Is There Cause For Panic After A Big Loss For The Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals latest roster move, is it a result of panic or just reality.

There is no doubt that the Cardinals have enormous talent on the field every game day. The question remains why hasn’t that talent been able to flourish on the offensive side of the ball. The Cardinals are first place in the NFC, and near last place in several statistical categories, such as pass defense, and rushing yards per game.

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How can a team be in first place and be so bad in more than one area? That remains a mystery that will be told soon enough as we come down the final stretch of the regular season.

There are clear flaws to every team and the Cardinals are no different, but the Cards flaws look like major ones that can be their doom later in the playoff race. First, RB Andre Ellington is not producing as predicted at the start of the season, and that mainly because of nagging injuries. But when does playing hurt become hurting your team, and when does it become to late to do something about it. The Cardinals may have acted today with that in mind with the signing of free-agent Michael Bush. This signing points clearly  to a lacking area in the offense. Ellington has not only had his problems with injury, it is also a combination of not seeing the holes and following the play correctly. In numerous games we have seen him chose the wrong hole, and unnecessarily cut-back, and not cut-back when it was time to do so. At times he looks lost as to what he should be doing on a play, and according to Head Coach Bruce Arians that comes from his lack of practice time.

When a team makes changes this late in the season that can be a sign of panic but it also can be the results of reality setting in,that the problem has been going on to long and needed addressing before it was too late.

Without a decent running game, the Seahawks have given the league a blueprint on how to make Drew Stanton look more and more like a back-up quarterback, and make the task seem too big for him. Running the ball will neutralize his inexperience and allow the Cards to do more on offense, so we will see how the Bush signing changes things.

Ellington will need some time to get right with his injuries and his lack of practice time, so cutting down his work load is the only answer, and maybe he can be utilized as a third down back and receiver a bit more. This will only be effective if Bush can produce, and against the 4-7 Atlanta Falcons coming up this week he just may be able to have the Cardinals running game finally break out.