This is getting ridiculous.
The Arizona Cardinals currently have 79 penalties, (most in league) and 634 penalty yards (4th most.) This problem was most evident last Thursday in a close loss to Seattle where Arizona had 10 penalties for 115(!) yards. In a nearly empty stadium, Arizona committed numerous false starts, a holding which resulted in a safety, and a boneheaded unsportsmanlike conduct penalty following a 3rd down stop which resulted in the Seahawks scoring a touchdown to go ahead 2 scores instead of kicking a 50+ yard field goal. The latter two had huge impacts on the game and were big reasons that Arizona lost. It is very reasonable to assume the Cardinals could’ve won if they were more disciplined.
It’s easy to point the finger at 2nd year head coach Kliff Kingsbury, but to an extent, this is to be expected with a young coach and one of the youngest rosters in the NFL. But enough is enough. Arizona has 19 false start penalties this year, second in the league, and like I said before, these have come in a year where crowd noise isn’t nearly what it normally is. The fact of the matter is that Arizona will almost certainly make the playoffs this year and have shown at different points in the season that they have the makings to be a future super bowl contender. But fixing penalties is the most important task right now, especially heading into New England, the team that has been penalized the least this season (3.6 per game.)
Photo Credit: 247 Sports
