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After effectively punting on the 2023 NFL season due to a brutal series of injuries that left them starting Joshua Dobbs in Week 1, fans of the Arizona Cardinals were eager to see how Jonathan Gannon's vision would look fully formed.
Would Kyler Murray return to vintage form, playing like the unflappable franchise quarterback the team identified back in 2019 with the first overall pick? Would his offensive playmakers be able to put in work around Murray, with Marvin Harrison Jr. expected to become one of the top receivers in the NFC West right out of the gate? And what about Gannon's defense? General manager Monti Ossenfort has certainly provided him with more talent this offseason, but will that be enough to form the sort of dominant defense that helped push the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl a few years back?
Well, in Week 1, it's hard to say many of those questions were answered, as their Week 1 game against the Buffalo Bills had as many ups as downs – maybe more of the latter than the former – and left plenty of room to grow for the team heading into the future, especially in a few key areas that were supposed to be if not a highlight, at least a strength.
1. Kyler Murray
When the Cardinals opted against using the fourth overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft on a new starting quarterback, be that trading up for a player like Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, or Drake Maye, or going in on a player like JJ McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr., or Bo Nix, fans assumed it was because Gannon and his staff believed that Murray could be their guy heading into the future.
On paper, the idea made some sense, right? Murray, too, was a first-overall pick in the NFL draft, a Heisman winner, and actually played pretty well down the stretch last year, despite missing much of the year as he recovered from injury. Give him a full, healthy offseason to learn schemes, get comfortable, and build deeper connections with players like Michael Wilson and Greg Dortch, and hey, maybe it all clicks, right? Especially with Harrison Jr. locked in as the new offensive focal point for the team's passing game.
Well, while Harrison Jr. should still find himself one of the top performers in the NFC West, with fans still really hoping to see the OSU product pick up a thousand yards, become a Pro Bowler, and be anointed one of the best receivers in the NFL on the season, in Week 1, his presence was absolutely wasted, so much so that when he could have played an impactful role in the game, running wide open to the endzone without a defensive back near him, Murray looked elsewhere, leaving the rookie with just one catch on three targets for four yards and… that's it.
Now granted, the Cards came close to beating the Bills, losing the game by just six points despite not playing particularly well overall, and Murray was a force in the rushing game, picking up 57 yards on five carries in the game, but as a passer? Well, the diminutive Heisman winner from OSU only picked up 162 yards on 21 of 31 passing with one touchdown and four sacks taken. Even if the Cardinals were always going to be a work in progress in Arizona this season as their new-look offensive line shapes up, the team simply needs to see more from Murray to justify keeping him in place as the face of the team into the future, as his efforts in Week 1 leave that question very much up in the air.
2. James Conner and The Cardinals run game
While Murray didn't exactly do himself any favors in Week 1 against the Bills, throwing for under 200 yards, missing his new star receiver, and just generally leaving more questions than answers with his performance, the rest of the Cardinals' offense didn't exactly back him up either, as, in a game where a solid ground effort could have helped to take some pressure off of it's quarterback, James Conner and company simply let their QB1 down.
Need proof? Well, look no further than Murray himself, who actually led the team in rushing yards despite only carrying the ball five times versus 16 times by James Conner and three more by Trey Benson. While Conner had some solid plays, picking up a 20-yard run while recording his first rushing touchdown of the season, he simply couldn't get things going consistently enough to establish anything of note on the ground, averaging just 3.1 yards per carry for a meager 50 total rushing yards.
Granted, again, Conner pulled double duty just like his QB, finishing second on the team in passing yards with three receptions for 33 yards, but it's hard not to wonder how much better Arizona would have played if Gannon's offense had a dominant force moving the chains. Unfortunately, with the San Francisco 49ers looking elite, the Los Angeles Rams coming darn close to upsetting the Detroit Lions, and the Seattle Seahawks looking legit, albeit against a Denver Broncos team that might be seriously bad, the Cardinals simply can't drop close games when it matters, especially when they can steal a big one against one of the best teams in the AFC.
If the Cardinals can't get their offense going and instead have to win close ones with Gannon's defense, it's safe to say the team may be picking near the top of the NFL draft once more, with the potential to add another blue chipper like Harrison… or a new starting quarterback like Carson Beck out of Georgia.
