The Arizona Cardinals finish another tough week, this time in a home matchup against the Cam Newton-less Carolina Panthers. Most pundits felt that this could potentially be the game that the Cardinals would win as inexperienced quarterback Kyle Allen would draw his first start against an opportunistic Cardinals defense. It would not be the case as the Panthers would go on to defeat the Cardinals 38-20 in a game where the nerves of the first start did not affect Allen at all.
While the game did not go in the Cardinals favor, there were still some moments to build from in the loss.
Here are some good, bad and ugly moments from Sundays matchup with the Panthers:
The good: Kyler Murray finally lets loose running the ball
If it’s one thing that quarterback Kyler Murray is, it’s fast.
Kyler Murray finally unleashed his speed on Sunday rushing for a team-high 69 yards on eight carries and finally showing the world that dual-threat capability he possesses such as on runs like these:
While Murray is a highly mobile quarterback, he has not run much at all this season only rushing for 17 yards on six carries before Sunday’s game. Kyler Murray’s running ability brings an entirely different dimension to the offense as he has also shown that he can make the big-time throws when needed.
If he can consistently keep up his dynamic running, it could open the offense even more.
The bad: Too many plays, not enough production
The Cardinals offense under coach Kliff Kingsbury has been predicated on lots of motion and a high volume of plays. Unfortunately, this large volume of plays has not translated into points or consistent ball movement.
In two out of three of the Cardinals’ games, the Cardinals have averaged 77.5 plays at only a 4.05-yard average. To put it in perspective, The Cardinals Week 2 game against the Baltimore Ravens saw them only run 54 plays but they actually had more yards per play at 6.5.
The Cardinals are running a lot of plays but it hasn’t evolved into an abundance of scoring.
The ugly: Below-average offensive line play
Kyler Murray will need every single ounce of that speed that he possesses behind this offensive line.
It’s been a tough introduction the league, as Kyler Murray has been under fire all season long behind his shaky offensive line as he currently ranks at No.2 in the league in being sacked with 16 trailing only Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota. In Sundays game against the Panthers, Murray was sacked eight times, three of which came from Panthers defensive lineman Mario Addison.
If these offensive line issues persists, Kingsbury will have to find other ways to protect Kyler Murray which may include using him on more designed runs and rollouts to buy him some time.
What are some of your good, bad and ugly moments from Sunday’s game? Let us know in the comments below! Also check out The Cards Wire on Twitter for all Cardinals news and discussion!
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