Tag Archives: Kyler Murray

Is it the Arizona or Apartheid Cardinals

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Tell The Truth Tuesday –

Cardinals

So let me ask you this Arizona Cardinals: Chief OC Eric Bienemy swallowed Eagle DC Gannon in the 2nd half of Super Bowl LVII and scored on every possession and that convinced you to hire Gannon? Check

You hired Patrick Mahomes college coach Kliff Kingsbury who couldnt produce a winning record in the Big XII. Check

Sooooo the OC that coached Patrick Mahomes to the 1st 50 TD season as a starter, most yards in a season 2 MVPs and 2 Super Bowl championships and should have been 4 Super Bowl appearances in the last 5 years isnt good enough or considered?

And you have a broken quarterback to fix in Kyler Murray??

After bypassing Asst GM Adrian Wilson for a GM from the outside? Check… Check…Check…

When you had Steve Wilks as a coach, you fired him in one year and he had no chance to build? Check Yet you gave Kingsbury several to “grow into” his position? Check

Sounds like and definitely looks like some racism/placism to me. No black men in positions of authority no matter the relationship with the organization or resume…. Got it!!

Now it’s being “leaked” Brian Flores was offered the Head Coaching position. Really? Thats news sitting here listening to 98.7 FM on a daily basis and your flagship station where Cardinals Coach gives his obligatory press conference. Interesting…

May you lose 17 games a season until you sell the team! Henceforth we’re changing the name – The Apartheid Cardinals.

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Going Over a Kliff in Arizona This Friday

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If ever there was a portrait of a coach who lied on his resume and is now being found out, its Kliff Kingsbury.

Never has an NFL coach stepped to the podium with more excuses as to why his team can’t get off to fast starts in ball games. Wasn’t this the anointed offensive guru as he was touted when he was brought to the desert? Yet for all his “brilliant” play calling, the Cardinals couldnt muster a touchdown against the NFL’s 31st ranked defense that had given up the most points in the NFL last Sunday in Seattle.

Before the season I predicted he would be the first coach fired early in the season after going 0-6. Well the Cardinals won 2 games and Matt Rhule beat him to the punch being let go last week by Carolina. However the anemic showing in Seattle has stoked the flames under his seat. In fact Arizona 98.7 FM, which is the Cardinals flag ship radio station, openly asked if he was now “coaching for his job”? To which he had all the standard cliche answers which do not engender confidence he knows what he’ll need to do to turn it around.

The Cardinals offense has been flat on its back for more than a year.

We are 6 games into the season and the Cardinals have only scored 2 1st half TDs by the offense. If you go back to the last 10 the offense has only generated 4.

Lets take a look at a few things:

  • Kingsbury’s Cardinals are 8-18 in the 2nd half of seasons including playoffs
  • Arizona couldnt score more than 20 points in both losses to top 10 defenses in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

Keep in mind they have 2 games late against San Francisco with the #1 defense in all of football. At what point will this get better?

On top of the embarrassing situation with Kyler Murray not getting into his play book or film study, the team has no identity and this “Air Raid” offense has been ineffective. Constant bubble screens and gimmick plays that keep blowing up and placing the Cardinals behind the down marker.

It looks like they are waiting for DeAndre Hopkins to be the band aid when he comes back. He and Kyler can “make a few plays” to mask how deficient this offense has been. These first 6 games have illustrated how over his head Kingsbury has been in the NFL.

With a Thursday night matchup with New Orleans, here is a national stage where hopefully Hopkins can make some big plays to turn the tide. Yet will he be in game shape?

If not… and the Cardinals who currently are on an 8 game home losing streak make it 9, Kingsbury will be fired tomorrow. The media and the conversation in front of a national audience will be his death knell. Is Kingsbury coaching for his job?? You better believe it

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The Collateral Damage of Kyler Murray

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A few weeks back the Cardinal franchise was celebrating a 34-33 win over the sinking 1-5 Atlanta Falcons. This on the heels of a 26-23 victory over the winless Bengals lent extreme optimism out here in the desert. Kliff Kingsbury’s crew went from an 0-3-1 record to 2-3-1 in a matter of 8 days and local media was waxing philosophically how this team had turned a corner.

Had they???

Murray led a last second drive in The Queen City that allowed the Cardinals to escape with a win over the NFL’s 31st ranked defense in Cincy.  Then came the nail biter as Murray & his offensive mates hung on for dear life as a 27-10 lead evaporated as Matt Bryant’s field goal sailed wide left preserving a 34-33 win. The Falcons came in with the 27th ranked defense.

Now follow that up with a surprising 27-21 win in New York where backup RB Chase Edmonds flashed in relief of starter David Johnson. Behind his 126 yards rushing and 3 TDs the offense didn’t have to depend on Murray (14 of 21 for 104 yards) throwing a wet ball too much in a driving rain.

This brought their record to 3-3-1 although it came at the expense of the Giants 28th rated defense. Arizona had fashioned a 3 game winning streak with improved play from Kyler Murray. He had thrown for 697 yards completing 61 of 90 throws and 3 TDs and no interceptions.

Just feet from the action you can tell how diminutive Murray is.

The Cardinals beat a few down on their luck teams and we knew we’d find out where this offense truly was once they played at New Orleans, host the 49ers and then go to Tampa then San Francisco before they make it to their bye. At the time these are the 5th, 1st, 23rd and 1st ranked defenses and all 3 have played lights out in recent weeks.

Now here we are halfway through that gauntlet and the Cardinals dropped 2 straight to the Saints 31-9, and the 49ers 28-25 on Halloween Night and are behind 10-6 on the road in Tampa.

One aspect of attending the Halloween matchup with San Fran is being close enough to get a sense of size. Or rather lack there of….  At the goal line awaiting an instant replay review, super rookie DE Nick Bosa was standing next to Kyler Murray and it looked like a big rother walking his little brother to school. Yes it’s great to cheer for the little guy but the NFL is the land of giants.

All night Murray was on the move amid the moving redwood forrest that was the 49er defensive line. He was sacked 3 times, hurried on 7 other attempts and on 3 occasions, Murray had to hookslide on scrambles in front of corners Richard Sherman & Emmanuel Moseley. Each corner even dwarfed him to the point he never tried to make either miss or power through an arm tackle and pick up a 1st down.

Keep in mind this is Murray at his quickest and most nimble. He can’t make the plays on the run a Lamar Jackson can do and he has to develop in the pocket. He has nice touch but as Defensive Coordinators really game plan against him, can he keep his touch over a complete football game. In today’s game the telecast announced that 31 times Murray and the Cardinals had been in the RedZone and come up with just 11 touchdowns. The worst in football. Defensive Coordinators are able to knock Murray off rhythm for a half as in most games the Cardinals are off kilter in the 1st half…only to scramble back in the 2nd and falling short in the games they lose.

So Murray picks up a lot of fantasy stats in garbage time…not stats that equal winning football. Huge difference!

Some of this is Kyler Murray’s fault but more of it is Kliff Kingsbury’s.

Murray shows tremendous flashes with great throws but there are too many sporadic 3 and out series. However Kingsbury never puts Murray under center where he could use his voice cadence to slow the pass rush. He also doesn’t put him under center where he can call half rollouts that can also slow the pass rush. In the Pistol you can’t run “Waggles” nor standard formation (2TE/1RB or 2RB/1TE) calls that brings 1 and possibly 2 additional Linebackers on the field and open up Murray’s throwing windows past 15 yards.

Yet that is too sophisticated for Kingsbury who is one of these analytic football coaches completely overcoaching the game and undercoaching situations. You’d think he was calling plays as though he is coaching football on Playstation or XBox Madden. Very few adjustments and shows why his hiring was questioned by those who never believed in him or his system when it never produced a winning record in the Big XII.

A collegiate conference that doesn’t play defense!

For The Chancellor of Football this all feels like “The Old Ball Coach II” when Steve Spurrier was supposed to revolutionize the NFL back in 2000 or The Run & Shoot offense only to fall flat on their faces when NFL Defensive Coordinators drew a bead on what they’re offenses couldn’t do.

Another is this penchant for hiring these “fast talking” young analytic football coaches a la Sean McVay who come in with a fancy Pistol formation and play call sheet and inability to react and make adustments in their offense when they face a defensive guru like a Bill Belichick. Or make adjustments to the elements or team’s defensive strengths. These guys are a thorn in the side of long time front line coordinators looking for head coaching jobs in the NFL. Same for many former black players who are not being afforded the chance to enter the coaching ranks with the “Rooney Rule” at these guys expense.

So teams are coming full bore on the Cardinals offense to chase Kingsbury back to college and Murray is the collateral damage. Remember in his 2nd preseason game showcased on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” when Murray, as the game concluded, asked several Raider defenders why the Raiders DC kept blitzing him when he expected a vanilla defensive game plan?? Its been relentless ever since.

Will Kingsbury adjust and learn the pro game?

Will Kingsbury alter his game plan away from the same formations and alter their plan of attack to protect Murray??

Will Murray be able to take the punishment before NFL defenses either beat the speed out of him or chase him back to baseball??

Interesting questions that history has shown direction but we have to let play out in real time. Asking “The Chancellor of Football?” We’ve seen this before and doesn’t think so. Kingsbury calls too cute a ball game just like Matt Nagy in Chicago. They’re too in love with playing to the point they are geniuses instead of adjusting to what will make their team’s successful. Then just like “The Old Ball Coach” they will be chased back to college.

This just in: The Arizona Cardinals just lost their 3rd straight, 30-27 to Tampa, and now drop to 3-6-1…and now travel to 8-0 (haven’t played this week yet) San Francisco with the NFL’s #1 defense. Yikes!! Kingsbury and Murray…your mission, should you choose to accept it…

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