Bengals vs. Cardinals: What's the Game Plan for Arizona?

The Arizona Cardinals will face a new challenge when the Cincinnati Bengals pay them a visit on Sunday night. For the first time all season, the Cardinals will be playing a team with no obvious weaknesses.

Arizona has inarguably benefitted from an easy schedule over the first nine weeks of the season, with the Pittsburgh Steelers representing the team's only opponent with a winning record. 

That changes with 8-1 Cincinnati. The Bengals might not be a great football team, but they have played very good football thus far, and they do just about everything well.

So what, exactly, is in store for Arizona on Sunday night? Let's take a look.

Offensive game plan

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If Sunday's game were a procedural drama, the defendants would be everyone's two favorite Cardinals-related topics: the offensive line and the offense's efficacy inside the red zone.

On the plus side, Dick Wolf isn't producing Sunday's game, so they'll just go ahead and play football. The downside is that questions will repeatedly be asked about the aforementioned Cardinals-related issues, and very few of them will be satisfactory to Cardinals fans.

Cincinnati is ranked 11th in the league in yards allowed per game and first in points surrendered. You can move the ball on the Bengals, but only to a certain point. After that, they clamp down, largely thanks to the terror that is Geno Atkins.

Let's get this out of the way and move on: Of the Bengals' 26 sacks, 14.5 have come from Atkins and Carlos Dunlap. Arizona's offensive line must find a way to neutralize those two.

The bigger and far more interesting problem facing Arizona's offense is how will it get into the end zone? 

Against the Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati's defense allowed 386 passing yards and 21 points. All 21 points came from field goals. According to TeamRankings.com, the Bengals are allowing teams to score touchdowns on only 40 percent of red-zone possessions, which is good for third in the league.

Arizona has struggled with consistency inside the 20-yard line, both in terms of success and play-calling. While the gut instinct might suggest the Cardinals should try leaning on their running game more in those situations, it's worth mentioning that the Bengals have conceded only three rushing touchdowns all year.

Regardless, a smart game plan inside the red zone will be crucial on Sunday night.

Defensive game plan

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

The Bengals offense is diverse, efficient and steady. It ranks seventh in the league in yards per game and fifth in points. Through nine games, it's been held under 24 points only twice.

Here are, in a reductive kind of way, the five things the Bengals try to accomplish on offense:

1. Have A.J. Green occupy two defensive backs.
2. Quickly get the ball to their playmakers on the boundary.
3. Run inside and outside with Giovani Bernard and Jeremy Hill.
4. Stretch the field horizontally and vertically with Mohamed Sanu and Marvin Jones.
5. Crush the defense's soul with Tyler Eifert, while the opposition is busy dealing with items 1-4.

The bad news is that Cincinnati is pretty effective doing all those things. The good news is that the team has a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none thing going on. 

Since it's impossible to take away all of Cincinnati's weapons, here are the four key focal points for Arizona's defense on Sunday.

1. Don't let A.J. Green destroy you. Keep him in the intermediate game.
2. Tackle well, particularly in space.
3. Defensive backs must make the most of 50-50 opportunities, since the Bengals won't turn the ball over much otherwise.
4. Not only is Tyler Eifert a good football player, but he's a large human being. Don't lose track of him. Ever. Especially in the red zone.

James Bettcher and company's only other option is to hope for Cincinnati to miss on a lot of plays like this—a strategy that was particularly effective for the Houston Texans on Monday night.

Credit: NFL Game Pass

While that play resulted in an incomplete pass, and the Bengals mustered only six points on the night, don't expect a repeat performance on Sunday.

Key players and matchups

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Ted Larsen and/or Earl Watford

Starting right guard Jonathan Cooper is listed as doubtful for Sunday night, according to AZCardinals.com, and head coach Bruce Arians has yet to name a replacement. Presumably it will be Larsen or Watford teaming with Bobby Massie on the right side of the line.

Whoever fills in will probably see a healthy dose of defensive tackle Geno Atkins, which means they'll basically be responsible for keeping Carson Palmer on his feet. Good luck.

Double trouble: If Mike Iupati also misses out—he's listed as questionable—both Larsen and Watford will be receiving starts.

Dre Kirkpatrick

Kirkpatrick is the weak link of the Bengals defense, and teams have not shied away from throwing at him. Via Pro Football Focus, the former first-round pick has given up 32 receptions on the season, including six apiece against Kansas City and Buffalo.

With Adam Jones listed as doubtful, according to Bengals.com, Kirkpatrick will have to shoulder an even heavier burden on Sunday night. Can the Cardinals capitalize?

Carson Palmer vs. Andy Dalton

This was the focus of the midweek report, and my thoughts regarding this duel hasn't changed. Whichever quarterback plays better is going to win this game.

Both quarterbacks have been immense this season, and Monday's loss to Houston notwithstanding, Dalton has almost eliminated mistakes from his game. Can Palmer keep his own mistakes at a minimum? And which quarterback is going to make the key throw in the crucial moment?

Arizona's training staff

The situation may not yet be considered dire, but it's getting there. Ten players are listed on Arizona's injury report—eight of whom are starters. 

How much magic can Arizona's training staff work before Sunday night? And can they keep the rest of the team healthy?

With a difficult schedule ahead, and the second seed within grasp, those might be the two biggest questions of all.

Final prediction

This week, the question isn't whether or not the Cardinals are better than the Bengals. The question is how can the Cardinals lose (at home) after the statement they made in the fourth quarter against Seattle last week? 

Outside of New England, few teams in recent years have played with the singular focus we've seen from the Cardinals this season. They refuse to lose sight of their ultimate goal.

Cincinnati has as much talent as Arizona, and it has just as much at stake. But the Cardinals have the more experienced quarterback, and they're playing at home.

Expect the Cardinals playmakers on offense and defense to come up with big performances. This is the rare instance where the game can turn on the play of the wide receivers and defensive backs. Both groups will be ready for Arizona.

This is a big test on a big stage, and the Cardinals are acting like a team that lives for big tests on big stages. We'll find out how true that is on Sunday night.

Final score: Arizona 28, Cincinnati 17