'Twas the game before Christmas, and all through my mind,

To create a poem, I gotta admit, put me into a bind.

So I won't. Not nearly a week out.

That late holiday-in-the-week, Thursday in this case, makes sandwiching Sunday games too far before and too far after to be too much of a thing. The Cardinals will be into their practices for the Bengals by the time St. Nick makes his rounds. So we'll take the fact the Cardinals will wear their all-whites against the Falcons this weekend being as close as we will get to snow, and run with it.

Some gifts you hope the Cardinals receive?

• Another NFL record for Trey McBride – more on that in a moment.
• A sack for Josh Sweat, so he can set his career high in a season.
• A first NFL interception for Will Johnson.
• Enough yards for Michael Wilson to get within proper distance of a 1,000-yard season with two road games after. He's at 766.
• And a win. Definitely a win, to snap the six-game losing streak.

-- Quarterback Jacoby Brissett emphasized this week the Cardinals still believe in the process they have had this season when asked if the team has stopped believing. "I don't think I've seen any of those signs or remotely close to those signs now," he said. "I definitely know what it looks like."

Brissett declined to say which of his teams he had previously seen such a shutdown, but that he had one in mind.

"You're definitely able to see it and you can tell guys (minds) are already in Cancun or Cabo or something like that," Brissett said.

-- Brissett needs 391 yards passing to surpass his career-high of 3,098 in a season, a number that probably won't come this week but instead next week in Cincinnati. He also needs just one touchdown pass against the Falcons to set a new career-best of 19.

-- OK, McBride. The man, as they say, is a menace. He was again nominated by Kyle Brandt for an Angry Run award this week, but for a second time this season, he was denied the actual award. Then again, the reason he is being nominated is one of the reasons he is a monster on the field, having set the NFL record for most games in a row with five catches by a tight end. He's up to 16 and counting.

"I feel like I need to win one," McBride said. "I'm tired of showing up and not winning them every week. Hopefully I can win one of those scepters again. Those are pretty cool. But I was always taught to never get tackled by one person. That's kind of the mentality I get when the ball is in my hands."

-- McBride's first "big game" in the NFL came in Atlanta as a rookie in 2022, a 7-78-1 day. His first 100-yard performance came against the Falcons in 2023 at State Farm Stadium, an 8-131 line. He's not sure why he plays well against the Falcons, but the way he's playing now, it'd be weird if he didn't again Sunday.

"Hopefully I can have another good game but honestly I just want to win more than anything," McBride said.

-- McBride stat watch:

• Needs 7 catches to get to 112 and break his own franchise record for receptions by a tight end
• Needs 135 yards to break the franchise record for receiving yards by a tight end in a season
• Needs 10 catches to match DeAndre Hopkins' franchise record receptions in a season (115)
• Needs 11 catches to match Zach Ertz's NFL record for receptions in a season (116)
• Needs 1 touchdown catch to become first Cardinal since Larry Fitzgerald (13 in 2009) to have at least 11 in a season

-- Assistant head coach/special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers delivered an eloquent comment this week when he was asked, as a veteran coach – Rodgers has been with the Cardinals since 2018 and in the NFL most of the time since 2003 – if he worries about his job security or the head coach's job security in a difficult season like this one.

"People know what we do and for a lot of people on the planet, they can go and have a great day at work and nobody knows," he said. "You can have a bad day at work, and nobody knows. In our line of work, people know. There are questions that come up like that. I can't tell you how hard we work, in terms of getting ready for an opponent. And if you spend time veering off of that with whatever life might bring to you, it's not going to get focused back on the thing that's most important.

"Guys have jobs, guys have lives. It's real world stuff. It's not just come in and clock in the building, leave and sleep, rinse wash repeat. There are other things that happen. As much as we can, we focus on the things that are ahead of us and what's important now is scouting report, getting ready for meetings, things like that. You can't allow yourself to get there."

-- Falcons running back Bijan Robinson is averaging 5.0 yards a carry and already has 1,174 yards rushing and six touchdowns, as well as 64 receptions for 684 more yards and two TDs. As good as tight end Kyle Pitts is, or wide receiver Drake London (who should play after being out), it is Robinson that drives the Atlanta offense.

"You're watching games and it seems like it's a highlight reel," coach Jonathan Gannon said of Robinson.

Robinson has a Cardinals tie. He is from Tucson, having played at Salpointe Catholic High School, and was the Cardinals High School Player of the Year as a senior. That year, Robinson averaged a ridiculous 17.7 yards a carry. 17.7!

-- The last word goes to right tackle Kelvin Beachum, about all the injuries the Cardinals have suffered this season:

"Everybody has injuries. You can't use that as a crutch or an excuse. In the National Football League there is a 100 percent injury rate. That is the nature of this business. You have to find ways to maneuver and put things in place that allows you to be successful when your number is called. It's a war of attrition."

See you Sunday, one last time at State Farm Stadium this season.