The Indianapolis Colts reign supreme in the AFC at 7-2, and they stand to improve even more with a huge trade deadline addition to boost former Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo's unit.
Daniel Jones, Jonathan Taylor, and the offense have carried the load for Indy en route to averaging a league-best 32.3 points per game through Week 9. However, Anarumo has done a fine job in his maiden campaign as the Colts' defensive coordinator in his own right, pulling in several former Bengals in the process.
Indianapolis went back to the Cincinnati well to some degree on Tuesday — only for an ex-Bearcat, not an ex-Bengal.
Colts' Sauce Gardner trade is the all-in move Bengals exec Duke Tobin is allergic to, and it cost Cincinnati Lou Anarumo
I've made the case ad nauseam that the Bengals front office, led by the too-long-tenured Duke Tobin, should stop blowing the draft and just start spending picks on established veterans.
Case in point: Lou Anarumo just got a spectacular addition to his secondary hours before the NFL trade deadline, as Colts GM Chris Ballard swung a stunning trade for New York Jets superstar cornerback Sauce Gardner.
NFL Media's Ian Rapoport reported that the Jets will receive wide reciever AD Mitchell and two first-round picks in what I'm calling the New York Sauce Exchange. Can I trademark that?
For a shot-caller who was crucial in getting the Bengals to Super Bowl LVI and an AFC Championship Game, it's painfully clear in 2025 that Anarumo was making the best lemonade he could with a bunch of lemony players in recent years. His cornerback group was a bad joke for the most part — and that's noteworthy, since Anarumo's background is steeped in defensive backfield assistant gigs.
The best boundary corner Anarumo had the pleasure of coaching in Cincinnati had to be Chidobe Awuzie. Nickelback Mike Hilton was almost a glorified hybrid linebacker/safety type. He's one of the vets who's joined Anarumo on the Colts.
Indianapolis is tied for sixth in sacks, and ranks 10th in opponent passer rating (85.8). That's with a bunch of non-household names at cornerback. Plug Sauce Gardner into the mix, and just imagine how good that Colts defense is going to be for the foreseeable future.
This Sauce Gardner trade is precisely the type of big swing the Bengals refuse to make time and again. They cling with stubbornness to draft capital that goes to waste, and watch other teams pass them by with ease. It's a sad way to spend the bulk of Joe Burrow's prime, which dating back to 2023, has featured two major injuries and woeful defenses throughout.
DJ Turner's Year 3 emergence came too little, too late to save Anarumo's job with the Bengals. Other than that, what did Tobin and Co. do to help him?
They let stud safety Jessie Bates walk in free agency. That continues to haunt the position group. Anarumo has a solid defensive line in Indianapolis. Once the Bengals didn't re-sign DJ Reader, their defensive tackle rotation was a joke outside of B.J. Hill.
Now we know for sure Anarumo wasn't at fault in Cincinnati. He'll only continue to prove that for the Colts thanks to Gardner locking down one side of the field.
Good luck to current Bengals DC Al Golden. The team isn't going to help him with a move for a star anywhere near Sauce's caliber any time soon.
Who Dey Nation, I'm here to help. Gas me up for Tobin's job please.
Yo Who Dey Nation I got us don't even worry.
— Matt Fitzgerald (@MattFitz_gerald) November 3, 2025
Quinnen Williams, Rashan Gary to replace Trey Hendrickson, Riq Woolen, Caleb Downs, and Arvell Reese.
Move over, Duke Tobin. I'm marching into HQ to fix this team. #Bengals #WhoDey pic.twitter.com/VuRlexgECm