Without James Conner, Can the Cardinals' Offense Get Off the Ground?
Sunday afternoon brought a heartbreaking, intra-divisional loss for the Cardinals against the San Francisco 49ers, 15-16. Adding insult to injury, as it were, starting running back James Conner went down with a season-ending foot injury in the third quarter.
Even with Conner, the Cardinals’ offense hasn’t been exactly lighting the world on fire through three weeks, despite a 2-1 record and pretty strong play from quarterback Kyler Murray, who’s 11th in EPA per play among QBs this year. Two position groups need to step up if Arizona is going to be able to withstand the injury and keep pace in a highly competitive NFC West, and neither of them is running back:
The Offensive Line Needs to Create Push
So far this year, we’ve seen some comically low yards before contact numbers, including Bengals’ Chase Brown with a historically bad -54 yards below contact in total. Unfortunately, the Cardinals haven’t fared too much better, with James Conner ranking as the fifth-worst running back by yards before contact per rush, at 1.2 yards.
The offensive line has been so bad that some fans are speculating that Conner’s attempts to try and make up for its bad play are what led to his season-ending injury.
Now, second-year back Trey Benson is up, and he’s actually the leading rusher on the team, averaging 2.9 yards before contact and 6 yards per carry overall. If the offensive line doesn’t improve, however, it won’t matter what kind of running back Benson can be, especially with the Seahawks defense on the schedule next.
What is Happening to the Wide Receiver Room?
Speaking of comical stats to come out this week, how about this one? 17 receivers have more receiving yards through three weeks than the entire Cardinals receiving room combined, a list featuring the likes of Tre Tucker, Wan’Dale Robinson, and rookie Tetairoa McMillan.
The struggles are highlighted by Marvin Harrison Jr.’s big drops on Sunday, but besides him, the Cardinals don’t have a receiver with over 55 yards.
Marv needs to step up and live up to the billing of the can’t-miss blue-chip prospect that he was coming out of Ohio State, but it’s worth noting that the issues are not all on him. If veteran Zay Jones, Greg Dorch, and Michael Wilson can’t add any value in the passing game, it’s going to be tough to stop defenses from loading the box to try to shut down the running game even more.
Are the Issues Fixable?
The short answer is not entirely, because if you have a bad offensive line and you’re in a division with the Rams, 49ers, and Seahawks, that’s not a strong recipe for success. However, I do think Marv and the other receivers will get some more confidence as the year goes on, and although it’s risky, Kyler can help create some gaps by running more himself.
After the Seahawks, Arizona has two of the bottom three defenses on its schedule in the next five weeks, with the Titans and Cowboys, where it can hopefully build some momentum and get rolling heading into the second half of the season.