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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/Beetle-Persona on 2025-03-03 15:07:26+00:00.

Team: Arizona Cardinals

Cardinals turn up the heat in Miami.

Division: NFC West

Record 8-9 (3-3 Divisional) 3rd Place NFC West

  • Home (6-3)
  • Away (2-6)

Playoff: Its the hope that kills you…

Opening

Welcome to the 32 Teams/23 Day Series. Write up’s so nice I had to do it thrice. Another year of frustrations for the Cardinals as things seemed to be turning around followed by an all too familiar second half slump. The Cardinals are a smaller franchise so most of you won’t know much about our struggles so hopefully this will give insights into our season. [Last Year Write Up]

General Season Review

The fall and rise and fall of the Cardinals 2024 - Week by Week in Comments

Coming off a rebuild year in which Kyler was unavailable till the later half but had shown signs of promise in those final games. Hopes were optimistic, the schedule was firm but not insurmountable and many opportunities for playoff contention.

The draft success only helped stoke the flames of optimism with blue chip talents such as Marvin Harrison Jr being acquired, the sky seemed the limit to many a homer fan.

The start of the season began with a tussle in Buffalo, last time Kyler and Allen squared off Kyler pulled off what might be his career highlight “Hail Murray”. This matchup didn’t disappoint and the Bills and Cards duked it out in an impressive 28-34 loss, setting the tone of the Cardinals being a fringe team. Afterwards the Cardinals continued a trend of either having tight bouts with playoffs calibre team such as Detroit and Miami followed by baffling beatdowns at the hand of Green Bay and Washington.

Despite tough losses the Cardinals began a formidable 4 week run going into the bye at 6-4. Playoff hopes spiked with the second half of the schedule considered the “easier” half, things quickly came apart from the seams as the Seahawks held firm twice in 3 weeks to derail title hopes. An heartbreaking loss to the Vikings raised uncomfortable questions surrounding Gannon coaching and Kyler ability to win in the clutch, Interceptions in all these 3 massive losses split opinion among fans.

This season can be described as frustration incarnate, many losses came from less the one score and little moments became massive in retrospect. Many fingers have been pointed at many names. Ossenfort for not signing bigger names in FA, Gannon for being conservative in big moments, Petzing for being unable to call an effective pass offense and Kyler for throwing crippling INTs in must win games.

However talk is cheap and the stats tell their own story so its time we get into that.

2024 Season Statistics

Stats via ESPN

Offensive Stat Line

Stats Value Average League Ranking 2023 Ranking
Total Yards 6,090 358.2 11th ⬆️ 19th
Total Passing Yards 3,639 214.1 18th ⬆️ 26th
Total Rushing Yards 2,451 144.2 7th ⬇️ 4th
Field Goals 34/38 7th ⬆️ 18th
Touchdowns Passing 21 23rd ⬆️ 25th
Touchdown Rushing 18 8th ⬆️ 9th
Points Scored 400 23.5 12th ⬆️ 24th
Turnovers 20 16th ⬆️ 25th
Interceptions/Giveaway 11 18th ➡️ 18th
Fumbles Lost 9 12th ⬇️ 6th

Despite offensive struggles this season has been an improvement across the board, even the slight average slump for the rushing stats is explained but this year being headlined by strong rushing offenses (Lions, Eagles, Ravens).

Defence Stat Line

Stat Value Average League Ranking 2023 Ranking
Yards Allowed 5,823 342.5 21st ⬆️ 25th
Passing Yards Allowed 3,674 216.1 14th ⬆️ 20th
Rushing Yards Allowed 2,149 126.4 20th ⬆️ 32nd
Points Allowed 379 22.3 15th ⬆️ 31st
Interceptions Takeaways 9 25th ⬇️ 21st
Fumbles Recoveries 8 16th ⬆️ 29th

Honestly when you’re 32nd in rush defence last year the only way is up… The Cardinals defence was something of a revelation, under Rallis they exceeded expectations by taking control in many games despite an undermanned roster with few big names.

2024 Free Agency/Re/Signing/Leavings

  • Jonah Williams OT:
  • DeeJay Dallas RB:
  • Chris Moore WR:
  • Justin Jones DT:
  • Mack Wilson Sr LB:
  • Bilal Nichols DT:
  • Sean Murphy-Bunting CB:
  • Trystan Colon G:
  • L.J Collier DT:
  • Krys Barnes LB:
  • Aaron Brewer LS:
  • Blake Gillikin P:
  • Greg Dortch WR
  • Mid season Signings
  • Baron Browning LB
  • Chad Ryland

The Cardinals focused on resigning essential free agents over big name pick ups, wise considering the legacy of the Keim era and the lack of depth across the board. Notable names such as Dortch, L.J Collier, Gillikin and Brewer are among the resigning’s.

Free agent pick up were far and few between creating slight tensions amongst fans, but its the quality of signings not the quantity. Murphy-Bunting from Tennessee was the biggest of splashes in the FA market with DeeJay Dallas being the only other known name besides lineman signing, not very exciting but necessary.

The Cardinals traded former 2nd round pick Rondale Moore to Atlanta from Desmond Ridder. Moore struggled with injuries and performance on the field, to the point that undrafted signing Dortch had effectively beaten him out in practice. Unfortunately Moore suffered an season ending injury shortly after joining the Falcons. As for Ridder under centre with the Cardinals simply stare into your toilet, you’ll see the same as what most fans saw this season.

The biggest leaving was that of veteran tackle D.J Humphries. The 8 year vet was among the longest remaining Cardinals, unfortunately after suffering an ACL injury in the final game of last season Humphries became a cap casualty. A huge loss for the O-Line as his veteran presence was notable for rookie’s such as Paris Johnson Jr.

Draft Day 2024

4th Overall Pick Marvin Harrison Jr (Left) & 27th Overall Pick Darius Robinson.

2024 Draft Picks:

1.4 Marvin Harrison Jr, Ohio State, WR.

Despite rumours of a Cardinals trade down and the revelation that calls had been made for the 4th pick, Ossenfort stuck at 4 and took the number one non QB prospect. With such hype and highlights from Ohio State many expected a season to rival Harrison Sr or Fitzgerald, however sometimes we can expect too much.

Despite the hype MHJ put up respectable if underwhelming numbers, 885 yards for 8TDs the second most on the Cardinals passing offense. MHJ and Murrays connection seemed like it requires more time as they struggled at times to be on the same page on routes, MHJ also struggled to separate from CBs and had painful drops.

With all the negative talking points, the narrative that MHJ is somewhat of a “bust” or that Nabers was the better pick is hogwash. While many rookie WRs did have 1k season, this was the most of any rookie class. One must under the Petzing offense to understand why 885 yards is the highest for a WR in this roster, Petzing runs a traditional run first offense which used 2-3 TEs and as such is conservative by default, as such the run game took priority. Offensive scheming didn’t benefit receivers and field goals where chosen over unitising the receiver core. However we will speak more on Petzing in the Coach section.

1.27 via Houston Texan - Darius Robinson, Missouri, Edge.

Whilst many fans assumed prospects available like DeJean & McKinstry would be donning the Cardinal red, Ossenfort true target was revealed in Darius Robinson. a senior edge rusher who spent 5 years with Missouri and was First-Team ALL-SEC in 2023, leading his teams with 8.5 sacks.

Robinson season has been a mixed bag, with BJ Ojulari having an season ending injury in the preseason pressure fell upon Robinson to be the primary pass rusher. However injuries affected Robinson on and off the field as an injury before the season and the sudden passing of his mother kept him off the pitch until week 13. Recording only 1 sack this season against the Patriots.

It impossible to make a fair assessment of Robinson so far with so little data, next season will give better insight into if he can step into the role and give the Cardinals a formidable pass rusher defence.

2.43 via Atlanta Falcons, Max Melton, Rutgers, CB.

With DeJean and McKinstry still on the board many fans myself included were incensed to see a Cardinals trade down with Atlanta, however in retrospect Melton’s selection showed that the fr…

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