Clueless, Frustrated Cardinals Simply Have No Answers
Nobody knows what's wrong with the Arizona Cardinals.
Not fans. Not reporters. Not national pundits.
Not even the team itself.
Most of the struggles and questions came on the offensive side of the ball despite the Cardinals punching it in on their opening drive, the first time they were able to accomplish that feat all season.
"I wish I could tell you. The first drive was easy. On time, on schedule. Obviously [I] had to make a couple plays with their D-Line being pretty good, escape and use my legs. But you know, [we] ended up in the end zone, and then that second drive, third-and-one, kind of the story of the day I feel like. I couldn't give you the answer for why or what, we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot," quarterback Kyler Murray said following the game.
The play on the second drive Murray was referring to was a wild snap from center Billy Price, who again was filling in for Rodney Hudson. Price sent the ball way past Murray's head and threw the offense completely off tempo, forcing what was the first of six punts in their next seven drives.
It was another scheduled Sunday where the Cardinals where anything but, and Murray simply couldn't provide an answer.
"Stress? Heat of the moment? I don't know, I couldn't tell you. Stuff that can't happen is happening. Wish I had an answer for you, you know what I'm saying? It's hard to continue to push ourselves back and try to make up for those yards against teams that are playing bend but don't break. We're third-and-15, third-and-16, it's tough," Murray said.
Things didn't exactly get clearer after listening to head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
"It was the penalties, we put the ball on the ground twice on snap exchanges. Fumbles. Just for whatever reason, we have not been in sync with that stuff all season and it starts with coaches and players have to take ownership and responsibility for that. If we can stay onside and snap the ball and execute routine plays, it's gonna be tough against quality teams, and that's what ended up getting us," Kingsbury said following the game.
To Kingsbury's point, the Cardinals had 12 accepted penalties for 77 yards. The Seahawks had just six for 34 yards.
It was an ugly game that shouldn't have gone ugly for an Arizona team that needed a win to keep their head above water in the race for the NFC West. Now, the Cardinals are 3-6 with two more division games to follow against the Rams and 49ers in back to back weeks.
The Cardinals continue to shoot themselves in the foot at the wrong times, and Sunday's loss was yet another example of that.
"It's something we have to all look at, as a staff, as a team because it's hurting us. I haven't been around this through this many games where it continues to show up and so we'll continue to talk through it and try to find ways to get it fixed," said Kingsbury.
This three-game stretch was going to decide the season, and the first of the trio simply further buried Arizona's hopes of turning the ship around.
'I believe in this team. I don't think we played great complimentary football. I don't think we played close to how good we can play and we got to find a way to get there soon, but they're gonna continue to fight and we have another division opponent next week that we gotta get up for."
We'll believe it when we see it.
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