Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury had no real answer when he was asked Monday about the offense’s propensity for trying numerous short passes toward the sideline Sunday against Carolina. Especially when they usually went nowhere.
To the blunt question, “When that wasn’t working, why did you keep sticking with that?” Kingsbury said, “I'm not sure. That's the only answer. We didn't have a good enough plan in place to make the plays down the field that we would've liked to and that falls on me. Got to call better plays when they're taking certain things away.”
Quarterback Kyler Murray completed a high percentage of those type of passes, but the total yardage was minimal, courtesy of much less opportunity for yards after the catch.
Murray completed 24 of 31 passes against the Panthers, but for just 133 yards. He had three touchdown passes, all for three yards or less. It was the least amount of yardage accumulated while completing 24-plus passes in NFL history.
Not including the scoring tosses, on passes described as short in the official NFL Gamebook, Murray completed 20 of 23 throws for just 100 yards.
The middle of the field was used rarely as only seven passes (two deep and five short) went there. The longest completion of the game was for 25 yards to tight end Dan Arnold in the middle of the field and there was one incompletion, a bad overthrow high to wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald in the first possession of the game, on those longer attempts. Three pass attempts that went deep to the left were incomplete and none were attempted to the right.
On five short throws over the middle, Murray went 4 of 5 for 27 yards.
The short throws to the left and right were particularly unsuccessful.
To the left, Murray was a perfect 9 of 9, but for just 26 yards, including a three-yard score to tight end Jordan Thomas.
Three of the completions were for a “total” of minus-10 yards, with a long of 13.
To the right, Murray was 10 of 12 for 55 yards, including the touchdowns to wide receiver Christian Kirk (three yards) and running back Chase Edmonds (two).
There was one play for minus-three yards and a long of 12. Two short-right throws that were incomplete resulted in first downs thanks to one holding penalty and one pass interference.
Eight completions went for three yards or less, not including the three touchdowns. Four completions went for minus-13 yards.
Does Kingsbury believe the fact Murray had three interceptions the week before contributed to the play-calling or his subsequent decision-making?
“I don't,” Kingsbury said. “I just think we got out of rhythm early. Had some opportunities we didn't take advantage of, then got behind and you can feel me as a play-caller pressing and him probably pressing a little bit as well to make some things happen. But I don't think it had anything to do with the previous game. He's able to kind of shed that pretty quickly and get right back into being the player he is.”
Of course, Murray didn’t shed it quickly Sunday, which makes next Sunday’s game against the Jets a pivotal one in this still-young season where there are only five teams in the NFC with better records than the Cardinals. Seattle and Green Bay are 4-0, while the L.A. Rams, Tampa Bay and Chicago are 3-1.
Joining the Cardinals are San Francisco, New Orleans and Carolina at 2-2.
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October 06, 2020 at 12:18PM
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Kingsbury 'Not Sure' Reasons for Sticking with Ineffective Short Passes - Sports Illustrated
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