Under fire, Cardinals OC Mike McCoy sees just another game vs. Broncos

TEMPE, Ariz. — Only four NFL teams average less than 320 passing yards per game through six weeks of play. The Arizona Cardinals aren’t even close to making that cut, ranking last at 220.5 passing yards per contest.

Twelve teams average less than 100 rushing yards per game. The Cardinals are again dead last, averaging 64 yards on the ground, 16.2 yards per game fewer than the next-worst team.

Safe to say that first-year offensive coordinator Mike McCoy’s job is at risk.

The rising pressure on his job security percolated to the forefront during Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings when receiver Larry Fitzgerald’s father tweeted discontent over the team’s use of his son — or lack thereof — pointed straight at McCoy.

It continues into Arizona’s Thursday Night Football game against the Denver Broncos, a 2-4 team that visits State Farm Stadium less than a year after firing McCoy as its offensive coordinator during the 2017 season.

Fitzgerald knows this is a problem beyond play-calling or scheme.

“It’s a team game. Everybody’s got to be held accountable. None of us have done a good enough job to this point to be successful. To blame one person is not fair or right,” Fitzgerald said Tuesday.

The 15-year veteran has felt this pressure put on a head coach before. A 2004 first-round pick, ahead of quarterbacks like Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers, the Minnesota-grown Fitzgerald was drafted by then-Cardinals coach Dennis Green, a former Vikings head coach who’d known the receiver growing up.

“I felt an enormous amount of pressure to play well for Coach Green. I’d known him since 6, 7 years old,” Fitzgerald said. “He was like an uncle to me. Stepped out on a limb and drafted me here when obviously there was needs at quarterbacks. I felt a lot of pressure.

“I know the people outside the building don’t understand what it’s like to see guys working so hard. Mike McCoy’s in this building everyday at 4:30, leaving at 10 — I don’t know even know if he sees his wife and kids. When blame is placed on guys like that, it’s tough on all of us. The relationship we have is not just football, it’s personal.”

For what it’s worth, McCoy does see his family on occasion.

The offensive coordinator, luckily for him, said he’s shut out from any building job pressure that even led Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks to admit Monday that even his own job might be at risk.

“I don’t watch a lot of TV, I don’t read papers, I don’t get on the internet,” McCoy said Tuesday. “I’m too busy doing other things, putting plans together. When my family’s in town, I spent every minute I can with them or talking to them at night when they’re in San Diego. I’ve been in this long enough.”

With that said, McCoy isn’t approaching Thursday’s matchup with Denver as an act of revenge. He doesn’t see his time there and time here as a potentially parallel storyline, and he doesn’t see this week as a time to reminisce on his recent coaching history.

“It’s the next one. I was very fortunate to be part of their organization two different times with some great players, some great people from (owner Pat Bowlen) all the way down. I’ve got so much respect for their organization, the way they run the organization day-to-day,” McCoy said.

“We’re focused on this week. That’s all you do in this business. You try to be 1-0 at the end of every week, and that’s what we’re focused on.”

Hurry-up more?

It’s easy to see a sliver of success and point to it as the solution to a major problem.

A hurry-up offense saw the Cardinals show signs of life in the second half of their 27-17 loss to the Vikings Sunday. While going to it can’t be the sole fix for an inept offensive attack, McCoy suggested it’s something to look at, especially considering the success of rookie quarterback Josh Rosen with a quickened pace.

“I think you’ve got to do what you think is best to attack that defense. I think the offense did do a nice job in the hurry-up last week. We’ll see what we need to do moving forward,” McCoy said.

Using that hurry-up, Rosen went 5-of-5 and drew a pass interference penalty on a sixth passing attempt to Fitzgerald during a seven-play touchdown drive that was capped by a David Johnson run.

“He loves it, he does like it, yes,” McCoy said.

EXTRA POINT

McCoy on the suggestion that the Cardinals haven’t used Fitzgerald in the red zone: “I think there’s been attempts to go to Larry, number one. Has there been as many as you’d like to? No. And one of the reasons is because we haven’t been down there enough. The more we get down there, the more opportunities we’re going to get.”

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