Cardinals’ Vance Joseph: Pairing with Kliff Kingsbury ‘has been a good fit’

TEMPE — When Kliff Kingsbury took over head-coaching duties in Arizona, he knew it was going to take some time to rebuild the roster of both sides of football.

If it was goning to work for the first-time NFL head coach, he needed people on his coach staff to buy in to his vision and be prepared to take some lumps when the going gets rough.

Luckily for Kingsbury, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph was looking for somewhere to hang his hat after his tenure with the Denver Broncos ended. He wanted to go someplace where he could just “get back to coaching.”

Having an offense that can put points up on the board in a hurry helps a lot, too.

“Just talking to Kliff about his vision for the team, his way of doing things. It was refreshing to hear a guy say, ‘Hey, it’s gonna take take time. I got your back, you have mine. Let’s make it work.’ We knew it was gonna be hard times and the first two years we had some hard times. That first year was really hard.

“Our inside joke that would always be between us was, ‘Once it’s fixed, it’s gonna be the greatest job they’ve ever seen.’ When times got hard that first or second year, that would be our little wink. Just calm down, man, eventually it’s gonna be good. Right now, it’s getting better and better and hopefully it stays that way.”

The patience has certainly began to pay off, with Arizona sporting the best record in the league (8-1) through nine weeks.

The offense ranks second in the NFL in points per game with 30.8, while the defense sits third in points allowed per game with 17.2. When the duo took over in 2019, the Cardinals were one of the worst teams on both sides of the football.

The pairing of coaches let their work speak for itself, sharing football knowledge while bouncing things off of each other, whether it be defensive schemes to be mindful of or offensives plays to prepare for.

“It’s constant communication about the roster, about scheme, about our coaching staff, so it’s been a good fit,” Joseph said. “It’s easy, it’s been fun and our staff’s amazing. That also makes it easier for us to have success here. It’s been fun, it really has.”

Kingsbury’s and Joseph’s relationship, patience and dedication to their craft has been a huge factor in helping foster the team’s turnaround.

It’s also shined a light on Joseph as another strong head-coaching candidate for teams to vet this offseason.

And Kingsbury knows it.

“I’m very fortunate to have V.J. here, who I consider the head coach of the defense, a former head coach who will probably be a head coach again next year,” Kingsbury said Monday.

“Just a tremendous leader. Anything comes up, we’re both kind of like, ‘Alright, we’ll find a way.’ So, we both have that approach to just say, ‘Whatever obstacles we face, we’re going to find a way to maximize who we are as a team and the personnel that we have.’”

For players like linebacker Markus Golden, losing the architect of the defense would be a tough blow, but one they would gladly welcome.

It’s all part of the business side of the NFL.

“He carries himself like a head coach. He’s a leader, great leader, leads us every day,” the linebacker said Thursday. “Comes in the same every day, the same person no matter what so that’s usually a good head coach.

“If he feels like it’s better for him to go do that, I’m happy for him,” Golden added. “We all grown men, this ain’t college where some coach promised you that if you come to his school he’s gonna be here with you. … If he can get a job that’s gonna better his life and his family, I’m happy for him. I wouldn’t be mad at all.”

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