Cardinals RB Chase Edmonds defends Kliff Kingsbury, Kyler Murray

There’s no finger-pointing in the Arizona Cardinals’ locker room amid the team’s current three-game losing streak.

That’s the summation that third-year running back Chase Edmonds gave to members of the media on Friday, saying the players must shoulder a lot of the blame for the team’s recent play, instead of coach Kliff Kingsbury and his staff.

“The first thing that I hear him say is it starts with him, he’s got to be better. Well it starts with us too,” Edmonds said. “We have to be better. We have to find a way to execute, point-blank, period.

“You can draw as many X’s and O’s as you want, but if the guys aren’t out there executing you’re not going to win any football games.”

Edmonds said second-year quarterback Kyler Murray has also received an unfair share of the blame, as the Cardinals have fallen back to .500 for the year.

Murray posted his second-worst completion percentage (53.8%) in Week 13’s 38-28 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

The team’s latest loss can’t be pinned on one player, however, Edmonds said, given the way the whole team performed on the gridiron.

“You know how it goes, QB and coach are going to take the heat first and foremost. But football is a team game,” he said. “There’s 11 men on the field at one time.

“And we all have to find a way to help Kyler out, help him get better, help him feel more comfortable and we all have to execute better.”

Facing solid fronts

One way that Edmonds said the team can help Murray is by finding a way to trump opposing defenses, which have been stacking the box against them lately.

The Cardinals’ rushing attack has been ground to a halt in the last three games, being held to less than 100 yards twice, including 57 yards on 18 carries (3.16 yards per carry) against the New England Patriots in Week 12.

Edmonds believes that the Cardinals need to take it upon themselves to stay in-sync come Sunday, so they can get back in the win column against the New York Giants.

“We have certain plays where we’re not all on the same level or the same page right now,” Edmonds said. “You can have a play where nine guys are executing properly and have one or two hiccups and that’s all that it takes.”

For now, Edmonds believes that Kingsbury and his staff have a solid blueprint in place to knock off the Giants and improve to 7-6 for the year.

“I love the gameplan that we have going into this Sunday,” he said.

“Our coaching staff, Kliff, they do a hell of a job working their ass off for us giving us game plans to be successful, it’s all about us going out there and executing, helping them out.”

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