Teams Arizona Cardinals - The Buzzsaw

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Sep 6, 2005
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Cardinals looking for a veteran coordinator to run a 3-4

Posted by Darin Gantt on January 10, 2019, 6:28 AM EST


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The Cardinals acknowledged a few things during yesterday’s press conference — specifically that new coach Kliff Kingsbury was going to need a lot of help, and their decision to switch to a 3-4 defense was a bad one.

So they’re going to fix both of those problems by finding someone to call the defense that fits the personnel they have on hand (as opposed to letting a rookie head coach switch them to a 4-3 like they tried for a second with Steve Wilks).

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that a veteran coordinator would be ideal in this situation, and just based on our personnel, I think a 3-4 fit is what we’re looking for,” General Manager Steve Keim said, via Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic. “Certainly, with the edge rush that we have, to be able to play man-free on the back end. Again, it’s catering to your strengths. There’s no doubt in my mind that we have to find a defensive coordinator that can do that.”

While everyone’s tripping over themselves to find the next Sean McVay, one of the things the Rams got most right was pairing him with elder coordinator Wade Phillips. The formula also worked this year with the Bears (Matt Nagy and Vic Fangio), and since Kliff Kingsbury lacks NFL contacts, Keim will likely be steering this one.

“It’s a discussion that Steve and I have had,” Kingsbury said. “I’ve obviously leaned heavily on him for names and people that he knows in this league. We feel like we have some great candidates. But, it’ll be an attacking style. We want to be aggressive and get this defense back to where they’ve been, previous to last year.”

(“Attacking” and “Aggressive” are big winners in New Coach Bingo, as no coach has ever said they plan to have a patient, passive style.)
Pass-rusher Chandler Jones has already signaled his approval of the idea, but adding some ballast to Kingsbury’s staff will be as important as any particular alignment of players.
 

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Kliff Kingsbury in October: I would take Kyler Murray with the first pick if I could

Posted by Curtis Crabtree on January 9, 2019, 11:37 PM EST


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In late October, Kliff Kingsbury was the head coach at Texas Tech and roughly a month away from being fired from that position by the school.

Kingsbury was preparing to face Kyler Murray and the Oklahoma Sooners with likely very little thought in his mind about coaching in the NFL any time in the near future.

Kingsbury was asked about his thoughts on Murray and the superlatives flowed from there.

Kyler, I mean, he’s a freak, man,” Kingsbury said, via Eric Kelly of KLBK. “Kyler is a freak. I’ve followed him since he was a sophomore in high school. Just think the world of him and what he can do on a football field. I’ve never seen one better in high school and he’s starting to show it now at the college level. I don’t have enough good things to say about him. He’s phenomenal.

“I’ve never seen him have a poor outing. Not one, which at quarterback is impossible to do but he’s done it. I’d take him with the first pick of the draft if I could. I know he’s signed up to play baseball but he is a dominant football player and I would take him with the first pick.”

Just over two months later, Kingsbury is an NFL head coach with the Arizona Cardinals, who just happen to have the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Meanwhile, Murray is expected by the Oakland A’s to declare for the NFL Draft this weekend.

The Cardinals did just select a quarterback last year in the first round in Josh Rosen. Kingsbury could be equally as excited to work with Rosen as he would be by the idea of selecting Murray at the top of the draft. However, the fact that he now has the opportunity to do the exact thing he said he would do should he have the opportunity to make the first pick in the draft is going to be incredibly interesting to see play out.
 
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If Cardinals draft a quarterback, they’ll follow in the footsteps of the 1990s Cowboys

Posted by Michael David Smith on January 10, 2019, 10:04 AM EST


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When Kliff Kingsbury said in October that he liked Kyler Murray so much that “I would take him with the first pick,” if he were an NFL head coach, Kingsbury wasn’t expecting to become the head coach of the team with the first overall pick. But he is, and that raises an obvious question: Is Murray to the Cardinals a legitimate possibility?

The Cardinals used their first-round draft pick last year on quarterback Josh Rosen, which would seem to preclude them using their first-round pick this year on a quarterback. But it might not be as farfetched as it sounds: After all, one of the greatest dynasties in NFL history was built by a team that used back-to-back first overall picks on quarterbacks.

That dynasty was the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s, who began their rebuilding effort by taking quarterback Troy Aikman with the first overall pick in the 1989 NFL draft. Three months later, the Cowboys took another quarterback, Steve Walsh, by giving up their 1990 first-round pick in the supplemental draft. The Cowboys ended up having the worst record in the NFL in 1989, which meant that first-round pick they gave up for Walsh turned out to be the first overall pick in the 1990 NFL draft.

But it all worked out well for the Cowboys. Aikman is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and led the Cowboys to three championships. Walsh was later traded to the Saints for a first-round pick, a second-round pick and a third-round pick. One of those picks was used to select Erik Williams, who would go on to become a three-time first-team All-Pro offensive tackle, and the other two picks were used as part of a package to trade up and draft Russell Maryland, who became a Pro Bowl defensive tackle.

So if the Cardinals wanted to, they could draft Murray first overall and then trade Rosen to some other quarterback-needy team and use the picks acquired from the Rosen trade to beef up their roster elsewhere. It’s possible they wouldn’t get much in a Rosen trade, given that he didn’t play well as a rookie, but if that’s the case it’s all the more reason that they shouldn’t pass up on a quarterback they believe in this year just because they drafted Rosen last year: If Rosen couldn’t draw much in a trade, then why would the Cardinals believe Rosen can be the quarterback who gets them where they want to go?

None of this means the Cardinals are likely to buck convention and take Murray or any other quarterback first overall. But it does show that it’s not as unrealistic as some might think.
 

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If Murray can make us a better team than drafting him and trading Rosen could work.
All makes no difference if Murray chooses baseball anyway
 
GG.exe how did you select your new team?
If this s**t that’s being rumoured happens and we trade Rosen at $0.20 on the $1 to draft Murray I will be on the lookout.
Especially if this fat drunken GM keeps his job in the process!
 
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GG.exe how did you select your new team?
If this s**t that’s being rumoured happens and we trade Rosen at $0.20 on the $1 to draft Murray I will be on the lookout.
Especially if this fat drunken GM keeps his job in the process!

Before I switched to Ravens, I was a die-hard Raiders fan who admired a lot of teams for their various histories, famous players, coaches, etc. The Dolphins were the ONLY other team I really liked tho, enough to root for them a little, take an interest in them. So it was really out of the blue that when it came to picking a new team that I didn't choose the Dolphins but chose the Ravens instead.

How did I pick them? I basically analyzed the type of person I am, and the things I like in terms of aesthetics too, and tried to find the best match. I'm a no nonsense, hard-nosed, type of guy, hard working (at whatever I do be it work or leisure activities), and professional-minded. I'm into dark and dangerous aesthetics too. And so it was that I chose the Ravens.
 

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Mike Glennon move a reminder of Cardinals’ ugly 2018 offseason

Posted by Michael David Smith on March 9, 2019, 8:09 AM EST


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Why were the Cardinals the worst team in the NFL last year? The biggest reason is that they swung and missed on big moves at the quarterback position.

The Cardinals released one of their quarterbacks, Mike Glennon, yesterday. And that puts into focus just how badly the Cardinals did at assessing quarterbacks last year.

Arizona signed Glennon to a two-year contract last year, and now he’s gone after one year in which he didn’t start a single game. Arizona also signed Sam Bradford to an even bigger contract, and he was cut during the season after a disastrous performance early in the year. Between the two of them, Glennon and Bradford made about $20 million from the Cardinals.

And then the Cardinals traded their first-round pick, third-round pick and fifth-round pick to move up in the draft and select Josh Rosen. That worked out so well that the Cardinals are now widely expected to move on from Rosen after one year and select Kyler Murray with the first overall pick in this year’s draft.

Whether Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim sticks with Rosen or drafts Murray this offseason, he better get it right. Another bad move at the quarterback position this offseason, and he probably won’t be the one making the decisions in Arizona next offseason.
 
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Kliff Kingsbury: “I’m a positive-vibe person”
Posted by Darin Gantt on April 4, 2019, 7:00 AM EDT
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Perhaps you’ve heard, Kliff Kingsbury is young. And he works hard, drawing clever offensive schemes.
But the new Cardinals coach also knows there are things he doesn’t know, and has been willing to seek out the help he’s going to need in his first year as an NFL head coach.
In a lengthy profile by Darren Urban of the team’s official website, there are good stories about Kingsbury’s work ethic and background in the college game, and his rapid rise to an unexpected NFL job.
That has also created some resentment and skepticism in the business, about a guy who was fired after going 35-40 at Texas Tech. Kingsbury probably hasn’t seen those stories.
“I don’t read things, I have people sort out my mail and e-mails,” Kingsbury said. “I’m a positive-vibe person. I just don’t let the negativity get near me.”
Until the Cardinals reverse their on-field fortunes, there will likely be more of that, but Kingsbury does seem to realize the challenges.
Cardinals scout Adrian Wilson was part of the coaching search process, giving owner Michael Bidwill and General Manager Steve Keim a different perspective on the candidates. One of the things he said stood out about Kingsbury was “the confidence in terms of him having self-awareness that he will need some type of help.”
Bringing in former Broncos head coach Vance Joseph as his defensive coordinator is a step in that direction. If nothing else, Joseph can help with the unforeseen pitfalls a rookie coach can encounter.
 
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Cardinals may use shotgun formation exclusively or close to it
Posted by Mike Florio on May 25, 2019, 2:58 PM EDT

The infiltration of the college offense into the pro game continues, and that likely will result in another franchise embracing shotgun formation, most if not all of the time.
As Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republicexplains it, the Cardinals are expected to rarely put quarterback Kyler Murray under center.
Coach Kliff Kingsbury initially was coy on the topic, but it became clear that he’s got no qualms about a shotgun-heavy approach.
Asked this week whether the team may spend 90 percent or more of its time with the center snapping the ball through the air to the quarterback, Kingsbury said, “I’m not sure.” He then elaborated in a way that suggested he is sure.
“That’s another thing we’re working through, to see what the best balance for us is,” Kingsbury said. “Last year, Kansas City was 80 percent-plus. They were decent on offense. Pretty good. So, we’ll see. Whatever fits our team best is what we’re going to do.”
What fits the team best is shotgun formation. It’s what Kingsbury used at Texas Tech, and it’s what Murray used at Oklahoma.
And it’s what Kingbury believes in. Here’s his answer when asked about the advantages and disadvantages of shotgun: “I’ve never seen disadvantages. Some people say there are. I don’t. . . . Some other people have theories about it, but I think you can do everything just as well from shotgun as you can under center.”
Kingsbury sees plenty of advantages to shotgun formation.
“It just eliminates having to get away from the center,” he said. “Those are big guys pushing back in your face right away. So you’re seeing a clearer picture sooner. Whereas when you’re under center, it takes a while to see the field and see that clear picture. To me, you’re able to see it clearer pre-snap and post-snap.”
To me, it’s becoming clearer that the Cardinals’ ratio of shotgun formation will be much higher than 80 percent.
 
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Can Kliff Kingsbury fix David Johnson?

For my money, Arizona's offense in 2018 was not just the worst Fantasy offense last year, but in the past several. They were talent-deficient, sure, but their scheme was the bigger culprit, steadfastly refusing to implement strategies that could get the most out of what they did have on the roster. In the end, their 4.3 yards per play average was worse than any offense since 2012, and because they were also slow-paced, their 3,865 total yards were fewer than any team since 2007.

That alone is a terrible situation for a running back to thrive in, but Johnson's usage was the single specific worst part of the way that team was schemed. Coming into last season, I was optimistic for Johnson despite his offense, because I believed all the coaching staff had to do was turn on game tape from 2016 to recognize the ways Bruce Arians utilized Johnson, and try to replicate that. Surely they would take cues from that 400-point Fantasy season, right?

Nope. They almost completely ignored it.
 
Pretty dire outing against Oakland. Wasn't much to get excited about.

Plus Robert Alford fractured tibia in training. Will miss half the season. While Peterson is out too.

Our D is totally cooked.
 
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The Arizona Cardinals have even more questions at wide receiver as the regular-season opener is less than three weeks away. Hakeem Butler will reportedly miss the remainder of the preseason with a hand fracture and is a candidate for injured reserve. Per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Butler has an avulsion fracture in his hand and could be sidelined for the season.
 

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