Yeah, you really can’t get much worse than generating just 58 yards of total offense, but the Arizona Cardinals somehow managed it. But, it’s also important to remember that this wasn’t the real Cardinals offense, or at least a good portion of it.
While those who still believe the team is in tank mode for a quarterback who’s now struggling to pick up his USC Trojans and lift them to new heights, the fact was, the Cardinals were down to their rookie backup quarterback, plus their RB3 and 4. And it wasn’t exactly like they had much of a choice but to roll with them on Sunday.
Sure, Murray is healthy enough to start, but would any logical coach let him return against Myles Garrett and Company? There was also nothing they could do about holding out James Conner and Emari Demercado, along with receiver Michael Wilson.
But, perhaps the crew will return this coming week against a substantially weaker Atlanta Falcons team.
3 burning questions heading into Week 10 vs. the Falcons
1 - Will those missing time on the Cardinals offense be healthy enough to play?
It’s clear that Clayton Tune was not ready to start an NFL game, even under the circumstances. Although the Cardinals were down a few key contributors, he arguably had the worst performance of a quarterback at Cleveland Browns Stadium since Spurgeon Wynn in 2000, though to be fair, he had a slightly better game than the former sixth-round pick.
But the overall performance of the unit begs the question of whether the “real” Cardinals offense will be back. While it’s true the Falcons defense is nowhere near as talented as the Browns, they still rank 13th in the league, and are 11th in passing defense. Therefore, the Arizona Cardinals offense we saw yesterday probably isn’t faring too well against the Falcons defense.
But an offense featuring Kyler Murray, James Conner, Emari Demercado, and Michael Wilson will, or even if two of them came back in Week 10, would change the trajectory of the offense.