Peter King: Cards Facing Tough Off-Season Decisions

In a year when the Arizona Cardinals have officially bottomed out, it’s time to go back to the drawing board for the decision maker’s of the nest.

Sure, David Johnson is arguably the best running back in the NFL and Father Time hasn’t caught up with Larry Fitzgerald but the winds of change are coming. At least they need to be according to one NFL insider.

“There have been so many gaffes,” SI.com Senior NFL Writer Peter King told Sports360AZ.com during his weekly segment on Tuesday. “So much poor play on special teams that…honestly Sunday in Miami was just simply a microcosm. Look, I don’t know what Bruce Arians and Steve Keim are thinking but I think they probably have to start over with a lot of the special team’s area.”

King suggests they can start by parting ways with inconsistent kicker Chandler Catanzaro who has made 16-21 field goals and 29-32 PAT’s but his misses have been back-breakers dating all the way back to his last-second miss against the Patriots in Week 1 which seemed to start the steady downward spiral for the Cards’ special teams.

Arizona will debut new punter Matt Wile against the Saints Sunday after Drew Butler was released for the second time this season.

Despite Johnson and Fitzgerald’s big seasons, the offense hasn’t been immune to criticism from up-and-down play during this sub-.500 season to this point. On paper quarterback Carson Palmer’s numbers appear solid: nearly 3,400 passing yards and 20 touchdowns but his 13 interceptions are tied for the sixth-most in the NFL and he’s been hit early and often in games as the Cards have had to piece together a makeshift offensive line which has been decimated by key injuries. Outside of Fitzgerald, the receivers have struggled and opposing defenses have been able to do something they couldn’t do last year which is eliminate explosive plays in the passing game.

King went so far as to hint this may be the beginning of the end for Carson and the Cards.

“Their deep passing game, that’s what Bruce Arians absolutely loves,” King explained to Sports360AZ.com. “If they’re not able to throw the ball deep and throw deep well then that’s not a great match.”

The Cardinals will look to bounce back from last week’s tough loss in Miami and inch closer to .500 when they host the Saints (5-8) on Sunday in Glendale.