There are some lingering questions when it comes to the Arizona Cardinals‘ new head coach Kliff Kingsbury and his vision of a “new wave” offense. This being his first season in the NFL, is his most-talked-about air raid style offense going to work? How traditional is it going to be compared to other NFL offenses? Could we see Kyler Murray under center at all?
“You want to have that fine line of not thinking too much, but we want to have enough in that we can still be an attacking, kind of giving the illusion of complexity out there,” Kingsbury said, according to the Arizona Cardinals website.
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Former Oklahoma quarterback and first overall pick Murray didn’t play under center once in the Big 12, and that may relay to the NFL. Kingsbury brings a new vision of air raid offense with his quarterback being in the shotgun. Although Kingsbury promises a pass-heavy offense, the Cardinals’ running back David Johnson could be one of the most vital pieces in his scheme. According to Matthew Berry of ESPN, he believes Johnson will not only be the leading rusher for the team, but may even be amongst the receivers in terms of targets in the air. According to USA Today, Kingsbury’s offenses has had the 10th-most running back receptions since he started calling the plays in 2013. With Murray’s mobility and Kingsbury air raid style, Johnson could see a ton of dump-downs to him out in the flats.
We could also see the read option more than we ever had from an NFL team. Keeping Murray off the ground is crucial for the Cards, but Kingsbury has a weapon of one of the fastest QB’s to ever play in the NFL at his disposal.
“We just try to do things that we think the defense will struggle with,” Kingsbury said, according to ESPN. “If it’s run it every play, we’ll run it every play. If we got to throw it a bunch, we’ll do that as well. Basically, take what they give you.”
Its undoubtable that the league has moved to a passing-favored offense. Last season, 25 teams passed the ball in 55 percent of their play calls, compared to a decade ago where just seven teams passed the ball over 60 percent of the time. While Kingsbury was the head coach at Texas Tech, he was in the top-10 of teams in passing plays, while averaging at least 30 points a game and over 300 passing yards a game. Reckon there’s an immense gap between Big 12 and NFL defenses, the numbers communicate potential.
Regardless of his scheme, the other 31 teams knows they are up to something new. Cardinals’ guard J.R. Sweezy summed it up pretty simply. “It’s going to be fun to watch,” Sweezy said, according to ESPN. “It’s going to be real fun to watch.”
