With key players back, Cardinals seek answers for sputtering offense
Oct 1, 2016, 10:00 AM | Updated: 5:48 pm
Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald (11) makes a catch in front of Buffalo Bills defensive back Corey White (30) during the second half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Bill Wippert)
(AP Photo/Bill Wippert)
TEMPE, Ariz. — Much was made over the offseason of how the Arizona Cardinals brought back every offensive player who caught a pass, gained a rushing yard, threw a pass or scored a touchdown in 2015.
The Cardinals led the league last season in total offense, and the kind of continuity they would have from one season to the next is not only unheard of in today’s NFL, but would have to be an advantage for the team.
Naturally, of course, after three games the Cardinals are tied for 15th in the NFL in total offense and outside of the top 10 in both passing and rushing.
Their early-season struggles seemed to come to a head in last week’s loss to the Buffalo Bills, a game in which the Cardinals did not even record a first down until about six minutes had run off the clock in the second quarter.
The offense was supposed to be great, yet it has been anything but.
“Yeah, we expect to score on every drive,” quarterback Carson Palmer said. “As football players, you just expect to not be stopped and I’m sure most teams feel like that, or most offenses feel like that. When you don’t execute and you don’t score right away in the first drive of the game, you get antsy.
“But you’ve got to figure out ways to — like I said, if you’re not executing, and 11 guys aren’t executing, you’ve got to find ways to make sure that you’re executing every single drill in practice. Whether it be individual, whether it be a team drill, a seven-on-seven, make sure execution is something that happens every time. It was harped on harshly [Wednesday].”
Along with their struggles to move the ball early last week, the Cardinals have gone three games without scoring a point in the first quarter and have had many noticeable instances of a receiver and Palmer not being on the same page. Sometimes, that issue has led to incomplete passes. Against the Bills, it twice led to interceptions.
The communication issues, head coach Bruce Arians said, are a little surprising given that many of the key players have multiple seasons in this team’s offense. The problem is easily correctable, he believes.
But it’s one thing to say the problem can be corrected; it’s an entirely different thing to actually correct it.
Though, that this is a problem that even has to be corrected is surprising given how dynamic the offense was last season, which begs the question of if it was even unfair to expect similar excellence this year. The answer, for the most part, is yes.
“Every year is different,” Arians said. “When you get everybody back, you expect to be as good or better. But, other things change. Again, our performance is not acceptable so far.”
So, what’s the problem?
Watching the games, you will have seen not only the communication issues, but some shaky offensive line play and dropped passes. However there’s something you cannot see that may also be playing a role.
“It could be a little overconfidence, but at the end of the day, you’ve still got to go on the grass and work,” offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin said. “We’re not in a situation now where we can walk in and surprise anybody anymore. Everybody knows what we’re capable of because we’ve shown it for the last two years, building up to what this year should be.
“We have to get there. Expectations are only expectations — you have to still go out there and produce, and we have yet to do that.”
Receiver Larry Fitzgerald does not think overconfindece is or was the issue, because he said he learned a long time ago every year is its own thing and nothing is guaranteed.
“We understood going into the season we were going to be a team that was not going to be able to sneak up on anybody, we were going to get everybody’s best shot,” he said. “We all understood that, and I don’t think that’s (overconfidence) the reason why we are sitting in the position that we’re in.”
It’s nowhere anyone expected the team to be. It would have been difficult enough to believe that they would win just one of their first three games, but sputtering because the offense has yet to get going was probably never even a consideration.
Often times when a team struggles like the Cardinals are, the worry is that players will start pressing, trying to do too much. Arians has said that has been part of the problem, and Fitzgerald said the coach always tells them to just worry about filling their individual role and not worry about anything else.
Do that, and the belief is sooner or later things will start clicking.
“I think it only takes one big play for our offense to get rolling,” receiver Michael Floyd said. “And I feel like, in our group (receivers), that can come at any time. When there’s a big play out there, that just feeds down to the offensive linemen, we can run the next run play and it is probably going to bust out for a long one just because of the excitement, the confidence is there that we can go down field and score.”
Other stories for some pre-game reading
In this week’s “The 5,” we look at some important moments in recent Cardinals vs. Rams history
In defending the Rams, the Cardinals’ big focus is on stopping running back Todd Gurley
The Cardinals are not short on leaders, but what they need are followers
Aaron Donald is someone the Cardinals’ offensive line will need to be very aware of
Michael Floyd knows he must start making plays for his offense
Sports Illustrated’s Greg Bedard thinks the Cardinals have their “heads up their rear ends”
Former Cardinals long snapper genuinely thought about making a return in 2016
Craig Morgan wrote on how for the first time in his Arizona tenure, Bruce Arians is facing some adversity
Vince Marotta wonders if it’s time to start worrying about Cards QB Carson Palmer
Miscellany
– With a victory, Bruce Arians would move into fourth place on the franchise’s all-time wins list with 36.
– Just three times since Arians took over in 2013 have the Cardinals lost consecutive games. A loss Sunday would make it four.
– Larry Fitzgerald enters the game with 16 touchdown catches against the Rams, which is the most he has against any single opponent. In 24 games against the franchise, he has amassed 153 catches for 1,785 yards and those 16 scores. In NFL history, only Jerry Rice (175 against the Falcons, 166 against the Rams) has more career catches against any single opponent.
– A Cardinals win would be their first over the Los Angeles Rams since a 38-10 victory in the 1993 season. It’s technically true.
– If Patrick Peterson picks off a pass it would give him a third straight game with an interception. He has achieved that one other time, in 2012 when he intercepted a pass in four straight games. Worth noting he enters this matchup with six career interceptions in 10 games against the Rams.
– Both Markus Golden and Chandler Jones have recorded a sack in each of the first three games; if either notches one against the Rams, they will become the first player in franchise history with at least one sack in each of the first four games of a season.
– The Cardinals have swept the season series with the Rams just once under Arians, in 2014. A win Sunday would give them a chance to do it again, with the trip to Los Angeles coming in Week 17 on Jan. 1.
