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Arizona Cardinals 2019 Season: Building Momentum

By Mike Gambill

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 29: Head coach Kliff Kingsbury of the Arizona Cardinals on the sidelines in the first half of the game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on December 29, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 29: Head coach Kliff Kingsbury of the Arizona Cardinals on the sidelines in the first half of the game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on December 29, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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The Arizona Cardinals can carry positive results into next season

Ask any football coach and a losing season is well, a losing season, something the Arizona Cardinals know all too well. Teams from the high school level to the NFL either make it to the playoffs, a bowl game or stay home and watch other teams carry on their seasons at least one more game.

The Cardinals finished the 2019 season with a 5-10-1 record which means a winter of discontent will be brewing for the coaching staff, players and fans alike until spring comes with rebuilding time through the NFL Draft in April.  However, if you ask any football coach to find positive results in any season regardless of a team’s record,  it’s not that difficult to find personal or team performances that stand out each year.

The Cardinals, despite their record, did have a number of positives this season.  They truly look at the season as a whole it’s necessary to both work on improvements for 2020 and celebrate player on-field achievements.

One of the first and obvious successes lies in the rookie season of Kyler Murray.  Yes, he’s a rookie prone to make rookie mistakes but Murray finished the season with 3722 yards passing, 20 TD’s vs. 12 interceptions and ran the ball for 544 yards.

Murray is only the 6th QB in NFL history to have over 3500 yards passing and over 500 yards rushing in a single season and he is only the 2nd rookie besides Cam Newton to accomplish this.  If Kliff Kingsbury can do anything with his offense then let him be the Quarterback Whisperer and work with Kyler Murray to reach his full NFL potential.

Another player who turned out to be a true positive addition to the Cardinals offense is TE Dan Arnold .  After arriving from New Orleans, Arnold has solidified his TE role with the Cardinals and finished up the season with 8 receptions for 127 yards and 2 TD’s in his shortened season for the Red Sea.

Even more importantly, Arnold had a 15.9 yard average per catch and in the newer style NFL offenses the roles of TE’s are being expanded as big receivers so the 6-6, 220 lb. Arnold presents a big mismatch against potential secondary coverage.

Two players who truly deserve special recognition for the 2019 campaign are Chandler Jones and Budda Baker as the Cardinals representatives to the 2020 Pro Bowl and both will serve as NFC starters.  Jones fell short of the single season record for sacks but still logged in an impressive 19 sacks and Budda Baker has 104 solo tackles this season. Both players were stalwarts for the Cardinals defense and rightly deserve recognition to represent their team in the Pro Bowl.

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A final positive note towards the end of the regular season was the insertion of a ground game into the “Air Raid” offense with Kenyan Drake leading the way from the backfield.  Drake, an acquisition from the Miami Dolphins, had a respectable season with the Cardinals and posted 643 yards rushing and 28 receptions for 171 yards and a total of 8 TD’s in 8 games, making Drake a dual threat running back.  As Drake enters free agency the Cardinals organization needs to look at him as a potential game changer who can provide a different dynamic into both the passing and run game for Kingsbury.

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