Arizona Cardinals' offense has been feast or (mostly) famine

A St. Louis Rams player told me many years ago that he learned a valuable lesson during his days at Penn State playing for Joe Paterno.

Defensive lineman Tyoka Jackson said Paterno would always tell the team that it was never as good as it seemed when things were going well and not as bad as it seemed when they weren’t.

Of course, the reality is that the Arizona Cardinals are now 4-18 since the start of the 2025 season and it just feels very bad, especially with a 1-13 record since the middle of last season.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t any good things. It’s simply that the bad is magnified when a game is lost like last Sunday against the Detroit Lions or in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks with a combined score of 76-28. The good feels only like a tease when it’s followed by a sea of three-and-outs on offense or explosive plays against the defense.

As tight end Trey McBride said Wednesday about the offense, “It just feels like when we get rolling, when we get the first, first down, it’s like man, our offense is really freaking good. But it’s like right now it just seems like we’re either on a 15-play drive or we’re three-and-out. And it’s like there’s no in-between and that’s a problem.”

Some eye-opening numbers bear that out. At the end of this story will be a breakdown of the five games this season, but for now, digest these examples of feast or famine:

The Cardinals have had 18 possessions in which 15 ended with points and except for four eight-play drives (three touchdowns/one missed field goal) and one for six plays (touchdown), the other 13 all lasted at least 10 plays including nine that were 12 plays or more

In those 18 possessions, they gained 1,082 yards (60.1 yards per drive) on 196 plays (5.5 average) with 78 first downs.

The flip side has 38 possessions that gained only 424 yards (11.2 per drive) on 138 plays (3.1 average) with 21 first downs and an astounding 21 three-and-outs, not including three kneeldowns at the end of the win over the Chargers. That is the definition of famine.

McBride said, “We got to find a way to stay on the field. We have to find a way to sustain drives and when we can get that first, first down, it’s like man, it almost feels like we’re going to score every time. And we have to find a way to do that not only for our team, but for our defense. We can’t just keep throwing them out there. ‘Hey man, you just got done with a 12-play drive. All right, we’ll go three-and-out.’ Well, you’re back up. You haven’t even caught your breath yet.

“It’s like we got to be better for them. We got to be better for our team. We got to find a way to get that first down and get the ball moving and score more points and get the defense off the field.”

A compromised Jeremiyah Love has affected the ground game, which looked great at the beginning of the Giants game, but has gone nowhere in the last seven quarters.

“The run game’s the start of everything,” McBride said. “It’s like if you can run the football in this league, everything else opens up. You can pass the ball better. You can do fun stuff. Everything’s better when you can run the ball. So we have to find a way to run the ball.

“We have two talented running backs. Three with Bam (Knight) as well. It’s like we have too many good players on this team to not be able to run the ball and it’s on us as tight ends, as offensive linemen, as coaches, whatever it is, we have to be better in the run game and get that fixed.”

Head coach Mike LaFleur said, “I’ve liked when the ball’s moving and it’s moving well, and then I don’t like when it’s stalled. We’ve had opportunities, particularly on offense, where it feels like it’s just boom, boom, boom. Then at other times we just stall, so how can we continue to do the good stuff and not the bad? It starts with me providing that clarity, calling the right plays at the right time, and then those guys executing.”

Quarterback Jacoby Brissett also spoke about the wild swings within the offense, saying, “When we haven’t gone three-and-out, we’ve found a way to score points. It just comes down to one play at a time, finding ways to lock in and just stay on the field.”

The challenge will be doing that on the road against the Rams, who are coming off a loss to the Bills in overtime Monday night. If what happened Sunday repeats itself, the noise from the fanbase will get even louder. If that’s possible.

A capsule look at the first five games

Week 1 vs Chargers: Five drives of 11-70 (TD), 8-44 (missed FG), 12-66 (FG), 8-52 (FG), 10-75 (FG): 49 plays, 307 yards (6.3 per play/61.4 per possessions), 18 first downs. Other six possessions: 23 plays, 86 yards (3.7 per play/14.3 per possession), five first downs, two three-and-outs not including the kneeldowns.
Week 2 vs Seahawks: One drive of 12-53 (TD), 4.4 per play with five first downs. Other nine possessions: 35 plays, 98 yards (2.8 per play/10.9 per possession), five first downs, five three-and-outs.
Week 3 vs 49ers: Five drives of 12-42 (punt), 14-64 (FG), 8-44 (FG), 14-69 (TD), 14-68 (TD): 62 plays, 287 yards, (4.6 per play/57.4 per possession), 22 first downs. Other five possessions: 19 plays, 78 yards (4.1 per play/15.6 per possession), five first downs, two three-and-outs.
Week 4 vs Giants: Four drives of 12-45 (interception), 10-35 (TD), 8-58 (TD), 6-74 (TD): 36 plays, 212 yards (5.9 per play/53.0 per possession), 17 first downs. Other nine possessions: 27 plays, 58 yards (2.1 per play/6.4 per possession), two first downs, seven three-and-outs.
Week 5 vs Lions: Three drives of 14-73 (TD), 10-72 (TD), 13-78 (TD): 37 plays, 223 yards (6.0 per play/74.3 per possession), 16 first downs. Other nine possessions: 34 plays, 104 yards (3.1 per play/11.6 per possession), four first downs, five three-and-outs.

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