The Arizona Cardinals have been forced into some very uncomfortable situations this season, but now they must rely on former sixth-round pick and fourth-year quarterback Trace McSorley in his first career start this Sunday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. "Ideal" is not the word we'd use to describe this situation.
For the Cardinals, McSorley becomes the third different starting quarterback for the team in 2022. It's been a long and grueling season, but the quarterback play has let us down after watching Kyler Murray pen a historic contract and then play poorly for the year. Obviously, his injury was the last thing anyone wanted prior to Colt McCoy's injury as well.
Now, the show is McSorley's. What are reasonable expectations that we can have for the Penn State product in what will be his first career start?
What to Expect From Trace McSorley
It starts with this little line from Spider-Man: No Way Home: "Expect to be disappointed, and you'll never be disappointed." It's absolutely a negative way to head into this game, but can you blame anyone for feeling this way?
The expectations, if any, need to be lower than the bare minimum. Asking McSorley to simply take care of the football and not turn it over is where the conversation starts. By playing safe football, the Cardinals can at least eliminate any erratic play from McSorley by simply having him hand the ball off often and checking down rather than swinging for the fences on each play.
And that's the next step here. The Cardinals need to slow down the game and make the playbook as easy to run as possible. That means eliminating all your cute screens/behind the line of scrimmage shenanigans and just letting McSorley play the game at a slow speed. Asking McSorley to do anything more would be like asking someone to shoot you in the foot.
Finally, the Cardinals need to get McSorley access to his top weapons as easily and as accessible as possible. Between James Conner in the backfield and DeAndre Hopkins/Marquise Brown out wide, McSorley has the weapons in place to run the offense efficiently. From there, it'll be about calling a game that allows McSorley to safely and effectively get the ball into their hands as easily as possible.
It won't be easy to win with McSorley, especially on his first career start, but that doesn't make it impossible. By making things as simple as possible, McSorley may be able to put together a solid game. Still, this Buccaneers' defense is nasty, especially against the pass, and it will likely be a rough day for your favorite quarterback (not) wearing #9... if you understand that reference, we can be friends.
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