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Arizona Cardinals head coach recognized for his play-calling

By Jim Koch

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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Pro Football Focus has Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury ranked among the top play-callers in professional football

Back in January of 2019, the Arizona Cardinals made a move that was widely-criticized. In need of a new head coach, the organization settled on a candidate who had failed miserably at the college level. The Cards had just suffered through the Steve Wilks debacle, and many believed that the club’s front office had made another mistake with their latest choice for the job.

Pro Football Focus.com, the highly-respected website that covers professional football, believes that Arizona’s decision-makers got it right. Kliff Kingsbury, the 41-year old leader of the Cardinals, has been named one of the NFL’s top play-callers by the writers at PFF. The young innovator’s squad won just five games in 2019, but the team’s improvement on the offensive side of the ball was incredibly impressive.

Much of the unit’s success last season can be attributed to the up and coming Kingsbury. The Cards “Air Raid” attack averaged 5.5 yards per play last fall, a significant increase from the 4.3 yards per snap that was posted by the offense in 2018. Can Kingsbury’s crew be even more potent in 2020?

An outstanding offseason by Arizona general manager Steve Keim certainly has the offense’s arrow pointing upwards. DeAndre Hopkins, a four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver, was acquired in a trade with the Houston Texans. Kenyan Drake, a running back who shined for the Cardinals after he joined them last October, was signed to a one-year deal this past March.

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While the Cards won-loss record in ’19 didn’t reflect it, Kingsbury appears to have the group on the right track. The ugly 35-40 mark registered by the head coach during his six campaigns at Texas Tech University is long-forgotten. The experts who write for Pro Football Focus, along with a legion of Cardinals fans, believe that the sky is the limit for the imaginative and creative Kingsbury.

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