CRONKITE SPORTS

Arizona Cardinals still searching for answers on offense

Sep 10, 2018, 8:43 PM

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Arizona Cardinals left their 24-6 loss to the Washington Redskins with a number of questions on both sides of the ball.

The bulk of those questions come on offense, where the Cardinals racked up just 213 total yards.

Sam Bradford had a lackluster performance in his first outing as the Cardinals quarterback, showing some inaccuracy at times and finishing with a passer rating of 57.6.

It was his lowest rating in a full game since 2012, where he posted a 39.2.

“Very surprising, because he’s normally pretty accurate in his throws and putting it where it needs to be,” coach Steve Wilks said Monday.

Bradford’s didn’t get much help from his receiving corps, which featured just one wide receiver outside of Larry Fitzgerald catching a pass

“Larry stepped up,” Wilks said of the 15-year veteran. “He made some great plays. I don’t think this is a situation where you can try to say, ‘This is all we have on offense.’ I think those other guys are proven and they can step up and make plays as well.”

Fitzgerald tallied 76 yards on seven catches on Sunday.

Despite the inactivity of other receivers, Wilks said he has no plans to work out any available receivers.

“I’m very happy with the five that we have,” he said.

David Johnson got off to a slow start in his first game following his contract extension, carrying nine times for 37 yards.

The subpar play of the Cardinals had some fans voicing their displeasure in boos before the first half wrapped up, the Cardinals trailing 21-0.

“It was well-deserved,” Wilks said.

“I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘I’m disappointed.’ They come there, they support us, they pay their money and they want to see a good product. We didn’t put a good product on the field yesterday.”

The Cardinals will look to bounce back next week, but will have their work cut out for them when they travel to Los Angeles to take on the Rams and their highly touted defense.

“They’ve got the defensive player of the year in (Aaron) Donald,” Wilks said.

“They added (Ndamukong) Suh, (Aqib) Talib on the outside. …They’re talented. We’re going to have our hands full this week. But again, we’ve got talented guys as well and a great coaching staff that’s going to put guys in a position to be successful.”

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Arizona Cardinals still searching for answers on offense