Last offseason, one of the main messages for the Arizona Cardinals was the need to be increasingly disciplined. In 2021 when the Cardinals started 10-2 but finished 11-5 and lost in the first round of the playoffs, they were one of the league’s most penalized teams.
A year later, the Cardinals still had problems with penalties, only they went 4-13 and lost their final seven games, there is a similar message and theme for the offseason.
In fact, the players are asking for it, according to team owner Michael Bidwill.
“It was accountability,” he said. “We need more accountability. That is something that (new GM) Monti (Ossenfort) and I talked about. It’s clear that that’s going to be an emphasis here and that’s what he just described as setting ego aside. It’s all about accountability to the team.”
Based on what came out in that ESPN report about Kliff Kingsbury, Kyler Murray and more, one problem with Kingsbury as a coach is that there wasn’t enough accountability. He would not call out players for their mistakes. Player leaders would try to do that but it wasn’t happening from coaches as much as it should.
General manager Monti Ossenfort will preach that. The Cardinals’ next head coach probably will be a tougher coach than Kingsbury.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.