OC Leftwich brings QB-heavy focus
Byron Leftwich has gone from coaching the Cardinals’ four quarterbacks to calling the shots for the team’s entire offense. It’s a big jump, but when it comes to dividing his time at practice, he has a simple solution.
“I don’t,” Leftwich said Tuesday with a familiar laugh. “Time don’t exist no more.”
The two weeks since his promotion have probably been a blur for Leftwich. He now has a comeback win in his first game as offensive coordinator. The lategame surge was driven by rookie quarterback Josh Rosen, who completed 12 of 18 passes in the fourth quarter for 150 of his 252 total passing yards.
On the go-ahead touchdown drive, Rosen took to the air on all 12 plays, completing seven throws for 73 yards. Leftwich thinks he has an “exceptional” player in Rosen, one who has his biggest moments with the game on the line. He also thinks the players around him are starting to have a better understanding of how Rosen operates.
Though it’s a small sample size, Leftwich has been using practice time to work with players across the offense, and he always goes back to the same refrain.
“Coach what you see, tell every position what you see, and you’re giving them all the quarterback perspective,” Leftwich said. “A lot of time, they don’t have that perspective because they don’t know. So I try to tell them and educate them and inform them, so they have an idea.”
Simplifying the offense has been a theme for the Cardinals since early on this season. For Leftwich, that seems to mean both running less plays in practice, but also using the quarterback as a nexus for every play, no matter which position group he’s talking to.
“When you get a team playing together like that, they’re all aware of what you want to do in certain situations, they tend to play fast, they tend to play better,” he said. “So that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Leftwich’s focus in answering most questions mirrors his primary focus at practice: Rosen. That much is natural; he’s a former quarterback who’s spent most of his time with the Cardinals coaching that position group. But long before Leftwich was moved to offensive coordinator, he was getting to know other players and sharing advice from a quarterback’s lens.
“I’ve always talked to all the guys,” Leftwich said. “If you ask the guys in the room, I’m talking to every position, and this was months ago. Just giving them a quarterback’s perspective of the play, so they understand the timing of certain things, knowing where to be and why they need to be there.”
What seems to be a quarterback-centric focus from Leftwich is a departure from the start of the season.
With running back David Johnson returning this year from an injury, all early indications were that this offense would revolve around Johnson. Coaches knew it. Even stars on the offense like wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald were in on the plan.
“Things are going to run through David,” Fitzgerald said on the third day of training camp. “He knows everybody else is going to pick up the scraps.”
Any scraps were few and far between. Even with the recent win, the team is still last in yards per game and second-to-last in points per game.
Johnson is the first to criticize his own play, and there are times he’s missed holes. He’s also playing behind an injured offensive line and on an offense that rarely sustained drives long enough to showcase any play calling in the first eight games.
Johnson’s 59 yards rushing against the 49ers were his second-most of the season, but still well below the numbers he put up in 2016. Outside of a blowout win over the Rams to end the regular season in which Johnson had only five carries, he averaged 82.2 yards rushing that year. His season high so far this year is 71 yards.
On Sunday, the offensive line showed signs of improvement, even without starter Justin Pugh, and Johnson got outside more. Coach Steve Wilks credited those creative tweaks to Leftwich.
“I was very impressed with the screen game,” Wilks said Monday. “I thought we did a tremendous job in trying to perfect that ourselves.”
Leftwich, whose previous experience with calling plays at any level had only come in the preseason, said he felt comfortable making the calls. If there were calls that could have been better, he’s certainly not looking at it that way.
“Oh no, oh no – there’s no second guessing,” Leftwich said.
“Anytime you call one, you think that’s the one.”
The Cardinals have a lot to improve the rest of the season, and with the Chiefs, Packers and Rams all still on the schedule. Intangibles don’t translate directly to wins, but the team seems ready to buy in to Leftwich’s energy and his approach to offense.
“I was so happy for that dude,” D.J. Humphries said after Sunday’s game. “If there’s anybody in this league, not even just in this organization, if there’s anybody in this league that deserves the opportunities he’s getting right now, it’s him . ...
“Seeing him go out there and flourish the way he’s doing right now, I’m so happy for that dude, I can’t wait to see him do it again.”
Extra points
❚ The trade deadline passed on Tuesday at 1 p.m., and the Cardinals did not make any moves.
❚ The Cardinals got an extra day off during the bye week and will not practice Wednesday.
❚ Safety Tre Boston, WR Larry Fitzgerald and TE Jermaine Gresham did not participate in individual drills during the open part of practice. As it is a bye week, the Cardinals will not release an injury report. WR Chad Williams was in a walking boot on his left foot after practice.
❚ On Tuesday, the Cardinals announced they signed OL Colby Gossett from Minnesota’s practice squad and TE John Phillips. They released OL Blaine Clausell and TE Gabe Holmes to make room on the roster. On top of that, they re-signed DE Vontarrius Dora and OL Kyle Friend to the practice squad, releasing DE Ufomba Kamalu and K Matt McCrane in turn.