Kyler Murray Still Confident in Cardinals Offense

Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray says the team can play their best ball on offense moving forward.

The Arizona Cardinals hope to turn the tide of their season after a dismal 3-5 start. 

At least head coach Kliff Kingsbury is hopeful they can do so despite analytics not being in their favor. 

"For how we’ve kind of played I think analytics told me we’ve been behind 91% of the time through the first eight weeks. I think it was about six minutes of each game we’ve had a lead on average and to still have an opportunity to be in the race, at that point, you’ve got to have some gratitude for that and understand that you’ve got an opportunity to play better," said Kingsbury to reporters on Wednesday. 

"We think our best football is out in front of us and it has to be these next three weeks against three really good opponents.”

Statistically, the Cardinals haven't been terrible on the offensive side of the ball, laying in the middle of the road in all major statistical categories through eight weeks of play. 

Yet the play of Kyler Murray has fallen under heavy scrutiny, currently sitting in career lows for metrics such as passer rating (85.3) and yards per attempt (6.1). Arizona has yet to score a first quarter touchdown, a streak that dates back towards the end of last season.

“At the start of the season we weren’t playing how we wanted to play. Again, I think we’ve gotten better each and every week," Murray said on Wednesday. 

"Little mishaps here and there obviously cost us the game last week, but I’m definitely confident in where we’re going as an offense. Moving the ball doesn’t seem extremely hard like it did at one point. At the beginning of season, it’s kind of like you felt like you had no hope—at least that’s what it looked like. 

"Now we look like an actual offense, so I feel good about it.”

The Cardinals have notoriously stumbled out of the gates in each game thus far, fighting back from a deficit in each of their three wins. It's been a constant rotation of players at nearly every position group but quarterback and tight end due to injury.

The arrival of DeAndre Hopkins has helped alleviate some of that pressure, but mistakes are still being made.

“I’ll never fault anybody for making mistakes full speed—even myself," Murray said.

"Obviously, I’m hard on myself, but you don’t make those mistakes during the week, so you get in the game and then mental mistakes- that’s where it’s crucial. The false starts or lining up in an incorrect spot (things) like that. 

"We don’t do that during the week and that’s kind of why we’ve been struggling this season is making these things happen during the game. It’s unusual of us to make these types of mistakes and that’s kind of been killing us.”

Up next for Arizona is a daunting three game stint against NFC West opponents that first sees them host the Seattle Seahawks for round two after losing on the road by a 19-9 margin. 

The lone Cardinals touchdown came from a blocked punt on special teams. 

“The sense of urgency’s got to be at all the time high. A lot of guys understand that. They know what’s at stake and they know where we can take this thing or we can let it slip away, but everything is right there for us," said Murray. 

"We’re focused on this week, so we can’t really look too far ahead, but we understand what’s ahead.”

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