2020 Arizona Cardinals: Season of questionable calls

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Jan 3, 2021; Inglewood, California, USA; “Playoff Bound” is seen on the oculus scoreboard at SoFi Stadium after the game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Rams The Rams defeated the Cardinals 18-7. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

Punting on 4th down with 4:30 to go against the Rams

If there was a defining moment that capped a season of controversial calls for Kingsbury, this was it right here. Week 17, playoffs on the line, and every aggressive bone in Kingsbury’s body left Los Angeles that afternoon.

The Cardinals are down 18-7, still a two-score game but given how fast they can score, it was still a game that was in doubt, even though the offense had given us little to be confident about at that point. They near midfield and fourth down comes up.

In many cases during the season, Kingsbury would have made the decision to go for it on fourth down. In this case however, he thought it would be better to punt the ball away.

Interesting choice, given the season was going to end in four and a half minutes. This was not the time to get conservative.

Exactly what did Kingsbury have to lose by choosing to go for it there? You don’t make it, you likely aren’t getting the ball back twice. By punting here, he prematurely raised the white flag.

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