Cardinals try to ignore warning sirens over “Air Raid” offense

[IE Rams]

AZ needs to fire their GM. It's clear the guy has no idea whatsoever what the heck he's doing...

No, they shouldn't. He's making nothing but solid decisions. Give him a 10-year extension

 

[Ramrocket]

I'm just glad our team isn't in that basement clawing their way out.

God knows we spent what seemed like an eternity there!

 

[CGI_Ram]

Cards' Kingsbury still trying to get read on Murray

Cardinals rookie quarterback Kyler Murray is quiet by nature, and coach Kliff Kingsbury said Wednesday that it isn't easy getting Murray to tell him which plays he'd rather not run when the team unveils its Air Raid offense in Sunday's opener.

www.espn.com

Cards' Kingsbury still trying to get read on Murray

TEMPE, Ariz. -- With just days left before the Arizona Cardinals unveil their secretive offense against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, first-year coach Kliff Kingsbury still can't get a read on how his star quarterback, No. 1 pick Kyler Murray, is handling the moment.

No one can. Except Murray himself.

Murray, who is quiet by nature, might not have opened up to Kingsbury now that he's in the NFL and playing for a coach he has known since he was 15, but he said Wednesday that he is relaxed in the week leading to his first NFL start.

"I'm chilling," Murray said. "Excited for Sunday, obviously, knowing it's a big day for everybody, start of the season. But we want to start it off the right way and that's with a win, so preparing like any other season for me and just going in and just prepare myself for this game."

Nerves? None.

"I'm not nervous right now," Murray said.

But the 22-year-old admitted he might get anxious Saturday night.

"I always like to keep calm and just, you know, be myself and trust the game plan, trust myself, trust my teammates going into it," Murray said. "Go out there, play my game and let the chips fall where they may."

Murray said he hasn't been nervous since his sophomore year at Allen High School in Texas, when he won the first of three consecutive state championships. But he hasn't shared those feelings with Kingsbury, whom he first met when Kingsbury (then the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M) began recruiting him in 2012.

"Y'all have interviewed him, right?" Kingsbury asked. "What does he usually give y'all?"

Not much.

"It's the same," Kingsbury said. "That's what he is and who he is. I guess he thought he was going to be here his entire life, so it's just the next step for him. I've said it all along: He's a rookie quarterback in the NFL starting Week 1. There's going to be some ups and downs. We're going to make some mistakes. We'll work through those and try to continue to improve together."

Kingsbury can't even get Murray to tell him which plays he wants to run this week.

"It's like pulling teeth with him trying to [get him to] tell me that 'I don't like a play' because he wants to make them all work and that's his attitude," Kingsbury said. "But there's good conversations and after today, walking off the practice field, I'll try to get, 'Hey, what don't you like?' and he'll say, 'I love it all' and we'll move forward. That's how he is.

"He's competitive, and he wants to make it all work. But, yeah, there's definitely those conversations going on. We want to make sure he's as comfortable as possible because it will be a tough challenge. It's hard to step in as a rookie Day 1 and win a football game, and we understand that, so we're going to try to help him as much as possible."

Murray disagreed.

"If I don't like it, I tell him," Murray said. "I did yesterday."

Kingsbury said he might have been "overstating" Murray's quietness a little, but it wasn't by much. And he expects Murray to open up a bit, be more opinionated on plays and start talking more as the season goes on.

"What you see is what you get," Kingsbury said. "He's not going to be over the top, rainbows and sunshine with you, and I like that because that's how he carries himself. He's very confident, very competitive. I like where he's at. I don't ever see him bringing me cupcakes on game day or anything like that. I think he's going to be who he is and we'll continue our relationship."

He and Murray aren't at the cupcake point of their relationship, Murray said. The quarterback then said there's a time and place to joke around. In the team facility, it's business. He'll save the joking around for his off time.

But Murray said he's not the only one whom it's hard to get information from.

"I'd say the same about him," Murray said.

Murray's confidence that he can run every play stems from his familiarity with Kingsbury's system, to which he was first introduced in eighth grade. From the day he arrived in Arizona, Murray understood some of the operation, execution, reads and terminology, Kingsbury said.

And it has helped Murray adapt to NFL football more quickly than most rookie quarterbacks.

"It's not like he's coming in here trying to learn Chinese as a lot of those first-year quarterbacks are," Kingsbury said "Therein lies a little bit of comfort level that maybe some of those other guys didn't have going into Week 1 having to be starters."

All that familiarity will help Murray on Sunday, when he runs the Cardinals' offense for the first time in a game. Kingsbury kept it tightly under wraps during the preseason -- maybe even a bit to the extreme, he admitted Wednesday.

Kingsbury did not run all of his base plays during the preseason, he said, but it won't matter.

"You just rep it in practice, and you make those situations as gamelike as possible and take advantage of your practice reps," he said.

But Kingsbury has a strong belief that his version of the Air Raid will work in the NFL because of one primary reason.

"Because it's never been used before in the NFL," Kingsbury said. "I know Chip [Kelly] did a version of what he does, but yeah, there's only one way to find out and it's never been used. Nobody really knows what we're going to do or what it's going to look like and so, we'll kind of take it one game at a time."

 

[DVontel]

Baldy Breakdowns: Taking a look at the Cardinals' transformed offense

NFL Network's Brian Baldinger takes an inside look at the Arizona Cardinals transformed offense in 2019.

www.azcardinals.com

 

[Corbin]

Baldy Breakdowns: Taking a look at the Cardinals' transformed offense

NFL Network's Brian Baldinger takes an inside look at the Arizona Cardinals transformed offense in 2019.

www.azcardinals.com

How’s that midget doing over there? He broken yet?

 

[Karate61]

How’s that midget doing over there? He broken yet?

Actually, he's looking awesome...watch that video clip of Baldy.

 

[Akrasian]

Actually, he's looking awesome...watch that video clip of Baldy.

I don't know if awesome is really the right adjective. In an offense geared for massive numbers of passing attempts (94 so far this season - 47 average per game) his passer rating is - to be generous - pedestrian, and he's averaging 7 yards per attempt and has 2 total tds. I mean, he's young of course, and if he doesn't get broken should improve - but that is still to be seen. And I wouldn't put a lot of money on his not getting broken.

 

[Karate61]

I don't know if awesome is really the right adjective. In an offense geared for massive numbers of passing attempts (94 so far this season - 47 average per game) his passer rating is - to be generous - pedestrian, and he's averaging 7 yards per attempt and has 2 total tds. I mean, he's young of course, and if he doesn't get broken should improve - but that is still to be seen. And I wouldn't put a lot of money on his not getting broken.

Well, I hear you on that. But, he has thrown some really great balls at times. If he puts it together the next year or two, I'm thinking he hits the awesome level...lol. I mean, he already has somewhat of a highlight reel after only his first two nfl games.

Hopefully, he washes out, as I am not a Cards fan...only Rams. But, he seems to be off to a decent start.

 

[Austin]

Larry Fitzgerald is so damn good.

but yeah, Murray seems like he'll be a good player. Kind of a Baker Mayfield, where he'll take some chances when there's nothing there, and a better defense than the Ravens (they're not as good as they used to be) maybe gets a pick on one or two of those tight-coverage throws. He's not Mahomes (thank god), but he'll be good.

Kingsbury's seemed solid too, from a an offensive scheme standpoint. probably not the leader McVay is, and that'll hold that team back, unless they get a great D-coordinator or an influx of talent.

I can compliment them now, because they don't scare me, ha.

 

[Corbin]

Actually, he's looking awesome...watch that video clip of Baldy.

Well, I hear you on that. But, he has thrown some really great balls at times. If he puts it together the next year or two, I'm thinking he hits the awesome level...lol. I mean, he already has somewhat of a highlight reel after only his first two nfl games.

Hopefully, he washes out, as I am not a Cards fan...only Rams. But, he seems to be off to a decent start.

Meh... RG3 had a great start and where is he now? This guy is going to get hurt because of the system he plays in leaves his ass out to dry, hasn’t the talent to protect him, and his little stature is going to really start effecting him once defenses adjust and he starts getting hit.

 

[DVontel]

Meh... RG3 had a great start and where is he now? This guy is going to get hurt because of the system he plays in leaves his ass out to dry, hasn’t the talent to protect him, and his little stature is going to really start effecting him once defenses adjust and he starts getting hit.

I wish he had a 6’3+ 230 frame. That way, he can stay healthy similar to guys like Cam, Wentz, Watson, & Luck.

 

[Corbin]

I wish he had a 6’3+ 230 frame. That way, he can stay healthy similar to guys like Cam, Wentz, Watson, & Luck.

Honestly I do to, which is why I’m shocked they took him over Rosen. But we’ll see how this plays out. Wish you guys luck except against us of course! Lol

 

[CGI_Ram]

Kyler Murray believes Cardinals offense got 'predictable' after historically bad performance

Murray was sacked eight times and put up the fewest yards in NFL history for a QB that completed 30 passes

www.cbssports.com

Kyler Murray believes Cardinals offense got 'predictable' after historically bad performance
Murray was sacked eight times and put up the fewest yards in NFL history for a QB that completed 30 passes

Kyler Murray is doing all he can for the Arizona Cardinals, but the No. 1 overall pick has been hindered by a poor offensive line and a defense that has ranked amongst the worst in the NFL through three games. Murray was sacked eight times in a 38-20 loss to the Carolina Panthers, not even close toward the beginning of the Cardinals offensive inefficiency. Murray finished 30-of-43 for 173 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and a 73.1 passer rating, even if the stats are deceiving based on how the Cardinals offense started. Arizona had a historically bad finish after scoring on four of its first four possessions, having 15 plays for minus-12 (-12) yards on its final five possessions, in large part due to two Murray interceptions.

The Cardinals averaged just 3.4 yards per play on 73 offensive plays, even finishing 9-of-17 on third down. The offensive line did Murray no favors, which led to shorter routes and quick throws as head coach Kliff Kingsbury tried to get the tempo going.

Once the game got out of hand, problems arose.

"I think we can move the ball regardless," Murray said, via the Cardinals website. "It just got predictable in the end."

The final stat line was deceiving for Murray. The Cardinals quarterback was 28-of-37 for 162 yards with two touchdowns, an interception and 69 rushing yards through three quarters. Once the Panthers took a 35-20 lead, that allowed the defensive line to tee off on Murray, who went 2-for-6 for 11 yards and an interception in the final quarter. Murray was also sacked five times in the fourth quarter.

Murray's 173 passing yards are the fewest an NFL quarterback has put up after also completing at least 30 passes in a single game. He lost 46 yards on his eight sacks, leading to an average of 2.9 net passing yards. Through three games, Murray has completed 61.3 percent of his passes for 830 yards, four touchdowns, three interceptions, and a 79.1 passer rating. He has been sacked 16 times and his 137 attempts are the most in NFL history through a quarterback's first three games.

A good indictment of Murray's best was in the first half, when the Cardinals scored 10 points and trailed by four at halftime. Once the panthers took a two-score lead, the Cardinals became one dimensional and Murray's production dipped.

"You saw what we did in the first half," Murray said. "Everything was all there, it was easy. Even though they were not letting us get behind them (for deep shots), we did whatever we wanted to, pretty much."

 

[badnews]

I wish he had a 6’3+ 230 frame. That way, he can stay healthy similar to guys like Cam, Wentz, Watson, & Luck.

Speaking of injured QBs who only throw the ball 3 yards....
...I wonder what Bradford is up to...