Offensive Overhaul Unlikely For Cardinals

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Murray's lack of success with his legs has become a sticking point with the offense, and teams are following the same game plan of keeping him hemmed in the pocket. Kingsbury believes other facets of the offense need to succeed on order to unlock Murray's rushing ability.


"These past three weeks, we haven't hit a rhythm," Kingsbury said. "Not only him not running, but other aspects of our offense haven't been as sharp. We haven't executed as well as we know we can. It's a number of things that lead to where we are stalling out. When we're playing in a rhythm and opening things up, then obviously it opens up him being able to use his legs more."


Murray averaged only 4.4 yards per pass attempt against the Rams, which included a 59-yard touchdown to tight end Dan Arnold against a blown coverage.


DeAndre Hopkins, Christian Kirk and Andy Isabella all went without a catch in the first half, and Hopkins' yards per target of 4.0 (52 receiving yards on 13 targets) was a season-low, although he did draw a 25-yard pass interference penalty.


Hopkins, who lines up as the 'X' receiver on the left side of the formation the vast majority of the time, was put in the slot a few times in the game as Kingsbury tried to optimize his usage.


"We're always going to try to find him ways to get him targets and get him the ball the best way we can," Kingsbury said.


Kirk had just one catch for two yards against the Rams and has only 12 catches for 98 yards over the past four games.


"We've got to do a good job of involving him more, there's no doubt," Kingsbury said. "In the games he's involved, it seems like we play better as an offense."


The Cardinals have four games remaining this season, and it seems doubtful they make the postseason with fewer than three wins in that stretch. For that to happen, the offense must return to prior form.


"It's a combination of things, starting with me, knowing we can call it better, execute better," Kingsbury said. "We've got to figure out some things this week."

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