Big Red
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- Mar 16, 2019
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Offensively, the Cardinals were adrift on offense in 2018. It’s why they hired Kliff Kingsbury. It’s why they drafted Kyler Murray.
The improvements haven’t translated to victories – with four, the Cards have one more than last season, with two difficult road games left – but the offense has been pretty good.
Their 445 yards Sunday was the fourth time this season they have reached 400 yards in a game, a total they reached just once in 2017 and 2018 combined. The 226 rushing yards against Cleveland was the second time they eclipsed the 200-yard rushing mark, the first time since 1990 the Cards have had more than one 200-yard rushing game in a season. The Cardinals have 60 scoring drives this season in 14 games, after 39 such drives in the 16 games of 2018, and have scored at least 25 points eight times.
A promising start for Kingsbury, Murray and the Cardinals, although the coach isn’t necessarily sitting in his office waiting to make further changes after the season.
“You try to make those adjustments weekly,” Kingsbury said Monday, a day after the Cardinals scored a season-high 38 points in a win over the Browns. “There is, I guess, an overall perspective on it where you take some notes on things you want to do in the offseason that you think can help. But week-to-week you try to tweak things and make it better, making improvements moving forward.”
The offense found consistency Sunday that it must have weekly next season to have improvement in the standings. With those two games left, here’s a look at some of the offensive components thus far, and what might need to be considered for a 2020 jump:
The QB is in a great spot going forward
Murray has been mostly excellent this season, everything the Cardinals could have hoped in taking him No. 1 overall. He’s the first player in franchise history with 3,000 yards passing and 500 yards rushing, not a surprise given his skillset. More impressively, Murray has six games this season of at least a 90 passer rating. Only two other QBs in franchise history have done that previously: Carson Palmer and Kurt Warner.
Murray’s climb of his learning curve has been important. He took a step back against the Rams and Steelers with negative plays, both in turnovers and taking sacks. That improved Sunday – albeit against a weaker Cleveland defense – with no sacks and a single interception.
“I think if I take care of the ball, that just allows us to be in a great position,” Murray said.
Kingsbury said Murray’s big jump has come in his leadership and his negotiating his role atop an NFL team. That’s where he’s going to get such a big head start going into Year Two. Even without the wins, the year will be invaluable to him.
“This franchise goes as he goes, whether it is in a meeting or practice or a game,” Kingsbury said. “He’s growing into that.”
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