How Cardinals Continue to Excel in Red Zone

The Arizona Cardinals remain among the top ten best red zone offense in the NFL, but have plenty of room for offensive improvement.

Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) runs for a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers during the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

Going into 2024, most football fans and experts alike believed the Arizona Cardinals offense would be among the best in the National Football League.

While the record does not reflect an unstoppable offense and the play on the field has shown a group that suffers a high variance between hot and cold, the Cardinals offense is still among the best in several categories.

Perhaps, the most important of those categories is red zone efficiency, a metric that measures the percentage of offensive drives that make it into the Red Zone (the area inside an opponent's 20-yard line) and end with points, either a touchdown or field goal.

Through the five games of 2024, the Cardinals are currently 9th in the NFL in Red Zone Efficiency, scoring points on 64.29% of offensive drives that make it into the Red Zone.

A big contributor to this Red Zone success is the 4th best rushing attack in the league with the Cardinals averaging 156.4 yards on the ground per game. James Conner remains one of the most underrated running backs in professional football and is averaging 4.6 yard per carry and has added three scores on the ground.

However, another key element of this successful run game is quarterback Kyler Murray who is still one of the most talented running quarterbacks in the game even after an ACL tear in 2022.

He is averaging 10.7 yards per carry and the football world was certainly reminded of his capabilities on Sunday when he scored on a 50-yard dash two plays into the first offensive drive against his divisional opponent, the San Francisco 49ers.

Kyler Murray knew he was scoring. See ya. pic.twitter.com/djwu1CPiMF

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 6, 2024

As evidence of the impact of Murray's run game, look no further than an embarrassing route at home to the Washington Commanders in which the quarterback only used legs once for a meager three-yard gain. The Cardinals would lose that matchup 42-14.

Designed runs for Murray open up the Cardinals offense as seen on Sunday in Santa Clara. His running threat opens up several different options including play action and takes the onus off of James Conner to play superman.

The passing game continues to need some work and refinement. The Cardinals are 24th in the NFL in passing yards per game at 181.6 which is at least partially due to the time it will take for Murray and rookie receiver Marvin Harrison, Jr. to fully mesh.

Harrison, Jr. is sitting at a very respectable 279 receiving yards, and more importantly, 4 touchdowns however, 130 of those yards, 46.6% of his total, came in one massive offensive outing against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3. He will need to work on consistency with his quarterback, but that will come with time.

Although things are not perfect on the offensive side of the ball for the Cardinals there are still elements that should be appreciated and have kept the team in most of their games.

If the Cardinals can keep the trend alive and improve week-by-week, expect them to stay competitive in most, if not all, of their matchups.