When the Arizona Cardinals played in the preseason in 2019, they were new to the NFL in many ways. Kliff Kingsbury was a head coach in the NFL for the first time and they had a rookie quarterback in Kyler Murray.
Kingsbury made a concerted effort to hide what his new-fangled offense would be. It didn’t work, as they struggled out the gate that year to move the ball.
The Cardinals play their first preseason game Friday night against the Dallas Cowboys since then, as there were no preseason games in 2020.
We can expect to see more of what is the actual offense this time around.
“The first year we were really trying to keep it all tucked in to hide the offense and it was a mistake,” Kingsbury said on Thursday. “This year we will be a little more open and play our game to an extent.”
However, don’t expect everything. It will be the Cardinals’ offense, but it will be watered down.
“I won’t roll out much all preseason, honestly but we’ll make sure that guys have a chance to be successful and play with an attacking mentality, but we’re not going to show a while bunch of offense,” he said.
The way he calls the offense comes down to one priority. It is about evaluation of players and giving them a chance to show what they can do.
“For me, you want to give them plays they understand. can execute at a high level, play fast, be aggressive and really get to see the best version of themselves,” he explained, “so that’s what we’re trying to do.”
This matches what basically all teams do. They use some base sets and basic plays without much complexity. They want to execute what they would do in the regular season but not give anything away too early.
The Cardinals open things 7 p.m. Friday night at State Farm Stadium.
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