Upon Kingsbury’s return, the Cardinals are embarrassed by their commanders

GLENDALE – Embarrassment. That was the word best associated with the end of the Kliff Kingsbury era with the Arizona Cardinals.

Whether it’s the product on the field – especially at home – or the amount of distractions off it, there was no escape for the franchise.

Two seasons later, there was another embarrassment at State Farm Stadium with Kingsbury, albeit for a very different reason.

Returning to Arizona as the Washington Commanders’ offensive coordinator, Kingsbury and former Arizona State Sun Devil Jayden Daniels revved up their offense again, beating the Cardinals 42-14 on Sunday.

“We made a few stops on defense. We got some points, but not a lot of (positive) points,” head coach Jonathan Gannon said after the game. “This league is very humbling and we were humbled today.”

Even though Washington’s scoring and turnover streak came to an end, the Commanders had more than enough offense to get the job done on Sunday.

As a team, Washington racked up 449 yards of offense and scored on all but two drives throughout the afternoon.

Aside from an early interception, the Cardinals’ defense really had no answer for Daniels, who completed 86.7% of his passes (26 of 30) for 233 yards and a touchdown. He was not released.

“He is a good player. He’s dynamic,” head coach Jonathan Gannon said after the game. “We wrapped him up a few times and then he came out and made a few plays with his legs. He gets the ball out and is accurate.

“I give him a lot of credit, but we need to do a better job influencing the quarterback.”

Washington’s running game also encountered little resistance, rushing for 216 yards and four touchdowns on 37 carries. Daniels also had his mark in the running game, rushing for 47 yards and a touchdown on eight carries.

The Commanders offense absolutely took it to the Cardinals on Sunday. But it was Kingsbury’s victory laps on the sideline during seemingly every Washington touchdown scored – occasionally glancing at the Arizona sideline – that literally tipped the scales for Cardinals fans.

And as bad as the defense looked, the offense wasn’t much better.

What has become a common theme for the Cardinals this season is that they had little trouble on their first drive, behind a two-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kyler Murray to rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr to score a goal.

However, similar to last week, Arizona’s offense was unable to back up its fast start. After going 55 yards for the score on their first drive, the Cardinals only recorded 51 yards on their next five possessions before finally reaching the end zone one final time late in the third quarter.

One of the most glaring problems for the Cardinals offense was the inability to move the chains on third down and convert four of 11 attempts (36%).

The poor third-down conversion rate has been a recurring theme in recent weeks, with the Cardinals going 1-for-9 on third down in last week’s loss to the Lions.

“We have to be able to stay on the field,” Murray said after the game. “That will take a lot of pressure off the defense. We all work together. If you can’t stay on the field on third down and the defense is always on the field, they get fatigued and vice versa. We have to get better as a team.”

Seeing Kingsbury back on the sidelines at State Farm Stadium is sure to bring back some memories for Cardinals fans.

However, they probably didn’t expect the Cardinals to honor Kingsbury’s final drive in Arizona with such a performance.

A positive aspect of waiting?

If you find anything positive outside of two defensive stops and two touchdowns, take a bow. That’s harder than finding Waldo.

But while the negatives are front and center, the way Arizona responds after the loss will say a lot about the makeup of this team.

“We’ll come back to it and the positive will be what we get out of this tape tomorrow, the adjustments we make, the corrections we make and we’ll get better because of it,” Gannon said. “That will be the positive thing about it.”

Follow @Tdrake4sports