Doubters said this wouldn’t work in The Desert, but results say they’re wrong. Kingsbury, ‘The Air Raid,” and Murray are doing just fine.
Surely, it can’t succeed at the NFL level, they said “It’s a college offense,” was the consensus. But now it appears that Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury and his quarterback, former Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray, are on track to success with an offense known simply as “The Air Raid.”
Kliff, the architect, in AZ (photo, Sports Illustrated)
For some analysts and fans, it was a shock when the Cardinals went all-in on Kingsbury, the same guy who had been fired at Texas Tech after going 35-40 at the Big XIII school, producing only two winning seasons during his stay in Lubbock. Besides, Kingsbury had exactly zero NFL experience. Arizona hired him anyway.
After that, the thought process was straightforward–draft the best player available in the 2019 NFL Draft. The Cardinals had the #1 overall pick, after all. That player was Murray, a player who had put up video game numbers running the ‘Air Raid’ at Oklahoma.
Murray, the operator, in AZ (photo, ClutchPoints)
Bottom line? Draft an Air Raid QB and pair him with a coach well-versed in that offense. After all, probably no coach knows it better than Kingsbury, who played for Air Raid-guru Mike Leach at Texas Tech. Leach, of course, helped develop the offense when he coached at Iowa Wesleyan with ‘the godfather’ of the offense, Hal Mumme.
Now, Kingsbury is schooling Murray, and the Cardinals are on the brink of something big.
Arizona has won its last two games in style–scoring 60 points and totaling nearly 1,000 yards in the process. Murray had consecutive big games, too. In the 26-23 win over Cincinnati, Murray passed for 253 yards, ran for 93 more, and scored a TD. Then, against Atlanta (a 34-33 win), Murray went 27-of-37 for 340 yards with three TDs.
The Cardinals now sit ninth in the NFL in total yards per game at 376.8 per.
Yes, Kingsbury and Arizona are nowhere near where they need to be. But, make no mistake about this: the Cardinals are trending in the right direction. They’re averaging 22.3 points per game, which is 8.2 more than all of the 2018 season.
This week, Arizona has another winnable game against the Giants, and then face a tough three-game stretch against the Saints and 49s (twice) in 17 days.
But as Arizona continues to improve, three things are certain. The Air Raid can work in the NFL. Kingsbury can coach in the NFL. Murray will thrive in this league.
The Cardinals hit the trifecta. For fans, it means NFL football is fun again!
