The Cardinals have a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback, bringing new offensive principles to the NFL.
And if you watch them in the preseason, you’ll see almost none of that offense.
Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury admitted to Peter King of NBC’s Football Morning in America that they are very deliberately not showing the bulk of the offensive scheme Kyler Murray will be in charge of in exhibition games — making them a bigger waster of time and money for fans than they already were.
“The games, we’re trying to keep it close to the vest, obviously,” Kingsbury said. “We’re trying to get our players used to playing with each other. But . . . it’s interesting for me, because this is the NFL, and I’ve never called a game in my life where I wasn’t in straight attack mode. Kyler and I are adjusting to that.”
Asked what they were actually preparing for, and Kingsbury had a list of non-football play items.
“That’s a great question,” he said. “For us, it’s operations. Getting guys lined up. Proper footwork. Things like that. It’s a challenge for Kyler. He wants to play. He wants to have success right away. He wants to light up every field he gets on. He’s been trying to get more put in to these game plans. ‘Are we game-planning this week? Are we game-planning? Can we do what we do?’ That’s been fun to see. He wants to go out and shine. He always has been the best, wherever he’s played. He expects to be the best. That’s what drives him.”
Of course, the Cardinals are installing the fun stuff in practice, in front of far fewer eyes (and paying customers), giving them some degree of element of surprise early in the regular season. Which they may well need, since their roster may not be very good.