brown’s gonna be Hall of Famer. Like, we’re so far, but so far so excellently good. So, you now have a guy who’s always open. Haven’t had that since Fitz. Always open, which is great. Got that. Um, the rest is just kind of I mean I said on the Cardinal Squat though, the only thing you can trust about this organization right now is Trey McBride, which is a trip. And that’s not necessarily fair about the defense because they’ve been unhealthy all year. Um, which isn’t great. Also, I’ll do the injury stuff tomorrow. Um, but a lot of people are going to want to play with Trey McBride. You’ve got him forever. seems to love being here. Obviously signed the extension which was pennies on the dollar. The next one will not be the next one will be a lot of money. Um but he was great. Nine for over 120. And you know it’s just it’s what it’s going to be every week. And that’s great that he’s finally getting the touches that the Cardinals need him to get to stay relevant in games. I know they got blown out yesterday, but he wasn’t the reason why. Onto the Kyler thing. I’m gonna do like three minutes on this and then I’m not talking about it again. Maybe not again. I’m not going to clamp it. I haven’t seen this. Like the Kyler Murray truthers are just And listen, for those that have been under a rock and watching this show, I was on the Kyler Murray side of the aisle for six seasons and five games. So, don’t look at me like I’m that I haven’t been and that I don’t see the special in him. I have forever and I’ve gotten burned. I see the special. I know what a good person he is. I know that people like him and I know that what he does on a football field when at the top of his game very few can do. I know all of that. It took me two games against very good defenses to see this offense runs better with Jacobe Brassette. Well, he can get out of the pocket. Okay, cool. Who was a quarterback against Tennessee? What about Carolina? What about Seattle? The first Oh, that was another one of my favorites. Well, the Seattle like the Cardinals were closer in Seattle with Kyler Murray. They took three and a half quarters off, man. The only reason it was close was because the offense put out the worst performance maybe in the history of Kyler Murray’s tenure. Let’s not be so quick to forget guys are better than that, man. Like I’m I don’t push narratives. I look at what I see and it’s like, “Hey, look, this offense is better with Jacobe Brousette.” That’s not an indictment directly on Kyler Murray. It’s a positive towards Jacobe Brassette. Kyler Murray had chances to be 5-0 and they won two games and then he got hurt for an extended period of time. Again, I was on the side of Kyler Murray and I still am and I hope he I hope he does well wherever he goes unless he chooses to play baseball or something. Who the hell knows? I’m just kidding. I have no idea if that’s going to happen or not. But you have to put the best quarterback for the offense and the team out there and it’s Jacobe Brassette. Well, he’s a sitting duck. Block for him. Well, Kyler Murray could get out of the pocket. How often does Kyler Murray complete second or third and longs instead of just throwing the ball away or running for five yards and jumping out of bounds. Do better. Lockdown Cardinals your team every day. Remember, without you either way, there is no me. I will talk to you.

The Arizona Cardinals’ season hit rock bottom with a humiliating blowout loss to their division rival Seattle Seahawks, and the fallout has fans questioning everything from coaching decisions to roster construction. This episode cuts through the noise to identify what’s actually broken and what can still be saved.

Host Alex Clancy delivers a raw, unfiltered reaction to one of the most frustrating performances in recent Cardinals memory, but resists the temptation to join the reactionary mob calling for heads to roll. While social media exploded with demands to fire head coach Jonathan Gannon and offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, Clancy makes a compelling case for why that’s the wrong move—pointing out that no coaching staff can overcome the fundamental personnel deficiencies plaguing this roster.

The episode’s centerpiece is a forensic examination of the offensive line disaster that defined the game. Jacoby Brissett absorbed five brutal sacks in the first half alone, spending more time running for his life than executing the game plan. With starting running backs James Conner and Trey Benson both sidelined by injuries, the Cardinals couldn’t establish any semblance of a ground game, forcing Brissett into obvious passing situations that Seattle’s defense feasted on. Clancy breaks down how the right side of the offensive line—particularly at right tackle and right guard—simply cannot compete against quality pass rushers, creating a cascading effect that undermines every other aspect of the offense.

Despite the carnage, tight end Trey McBride emerged as a genuine superstar, posting a monster 120-yard receiving performance that showcased why he’s becoming one of the NFL’s elite at his position. Clancy analyzes how McBride has evolved into the offense’s security blanket and why his development represents one of the few things going right for Arizona.

The episode also tackles the explosive quarterback controversy that dominated Cardinals Twitter during and after the game. With Kyler Murray sidelined and Brissett struggling behind a porous offensive line, fans began debating whether rushing Murray back is worth the risk or if the team should protect their franchise quarterback and accept a lost season. Clancy provides nuanced perspective on both sides of this heated argument, examining the long-term implications of each decision.

Can the Cardinals salvage their playoff hopes, or should fans prepare for a long, painful season? This episode provides honest answers and a roadmap for how Arizona can dig itself out of this hole—if the front office is willing to make the tough decisions required. 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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