It’s been tough sledding for much of the Arizona Cardinals’ first quadrant of the season, but general manager Monti Ossenfort is encouraged by the improvements that he’s seen.
Ossenfort joined Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke on Friday and emphasized the process element of the long NFL season.
No matter what part of the season they’re in, Ossenfort said the Cardinals are looking for progress from individuals, position groups and full units.
“The (teams) that can continually improve and continually make progress throughout the season, those are the ones that are left standing at the end,” Ossenfort said. “We’re focused on every given week … you gotta show improvement and you gotta take the next step each week, otherwise the league’s gonna pass you by.”
The general manager agreed with Cardinals radio broadcaster Ron Wolfley in calling the Week 4 humbling by the Washington Commanders an outlier, crediting the Washington staff with a good plan.
Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort told @WolfandLuke it’s easy to get humbled in the NFL if you don’t come with your A-game on a weekly basis.
Those games can turn in a hurry, and the Cardinals have been on both sides, he added. pic.twitter.com/Mb0Jm67drk
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) October 4, 2024
However, Ossenfort pointed to a few young players who have taken steps forward, such as Garrett Williams. He caught Jayden Daniels’ first NFL interception last week but is not expected to play this week due to a groin issue.
Rookies Tip Reiman and Max Melton are two others Ossenfort praised.
What has Monti Ossenfort thought about Kyler Murray’s start to the season?
Kyler Murray has flashed his high-ceiling play at times through four games, but inconsistency has marred his start.
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“There’s been times where Kyler’s looked explosive, and just like the rest of our offense, we’ve gotta improve our consistency. Not only Kyler but the wide receivers, the offensive line … offense takes all 11 guys to do their job at a high level,” Ossenfort said. “We’ve seen flashes of how our offense can be explosive, and Kyler is certainly at the lead of that when that’s happening.”
Ossenfort emphasized the importance of executing from the start of the game through the end, which can be helped by converting third downs and elongating drives.
Arizona is 11th in third-down efficiency after a 4-for-11 performance in the loss to the Commanders.
“There’s been times where things have been clicking on all three sides of the ball and there’s been times where one thing’s been out of kilter, there’s been times where maybe two or three things have been out of kilter,” Ossenfort said. “Really for us it’s that execution and the consistency of that execution from the start of game through the finish … that’s really an area that we gotta focus on and we gotta improve on.”