Sunday Night Football Week 11: Bengals vs. Cardinals TV Schedule, Live Stream

It's personal between the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals on the Week 11 edition of Sunday Night Football.

At face value, the game is a showdown between a pair of serious contenders, with the Bengals atop the AFC North at 8-1 and the Cardinals atop the NFC West at 7-2.

On a personal note, though, there's the whole shindig a few years ago when now-Arizona quarterback Carson Palmer decided he would rather retire than take another snap with the Bengals, which paved the way for his route through Oakland to the desert and helped created this current iteration of the Bengals.

"For as much time as I spent there, it's not just another game," Palmer said, according to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com). "There's obviously a little bit extra on it. It's a big game for us and a big game for them."

As some might say, it's on. Here's everything to know.

Game Details

When: Sunday, November 22, 8:30 p.m. ET

Where: University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona

Television: NBC

Live Stream: NFL Game Pass

Tickets: ScoreBig.com

Over/Under: 48

Spread: Arizona (-4.5)

Team Injury Reports

Player	Position	Status
Adam Jones	CB	Questionable
Vontaze Burfict	LB	Questionable

Player	Position	Status
Michael Floyd	WR	Questionable
John Brown	WR	Questionable
Rashad Johnson	S	Probable
Larry Fitzgerald	WR	Probable

Learning From the Past

Gary Landers/Associated Press

As much as this sounds like a section detailing Cincinnati's ability to put the Palmer era behind it, the franchise did so years ago.

After all, some were brave enough to whisper Andy Dalton and MVP in the same sentence earlier this season when the Bengals got off to a franchise-best 8-0 start, and he might still be in the discussion considering he's completing 66.2 percent of his passes with 18 touchdowns to five interceptions.

No, this is more about the fact that the Bengals dropped a Monday Night Football contest to the Houston Texans not even a full week ago. There, the 10-6 contest saw the Bengals throw 38 times to 15 rushes by running backs in an odd offensive balance given the team's drove of weapons.

Considering the Bengals struggled with J.J. Watt and Co., they could encounter some serious issues against the league's seventh-ranked pass defense and fourth-ranked rush defense based on yards allowed per game in each area.

Long story short, the Bengals have to rediscover offensive balance before Sunday night, especially when having to keep up with the Arizona offense, while the defense probably misses top corner Adam Jones, as the injury report above hints.

A turnaround and win would certainly be a boon to the team's contender status.

Bracing for the Storm

Go ahead and beat the cliche drum, but something has to give here.

The Cincinnati defense sits tall above the rest of the league, coughing up just 16.9 points per game on average. Palmer and the Arizona offense have rolled to 400 or more yards in four consecutive games, winning three in a row.

The challenge for Palmer and Co. isn't just the Cincinnati defense, though, but their own health as well, as ESPN's Adam Schefter detailed:

The fact that the Bengals could be without top corner Jones might open things up for Palmer—who has 23 touchdowns to seven interceptions—to hit a healthy Larry Fitzgerald, owner of 65 grabs on 85 targets for 836 yards and seven scores.

Or it could backfire in dramatic fashion as the Bengals key on the No. 1 wideout with other options on pitch counts. Arizona will need to grind on the ground to keep Cincinnati honest, which means a 4.4 yards per carry rejuvenated edition of Chris Johnson will have to slip past one of the league's best units.

As it is for the Bengals, the difficult situation makes for quite the noteworthy confirmation of the Cardinals' ability to contend for a Lombardi Trophy this year.

Prediction

Frank Victores/Associated Press

Arizona has rolled this season and this one comes at home, but it's hard to look past the fact that the team took losses in perhaps its two toughest games of the year against the St. Louis Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers.

In fact, Arizona's schedule has been simplistic otherwise, with its seven wins coming against teams with no better than four wins apiece, including three against two-win teams.

These Bengals look constructed to beat a team such as the Cardinals. The defense, especially against a unit with two top receiving options ailing, can generate pressure and force mistakes. The offense, so long as the game plan calls for it, can control the pace in a hostile environment. 

Look for this one to be a gritty affair, with the road team putting together a late drive like it has so many times in the past already this year.

Prediction: Bengals 20, Cardinals 17

Statistics and injury information courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified. All betting information courtesy of Odds Shark.