Three Questions the Cardinals Still Need to Answer

We are closing in on the midway point of the 2022 season, but these three questions still need to be answered by the Arizona Cardinals.

Author:
Richie Bradshaw
Publish date:
Oct 25, 2022 9:41 AM EDT

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Arizona Cardinals

The 3-4 Arizona Cardinals aren't the worst team in the NFL, but we certainly expected more than what we've received. In fact, it feels like we've been given far more questions about this team now and after the 2022 season concludes than we have answers.

Of the seemingly limitless questions we have for the team, there are three that stand out much bolder than the rest:

When will we see the offense at 100%?

This has nothing to do with health, although that may very well help us answer this question.

The thought of Kyler Murray throwing the ball to DeAndre Hopkins, Marquise Brown, Zach Ertz, and co. plus a do-it-all bruising running back in James Conner with an improving line sounds like one of the best offenses the NFL has to offer.

Of the aforementioned players, only Brown has yet to be named to a Pro Bowl in his young NFL career. The rest have had that honor at least once and are no strangers to the limelight. Yet for one reason or another, none of them have been special in 2022.

Even if fully healthy and Hopkins wasn't suspended, nothing we've seen out of the offense this year has shown hope they would all work together to live up to the hype, capital invested, and notoriety they have. The most unfortunate part is we still may not see what could be for this offense in 2022 thanks to injuries, but at what point will this offense begin to operate as though it has as many weapons as it possesses?

Is this defense good enough to stay competitive?

By most statistical margins, the Cardinals defense is average. However, if you've watched any Arizona football this year, you'd know that to not be the case.

The hope for this season was the offense was going to score enough points to help out a defense that just needed to be good enough. Well, the offense hasn't held up its end of the bargain, but the defense hasn't necessarily done its fair share, either.

Short of the performances of guys like Budda Baker, Byron Murphy, and J.J. Watt, the rest of the unit has been infuriatingly inconsistent on its best days and pitiful on its worst.

It's not as though there's a distinct void of talent here. Sure, there's no premier edge rusher and more cornerback depth is needed but is the defense truly this underwhelming that there's no hope for low-scoring wins?

Players like Isaiah Simmons, Zaven Collins, and Marco Wilson need to play more consistent football moving forward, or else they could all end up being guys the organization looks to replace or upgrade in 2023.

Speaking of 2023:

Is Kliff Kingsbury safe for 2023?

We went into 2022 wondering if Kliff Kingsbury was still the guy for the Cardinals. Even coming off an 11-6 season and a playoff appearance a season ago, Kingsbury has yet to give fans the vote of confidence that they deserve. And even though he just signed a six-year extension in March, is Kingsbury truly safe beyond this season?

Kingsbury's claim to fame was as an offensive "mastermind," but we've truly yet to see a Cardinals offense as dynamic and as explosive as some of the units Bruce Arians fielded with old vets like Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald despite having one of the most gifted athletes in the league like Murray.

He also has a losing record as a head coach at 27-28-1 and his one playoff appearance was a blowout loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

While defense isn't Kingsbury's forte, he hasn't seen any of his team's investments pay off, and with an offense that can't out-score its opponents, it's led to a lot more losses than it has victories during his time in the desert.

Bottom line? Kingsbury has left us with more questions than answers during his tenure with the Cardinals, and the 2022 season has been his most infuriating yet with the team.

Surely, the lofty extension that Kingsbury was given earlier this year may give the sign that he's he to stay for a while, but we will still be wondering just how truly safe he will be if this season continues to go the way that it has.

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