Arizona Cardinals’ coach Bruce Arians: ‘A lot of correcting’ needed in offense

Even though his team sits atop the NFC West standings, Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians was less than pleased with their performance Sunday against the Washington Redskins.

“I learned a long time ago that there’s nothing you learn from losing that you can’t learn from almost losing,” Arians told Bickley and Marotta on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Monday. “We’ve got a lot of things to learn from that ball game.”

The Cardinals claimed the 30-20 victory, but Arians was unhappy that the offense was unable to pull away from the 1-5 Redskins.

“Taking the ball away four times in the fourth quarter should ice it for you, but our offense couldn’t close the deal, and it was very frustrating because we were so close about four or five times.”

Andre Ellington had 19 carries and caught six passes, but only had a total of 93 yards, with no touchdowns.

“When Andre Ellington touches the ball 25 times, we need to get more than 95 yards,” Arians said. “He was pressing a little bit, trying to get touchdown runs. Just get four or five and a big one will happen.

“A backside cutoff block, a front side block, throw the ball one foot further to Jaron Brown, that’s another touchdown. Those are the plays we’re leaving out on the field offensively.”

Arians said despite the 4-1 start, the Cardinals’ offense has not played close to 100 percent yet, and had mixed emotions about the offensive line.

“Bobby Massie got a game ball,” he said. “He graded 90 percent against one of the best players in the league in Ryan Kerrigan.

“Jared Veldheer, it was not his best game. (Brian) Orakpo was getting him pretty good and he lost his technique. But overall, the offensive line protected pretty solid.”

The Cardinals’ next opponent is the Oakland Raiders, who have not won a regular season game since last November.

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