Commanders Give Kliff Kingsbury Game Ball After Routing Cardinals

The Washington Commanders' locker room was HYPE for the former Arizona Cardinals coach.

Sep 29, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals fell to the Washington Commanders in 42-14 fashion in Week 4, and the loss felt extra harsh coming at the hands of former head coach Kliff Kingsbury.

Kingsbury - who was fired at the end of 2022 by Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill - rejoined the NFL ranks this offseason (after a year at USC) as Washington's offensive coordinator.

Armed with the draft's No. 2 overall pick in Jayden Daniels, Kingsbury was hoping to walk out of a familiar environment with a win.

He not only did that - Kingsbury sent a statement in the process.

Looked like Kliff Kingsbury took a long look at the Arizona Cardinals sideline after that last TD FWIW.

— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) September 29, 2024

Washington's offense scored on seven of nine possessions at State Farm Stadium, out-gaining the Cardinals 449 to 296 in net yards while winning the time of possession battle.

Daniels himself orchestrated a brilliant game under Kingsbury, missing just four passes en route to a 26/30 day on 233 passing yards and two total touchdowns.

All in all, it was a massively impressive offensive show by Washington's offense, and head coach Dan Quinn made sure to recognize Kingsbury in a very hyped Commanders locker room after the win.

Warning for language (even though the Commanders bleeped the words out):

...KLIFF!!!!!!!@budlight | #RaiseHail pic.twitter.com/74IA9wRGCW

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) September 29, 2024

"On to the (redacted) next!" said Kingsbury after receiving the game ball from Quinn.

Kingsbury was a major proponent of bringing Kyler Murray to the Cardinals when he first took over in 2019. Though the two never accomplished their ultimate goal together, Kingsbury gave words of praise to Murray ahead of the matchup.

"At the end of last year I thought you could see the confidence back in the knee and made a bunch of plays, played really well. And he's played great this season - they were a couple plays away from being undefeated," Kingsbury said.

"You see the speed, the quickness, the competitive nature is there. It's been great, I basically banked my entire career on what he would be and I still believe in it. It's cool to see him playing as well as he is."

While it's back to the drawing board for Murray and co., Kingsbury should have a pretty fun plane ride back home.