CARDINALS BEGIN SOUL-SEARCHING
The two-month, slowmotion collapse of the Arizona Cardinals will no doubt cause some soul-searching and tough questions in the coming days, weeks and months for the franchise.
The most obvious and pressing: Is this Kliff Kingsbury-Kyler Murray marriage really going to work or not?
The notion that Kingsbury could be on the hot seat or that Murray wasn’t the right quarterback for the team’s future would have been absurd just a couple of months ago, when the Cardinals were bulldozing through their schedule with a 10-2 record through Dec. 5.
But the Cardinals fell apart in a hurry. They lost four of their final five regular-season games and were utterly embarrassed in a 3411 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round on Monday night.
“Losing is one thing, but when you don’t even make it competitive, it’s another thing,” Murray said.
Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt called the season’s ending a “massive failure” after the game and Murray agreed. Kingsbury was more measured with his words but basically echoed the same sentiment.
“We’ve got to be better,” Kingsbury said on Tuesday. “This league is about closing strong and building momentum into the playoffs. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that.”
Prescott apologizes to refs
Dak Prescott apologized for his comments that condoned Dallas Cowboys fans throwing objects at NFL officials after the team’s playoff loss, with the quarterback saying in a series of tweets that he deeply regretted what he said after the game.
“I deeply regret the comments I made regarding the officials after the game on Sunday. I was caught up in the emotion of a disappointing loss and my words were uncalled for and unfair,” Prescott wrote in the first of consecutive posts on his verified Twitter account Tuesday night.
Jimmy G banged up
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo
is dealing with injuries to his right thumb and right shoulder as he prepares for Saturday’s divisional round playoff game at Green Bay.
Garoppolo was limited at practice Tuesday for the 49ers (11-7). He played through the thumb injury the past two weeks after missing one game, and hurt his shoulder in the first half of last week’s 23-17 playoff win over Dallas.
“It’s playoff football,” Garoppolo said. “We know what time it is. No time to rest right now.”
Historic interview
The Vikings announced they had completed an interview for their general manager position with Eagles VP of Football Operations Catherine Raiche.
Believed to be the first woman ever to interview for an NFL GM job, Raiche spent the past three seasons with the Eagles and four years before that with CFL and XFL teams. She is among the highest-ranking women in football operations in the NFL.
Notable
The Seattle Seahawks fired defensive coordinator
Ken Norton Jr. and passing game coordinator Andre Curtis.
The Vikings have added Rams defensive coordinator
Raheem Morris to their candidate list for head coach.
Buffalo Bills assistant general manager Joe Schoen kicked off the New York Giants’ search for a GM and he got the first secondround interview this week.
The Giants said the 42year-old met with President John Mara, Chairman Steve Tisch and Senior Vice President of Player Personnel
Chris Mara. New York plans to bring back Chiefs Executive Director of Player Personnel Ryan Poles today.