There’s no easy fix for the Arizona Cardinals’ broken offense

I’ve always been impressed with the movies that can take several different stories, with several different characters and somehow intertwine them throughout the course of two and a half hours. I’m talking about movies like “Traffic” and “Crash” and even “Pulp Fiction” (in fact if you Google “movies with intertwining storylines” you get this). How the director and writer are able to take all those separate angles and turn it into one singular story is, at worst, a neat gimmick and, at best, a work of art.

My first temptation following the nationally televised punchline on Monday Night Football was to lay into John Skelton. But that’s not fair, his offensive line is terrible. Although let’s be honest, it’s not their fault when a Skelton pass sails away like a kite when the string is let go. A running game would help too, but you know, the Cardinals are missing their top two running backs, haven’t bothered with trying to find another, and frankly the way they run block, really what’s the point. There have been a few missed kicks in there too. I suppose, if I wanted, I could make a case for all the dropped balls that have hindered the Cardinals offense these last few weeks.

Drafting a wideout would have helped – oh wait, they did that – but I’ve hardly noticed Michael Floyd this entire season. Maybe that pick would have been better spent on a tackle, but then again how could they have predicted their left tackle was going to hurt in August. And until the last eight games of the 2011 regular season, Levi Brown was a massive bust in his own right. I guess that’s part of the reason why Russ Grimm gets so much grief from the fans; it doesn’t feel like he’s really developed any of his linemen, but, let’s be fair, it’s not like they’ve really committed to drafting offensive linemen.

You can assume they’ll take one next year in the draft, unless they take a quarterback, unless they think they already have one in Ryan Lindley and really, isn’t the clock ticking on his NFL debut?

There is not one definitive angle. Not one person to blame. Not one overriding theme or obvious solution. All these intertwining Cardinal storylines add up to one simple conclusion: this offense is broken.

Coach Whisenhunt knows there is no easy fix. He was asked after the game if he still has confidence in the offense as a whole.

His answer: “I guess we don’t have a lot of choices.”

My point can be illustrated by a question. If I gave you the opportunity to change out one part. One position, player or coach. At this point would it make much of a difference in the overall production? While the Cards shouldn’t give up trying, it’s hard to see that one switch could make a world of difference.

The Eagles made a big change heading into their bye week by firing their defensive coordinator. In the end, their defense got worse at home against Atlanta. Perhaps, after the Green Bay game, the Cards will look to change things up going into their bye week but I imagine the same conclusion will be reached. They don’t have a lot of choices.

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