Arizona (3-12) at Cincinnati (5-10)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, Fox.
BetMGM NFL odds: Bengals by 7.
Against the spread: Cardinals 6-9; Bengals 7-8.
Series record: Bengals lead 7-6.
Last meeting: Bengals beat the Cardinals 34-20 on Oct. 8, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona.
Last week: Cardinals lost to Falcons 26-19; Bengals beat the Dolphins 45-21.
Cardinals offense: overall (16), rush (27), pass (7), scoring (21).
Cardinals defense: overall (26), rush (23), pass (22), scoring (29)
Bengals offense: overall (21), rush (31), pass (10), scoring (14t).
Bengals defense: overall (32), rush (32), pass (29), scoring (32).
Turnover differential: Cardinals even; Bengals minus-2.
TE Trey McBride was one of Arizona's two Pro Bowl selections and is having the best season of his career with 109 catches for 1,098 yards and 10 TDs. McBride will try to bounce back after a quiet game by his standards — he had just four catches for 27 yards in last week's loss to the Falcons.
WR Ja'Marr Chase is the second player in franchise history to be selected to the Pro Bowl in his first five seasons. He is second in the league with 110 receptions and fourth with 1,256 receiving yards along with five touchdowns. He has a team-record seven 100-yard receiving games this season..
Bengals CB Dax Hill vs. Cardinals WRs Michael Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr. Hill has been playing better when lined up covering outside receivers. He allowed only two receptions for 8 yards against Miami last week. Wilson has caught four TD passes in the past three games while he continues to work his way back from a heel injury. He was limited to a part-time role against the Falcons last week and hopes to get more snaps this week.
Cardinals: DL Walter Nolen III (knee) and CB Garrett Williams (Achilles tendon) were placed on injured reserve this week, joining a long list of injuries. LT Paris Johnson Jr. (knee), S Jalen Thompson (hamstring) and CB Max Melton (heel) missed the Falcons game but are still trying to return before the end of the season.
Bengals: TE Cam Grady (chest), WR Charlie Jones (ankle), DT B.J. Hill (ankle) and DE Joseph Ossai (ankle) have not practiced all week.
The Bengals have won six of the eight games played in Cincinnati. Five of the past six and seven of the past 10 games between the two teams have been one-score games. The Cardinals are 5-5 against the Bengals since moving to Arizona in 1988.
McBride and S Budda Baker were the Cardinals' two Pro Bowl selections. Baker has 111 tackles this season. ... Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett needs just 89 yards passing to hit 3,000 for the season. This will be his 11th start of the season and the 100th game of his career. ... Cardinals DL Calais Campbell blocked the first extra point of his career last week against the Falcons. The 39-year-old has blocked 10 field-goal attempts. ... Arizona DL Darius Robinson had a career-high seven tackles last week and recovered the first fumble of his career. ... Cardinals TE Elijah Higgins had career highs in both receptions (seven) and yards receiving (91) against the Falcons. ... McBride needs eight catches to set the season record for an NFL tight end. Zach Ertz had 116 catches in 2018. ... Cardinals WR Michael Wilson has had a TD catch in three straight games. ... The Cardinals have 23 players on injured reserve and the non-football injury list, which is the most in the NFL. Miami is second with 18. ... Arizona has had 80 players appear in at least one game this season, the most in the NFL. ... Cincinnati is 2-5 at home, including a four-game losing streak. ...The Bengals have forced 11 turnovers in the past three games, the most in the NFL in that span. ... QB Joe Burrow is the third player in NFL history with at least 150 touchdown passes in his first 75 games. ... He has at least a 105 passer rating in two of his past three games. ... WR Tee Higgins has caught a TD pass in at least six of his past seven games. ... TE Mike Gesicki has a TD catch in two of his past three games. ... Rookie LB Barrett Carter had his first interception last week. ... CB DJ Turner II is tied for the NFL lead with a career-high 17 passes defensed. ... P Ryan Rehkow leads the league in gross punting average (51.34 yards per punt) and is sixth in net average (43.0). ... K Evan McPherson has made 11 straight field goals.
Cincinnati RB Chase Brown has scored at least two scrimmage touchdowns in two of his past three games. He has gained at least 90 scrimmage yards in his past five home games.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Atlanta Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss (55) blocks a pass against Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride (85) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) looks on during a timeout during the first half of an NFL game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Separatists in southern Yemen accused Saudi Arabia on Friday of targeting their forces with airstrikes, something not formally acknowledged by the kingdom after it warned the forces to withdraw from governorates they recently took over.
The Southern Transitional Council, backed by the United Arab Emirates, said the strikes happened in Yemen’s Hadramout governorate. It wasn’t immediately clear if there were any casualties from the strikes that further raise tensions in the war-torn nation and put at risk a fragile Saudi-led coalition that has been battling the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the country’s north for a decade.
Amr Al Bidh, a foreign affairs special representative for the Council, said in a statement to The Associated Press that its fighters had been operating in eastern Hadramout on Friday after facing “multiple ambushes” from gunmen. Those attacks killed two fighters with the Council and wounded 12 others, Al Bidh said.
The Saudi airstrikes happened after that, he added.
The Council later described their operations in the area as seeking a wanted man and trying to cut off smuggling through the area.
Faez bin Omar, a leading member in a coalition of tribes in Hadramout, told the AP that he believed the strikes served as a warning to the Council to withdraw its fighters from the area. An eyewitness to the strikes, Ahmed al-Khed, said he saw destroyed military vehicles afterward, believed to belong to forces allied to the Council.
The Council’s satellite channel AIC aired what appeared to be mobile phone footage it described as showing the strikes. In one video, a man speaking could be heard blaming the strike on Saudi aircraft.
Officials in Saudi Arabia did not respond to a request for comment from the AP. However, the Saudi-owned, London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, quoting “informed sources,” reported late Friday that the kingdom carried out the strikes “to send a message" to the Council.
“Any further escalation would be met with stricter measures,” the paper said.
On Thursday, the kingdom called on the Emirati-backed separatists in southern Yemen to withdraw.
The Council moved earlier this month into Yemen’s governorates of Hadramout and Mahra. That had pushed out forces affiliated with the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, another group in the coalition fighting the Houthis.
Those aligned with the Council have increasingly flown the flag of South Yemen, which was a separate country from 1967-1990. Demonstrators rallied on Thursday in the southern port city of Aden to support political forces calling for South Yemen to secede again from Yemen.
Following the capture of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north by the Houthis in 2014, Aden has been the seat of power for the internationally recognized government and forces aligned against the rebels.
The actions by the separatists have put pressure on the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which maintain close relations and are members of the OPEC oil cartel, but also have competed for influence and international business in recent years.
The UAE said in a statement Friday that it “welcomed the efforts undertaken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to support security and stability" in Yemen.
“The UAE reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to supporting all endeavors aimed at strengthening stability and development in Yemen, contributing positively to regional security and prosperity,” it added.
There has also been an escalation of violence in Sudan, another nation on the Red Sea, where the kingdom and the Emirates support opposing forces in that country’s ongoing war.
The Iranian-backed Houthis seized Sanaa in September 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile. Iran denies arming the rebels, although Iranian-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen despite a U.N. arms embargo.
A Saudi-led coalition armed with U.S. weaponry and intelligence entered the war on the side of Yemen’s exiled government in March 2015. Years of inconclusive fighting have pushed the Arab world’s poorest nation to the brink of famine.
The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the globe’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more.
The Houthis, meanwhile, have launched attacks on hundreds of ships in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war, greatly disrupting regional shipping.
Further chaos in Yemen could again draw in the United States.
Washington launched an intense bombing campaign targeting the rebels earlier this year that U.S. President Donald Trump halted just before his trip to the Middle East in October. The Biden administration also conducted strikes against the Houthis, including using B-2 bombers to target what it described as underground bunkers used by the Houthis.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
A street vender rides his cart at along a street in Aden, Yemen, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo)
Supporters of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a coalition of separatist groups seeking to restore the state of South Yemen, hold South Yemen flags and a poster of their leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi during a rally, in Aden, Yemen, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP Photo)
Supporters of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a coalition of separatist groups seeking to restore the state of South Yemen, hold a South Yemen flag during a rally, in Aden, Yemen, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP Photo)
People eat at a restaurant in Aden, Yemen, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo)
