TEMPE — The Arizona Cardinals’ offense has not lived up to elevated preseason expectations six weeks into 2024, and play-caller Drew Petzing acknowledged on Tuesday his own performance requires introspection.
“I’m always going to say my play calling is how we roll as an offense,” Petzing said. “So when we’re rolling, I take a lot of pride in that. I also think I got to give a lot of that credit to the players and their execution. And when we’re not, I got to look at myself and say, ‘What can I do better?’
“So I think, as you look throughout our first six games now, I think we got to clean up the inconsistency and that starts with me as a play caller.”
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This is year 2 of Petzing being an NFL play-caller, and the season started off promisingly after he turned heads last year.
Rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. put a quiet debut behind him for 130 yards in one quarter of Week 2 and Arizona scored 69 points through two games. There appeared to be momentum for Petzing and for an offense many anticipated would be a bright spot illuminant enough to keep the Cardinals competitive.
The past four weeks have not produced the same boom consistently, leading to self-evaluation questions Petzing faced after a 34-13 loss in Green Bay. Arizona has not eclipsed 14 points in three of the last four games, while the Harrison-Kyler Murray tandem has not yet gotten rolling.
“I’d like every play to work. That’s certainly one of my goals,” Petzing said. “But, I think at the end of the day, I think there’s definitely areas where I feel I could be a little bit better here, a little bit more consistent there.”
Cardinals OC says Marvin Harrison Jr. in position to make plays
Harrison has two grabs over his last two games, although he suffered a concussion in the second quarter on Sunday. He is up to 17 receptions on 36 targets, the third lowest reception percentage in the NFL among 58 players with at least 30 targets. He has gained 149 yards this season outside his Week 2 outburst.
Petzing said he did not particularly agree with the notion Harrison’s targets are low percentage and the offense needed to find ways of getting him higher-percentage looks.
“I think he’s put himself in position to make plays,” Petzing said. “I think I got to do a better job of giving him that opportunity more throughout the game. When you play 11 plays in a game, you’re not necessarily going to have the opportunity the way it was designed for, but pleased with where he’s at.”
On the growing number of instances where Harrison and Murray are not on the same page, Petzing added, “you certainly want to eliminate those as much as possible, but they certainly are going to happen.”
Murray has completed 59 throws to tight ends and running backs with only 57 to wide receivers this season. Tight end Trey McBride has been his top weapon like in 2023. The wide receiver room is getting Zay Jones off suspension, although Harrison is in the concussion protocol and the Cardinals run a heavier scheme, anyway.
Petzing gave Murray credit to staying even keel through a season in which the Cardinals are still looking for answers.
“I think that’s really the key for all the guys and for coaches included,” Petzing said. “Look, we can’t change anything that’s happened. We can’t worry about anything that’s about to happen 10 minutes from now. I think they’ve done a nice job of trying to stay in the moment, go out and execute at a high level. I think that that he speaks to that as much to anyone.”
Murray ranks eighth in the NFL in EPA (expected points added) per play and 11th in passer rating despite a lack of production from wide receivers. He told ESPN’s Kevin Clark this season is the best he’s felt with the game slowing down, and kept a sense of optimism for the unit going forward.
The Cardinals will face a Los Angeles Chargers team on Monday that paces the NFL with 13.2 points per game allowed.