The Arizona Cardinals were without their best player for the first six weeks of the season. DeAndre Hopkins was suspended for alleged PED use, and it sure took a toll on Kliff Kingsbury’s offense.
The Cardinals have been one of the most disappointing teams in the league, especially on the offensive side of the field. They’ve settled for field goals way too often, and their execution in the red-zone has been mediocre at best.
Needless to say, Hopkins’ return made an immediate impact to help them turn those woes around. He went off for tenreceptions on 14 targets, logging 103 yards and some big plays down the stretch.
NFL News: DeAndre Hopkins Says His Comeback Was A Success
“I spent a lot of time in the offseason preparing for this moment,“ Hopkins said after the game. “Obviously, I knew what I was up against, being out six games. Today was a success. The main goal is to win. If I had 10 catches for 10 yards, if we would’ve won the game I’d still be ecstatic. I feel great. I feel like I could’ve played another two quarters, another three quarters if I needed to. Today was a good day for my body.”
Kyler Murray Wanted Kliff Kingsbury To Calm Down
Even so, Murray was far from calm. He was spotted going at it with Kliff Kingsbury in the sidelines, which is why he had to clear the air and reveal what they were talking about during that scuffle:
“He’s real animated over there on the sideline sometimes,” Murray told The Athletic. “It’s ‘Calm down, we’re good. We’re going to make it right.’ We ended up scoring, so that was good, but that’s all I was saying. Just chill out.”
Kingsbury Isn’t Satisfied With His Team
Coach Kingsbury is far from satisfied with the way they’ve performed thus far. He knows he’s on the hot seat and the playoffs seem like a long shot right now, even with Hopkins back on the field:
“Yeah, I mean, it’s good,” Kingsbury said. “I think we’re working through as an offense where we want to be and what we want to do, and you have competitors that have a level of intensity like that, I think it will keep pushing us forward.”
“(We’re not playing) Not to our standard obviously, but I thought we started well,” the coach added. “We’ve got to be able to finish in the red zone, but just some execution and stuff that we can’t have happen — burning timeouts, the ball on the ground, snaps and things of that nature. It’s just got to get better.”
The Cardinals did look a lot better last night, but they also benefited from three interceptions, and two of those were returned for a touchdown. So, let’s take this win against Andy Dalton with a grain of salt.
