Arizona Cardinals: Not Much Respect For Offensive Weapons

NFL.com has twice ranked portions of the Arizona Cardinals offense this week as amongst the worst in the NFL

From an outsiders standpoint, I can see why someone wouldn’t respect the job the Arizona Cardinals offense right now, especially the way they ended the 2014 season.  That being said, being able to follow and watch these guys in week in and week out, I would have to disagree somewhat on nfl.com’s take of the Cardinals offense.

This week they ranked the Cardinals offensive trio of quarterback Carson Palmer, receiver Michael Floyd, and running back Andre Ellington as the 24th-best in the NFL.  The Cardinals tight ends were ranked amongst the worst.

More from Cardinals News

• Arizona Cardinals: Could Eric Bieniemy come to the desert?
• Would Jonathan Gannon be a good fit for the Arizona Cardinals?
• Arizona Cardinals: Budda Baker right in his take regarding the next coach
• Arizona Cardinals: 3 reasons new coach should want to work with Murray
• Arizona Cardinals special teams could be completely revamped in 2023

Let’s start with the three weapons.  First of all, Palmer was 6-0 in 2014 and only threw three interceptions, the first of which didn’t come until his fourth start and that pick wasn’t his fault.

Then there’s Michael Floyd.  He is a playmaker.  Yes, he still needs improvement and yes the jury is still out on whether he can produce consistently.  I think having Palmer on the field truly improves his numbers.  He clearly played better with Palmer out there than say Ryan Lindley.

As for Andre Ellington, the dude was hurt almost all season in 2014.  He had a foot injury that nagged him through the end of November when he finally gave in to a sports hernia.  That killed the rest of his season.  I know nfl.com was just going by the numbers but sometimes you have to look deeper than that.

As for the tight ends, well, not much argument can be made there.  They have nine total regular season games of experience amongst their tight ends.  Troy Niklas is more of a blocker and Darren Fells we still have a lot to find out about him.  I still say they need to get out and grab another veteran tight end and I still believe that happens if not before camp, then during it.

I know people look at the under 100-yards of offense the Cardinals put up in the playoff game against the Carolina Panthers.  That wasn’t the real Cardinals offense though.  Give me the weapons they have now and the ones returning from injury and I believe they will show people outside of Arizona a thing or two.