Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins won an ESPY for the best play of the year for their Hail Mary to beat the Bills in Week 10 of the 2020 season, but there weren’t any prizes for the Cardinals after that thrilling victory.
Arizona was 6-3 after Hopkins’ touchdown, but they went 2-5 the rest of the way and wound up missing the playoffs. Injuries played a role in their ill-timed slump and left tackle D.J. Humphries suggested that the team may have taken their eyes off the prize as well.
Humphries said on SiriusXM NFL Radio that “when you get unto the mind frame of, ‘We’re good, so we beat this team,’ it’s going to get you every time” and that the team has to realize that doing well for half the season doesn’t guarantee that they will succeed in the second half as well.
“Complacency is a real thing and it kills,” Humphries said, via Jess Root of USAToday.com. “When you feel like your [s--t] doesn’t stink, it’s eventually going to start stinking and it’s going to show. And that is something I learned quickly. Every week, it has to be the same preparation. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing Monday night football this week or Thursday night football. It doesn’t matter, Every week has to be the same preparation.”
The Cardinals added some more big names to the roster this offseason and stopping short after a strong start to the season won’t be enough to fulfill the outside expectations that they carry into the fall. Humphries’ comments make it clear that won’t cut it internally either.