CArdinAls reAch bAg-on-heAd level of Awful
Arizona fires offensive co-ordinator
Having lined up incorrectly, the Cardinals had to call timeout after just one play from scrimmage Thursday night. On the next play, quarterback Josh Rosen’s pass was tipped and returned for a touchdown by the Broncos’ Todd Davis. Denver then scored its first offensive touchdown on a trick play and later added another pick-six for good measure.
Most NFL teams would struggle to pack that much misfortune into one game. A bad NFL team — and the Cardinals certainly are that, perhaps the worst — has the ability to cram it all into the first 13 minutes of the first quarter, which is what happened to Arizona in a 45-10 home loss to the Denver Broncos so dismal it cost offensive co-ordinator Mike McCoy his job after only seven games.
On Friday, according to the Arizona Republic’s Kent Somers, the team fired him.
Quarterbacks coach Byron Leftwich will assume McCoy’s playcalling duties.
Denver’s lead Thursday night was 21-3 after 15 minutes. After 15 minutes and 20 seconds it was 28-3: Case Keenum found Emmanuel Sanders pretty much uncovered for a 64-yard touchdown on Denver’s first offensive play of the second quarter.
More Cardinals miscues followed, undoubtedly unseen by television viewers who wisely called it a night. Rosen fumbled twice and was sacked six times. Running back David Johnson, a scintillating two-way player two years ago under a different coaching regime, was used mainly between the tackles to poor effect. He finished with just 39 yards rushing, averaging 2.8 yards per carry, and 31 yards receiving.
Oh, and Rosen perhaps hurt his toe after taking a sack late in the fourth quarter of a blowout, when most franchise quarterbacks would be safely ensconced on the sideline. The rookie told reporters he’ll be “fine” and that he was “just being soft” when he went down, but all it takes is one look at the passers sitting behind him on the Cardinals’ depth chart — Mike Glennon and Sam Bradford — to see that things could somehow get worse.
“He thinks he’s fine, but I’m not going to sit here and say that may be the case,” Cardinals coach Steve Wilks said, per ESPN.
Thursday night’s game was only the seventh of Wilks’ head coaching career, so there’s probably some slack to be given. The same couldn’t be said about McCoy, whose offence put up numbers that apparently were too bleak for Wilks to ignore. The Cardinals finished with 223 yards on Thursday night, their sixth straight game with less than 300, and are averaging 220.9 yards per game this season, the fewest by any NFL team through seven games since the 2009 Oakland Raiders.
Rosen finished the night with five turnovers (three picks and two fumbles lost) and took the six sacks. At one point between Arizona’s Week 5 win over the San Francisco 49ers and Thursday night, the Cardinals had failed to convert on 18 straight third downs.
No co-ordinator, not even a veteran like McCoy, was going to survive that.
As for the Broncos, they played perhaps their most complete game of the season and fulfilled Von Miller’s promise that they would “kick their ass.” If anything, the only down note was the fact that running back Royce Freeman (13 carries, 37 yards and a score Thursday night) may miss some time with a sprained ankle suffered late in the game, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
More Cardinals miscues followed, undoubtedly unseen by television viewers who wisely called it a night.