Arizona Cardinals: Coaching decision defines Arians

There has been a lot of talk about the fourth down call to go for it made by Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians on Sunday

Probably the most debated issue from Sunday’s 31-21 loss for the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday was head coach Bruce Arians deciding to go for it on fourth and one from inside their own territory with still over six minutes remaining.

After the game on Sunday, Arians said he made a bad decision to go for it. At that point he had seen no video and had just come off the field after another disappointing loss.

Arians has been criticized for not calling himself out for mistakes many fans felt were his fault. Sunday he got ahead of that.

However on Monday he changed his mind. He said the call was good, just not executed properly. An interesting reversal of thought for sure.

Whether you agree or disagree the Cardinals should have gone for it there, the fact is it did play a factor in the end but certainly was far from the reason they lost. The one play call is just one of many that fans have questioned over the last several weeks.

The play call on Sunday defines who Arians is. He is a risk taker. Yes, we all know about the no risk it, no biscuit theme. Right now, there is no biscuit in the Cardinals future.

What there is though is a group of players who are trying to win football games. You have coaches and players playing for their jobs.

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Yes, maybe the smarter thing would have been to punt trailing only by three at the time. However the Cardinals defense was having difficulty getting the Texans offense off the field in the second half.

When a season starts to materialize like how we see the Cardinals is, one without a postseason, you are likely going to try things at 4-5 that wouldn’t necessarily be attempted if the record was 7-2.

The execution of the play failed. The decision is who Arians is. Everyone knows it. We thankfully don’t get paid to make those decisions.

General manager Steve Keim on Monday backed Arians decision in his weekly interview on Arizona Sports 98.7. If the Cardinals had successfully converted there on fourth down and went on to win, the discussion changes from a questionable one to one giving Arians praise for making the call.

We can’t have it both ways. We all make decisions. We all take risks. This is who Arians is and this is who the Cardinals are, like it or not.

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