Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury betting on his quarterback Kyler Murray to save his job is probably the best fool’s gold in the NFL today.
Despite a strong season in 2021 where the Cardinals finished with an 11-6 record, Kingsbury’s job security is on shaky ground heading into Week 7. Surely, the Cards are in a tough division with the defending champion Los Angeles Rams and an always-competitive San Francisco 49ers squad, but how they have performed after six weeks is well below the team’s 2022 expectations.
Arizona is currently 2-4 heading into their Thursday Night Football clash against the New Orleans Saints, and hoping to avoid a three-game losing streak. With the defense playing middle-of-the-road ball at best, and their running backs delivering little, Kyler Murray — the teams leading rusher — will have to do it all to keep the team afloat and not push Kingsbury closer to being the second head coach fired in 2022.
Yet, banking on the player he took with the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft is a very big gamble for Kingbury that is more likely not to pay off.
There is no doubt that Murray is a talented player. It’s why the franchise invested $230 million for five more seasons in him. Yet, his numbers this season haven’t quite been what you would expect from a player being paid at an elite level. That’s not to say he has been bad, but in a league where 300-yard games are much easier to come by, the two-time Pro Bowler has managed to hit the mark just once this season. It might explain why the team has the record they do.
Yes, the running game has not offered much. And DeAndre Hopkins has been suspended all year. But there are still enough weapons like Marquise Daniels and Zach Ertz to where this offense should not have only managed a miserable nine points to the Seahawks last week. A team with one of the worst defenses in the NFL so far.
Murray deserves credit for what he has been able to do in racking up an extra 200 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, but a 6-4 TD to interception ratio is unbecoming of a QB that is expected to be one of the best in the sport.
Kingbury’s future as head coach will be dictated by the arm and legs of Kyler Murray. Based on how this season has gone, and the fact that this is the same player that needed a clause in his contract to do the necessary amount of preparation for games, Kingbury should be ready to get moving company quotes in the next few weeks.
The Cardinals received terrible news this week when it was revealed that top receiver Marquise Brown would be out indefinitely with a foot injury. The news is a gut shot to a reeling team and very well could have spelled doom for Kingsbury. However, just in time to maybe save the offense and the head coach’s job, DeAndre Hopkins will be back in uniform this week after serving his six-game drug suspension.
It is no coincidence that the Kingsbury/Murray era in Cardinals history had its two best seasons when the Houston Texans great joined the team. Even at 30 years old and after nine seasons in the league, the three-time All-Pro is a game-changer. He returns just in time healthy and ready to give this meandering offense the boost it needs just by his talented presence.
If the Cardinals can somehow pull out a win tonight versus a solid Saints team and defense, it may be a sign that Hopkins arrived just in time to help save the Arizona season and his coach’s job.
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