Jacoby Brissett is a Game Changer for Cardinals' Offense
photo credit:
Rick Scuteri - FR157181 APBy Walter Mitchell
Three weeks ago, Cardinals' fans and pundits were wondering whether the passing schemes in Drew Petzing's offense were glaringly deficient. Despite Kurt Warner and others showing us that the Cardinals' receivers were more open than most would have ever imagined, it got to the point where fans were convinced that the Cardinals' wide receivers were seriously lacking in talent. Some were calling the Cardinals' WR iunit the worst in the NFL.
Yet, in comes Jacoby Brissett for an injured Kyler Murray and lo and behold, the Cardinals' passing game began to pop and sizzle.
Regardless, to Kyler stans, just as was the case when Colt McCoy manifested a calm and astute command of Kliff Kingsbury's offense in 2021 while Kyler Murray was injured, their argument was that in no shape or fashion was Colt McCoy and now Jacoby Brissett is a better QB than Kyler.
While clearly Kyler possesses the kind of unique athleticism at the position that only a handful of people on planet earth can come even close to emulating, a strong case can be made today that Jacoby Brissett is a better "system fit" in Drew Petzing's offense, especially seeing as Petzing's offense without Klayton Adams igniting the running game now has to rely much more on the passing game than ever before.
If anyone remains uncertain as to why Jacoby Brissett is the better system fit, just look at how rejuvenated and reborn the Cardinals' receivers are in the offense.
Here is significant proof:
Trey McBride 3 receiving TDs in 2 games, after just 1 all season long in 2024.
Jacoby Brissett has been slightly better than Kyler Murray thus far beating zone coverages and has been significantly better beating man-to-man. Look at who Jacoby is comping with. He's got second highest grade versus man coverage in the NFL right now. This is awesome!
Then there is Jacoby Brissett's noteworthy success moving the chains on 3rd downs:
During the Cardinals' 5 game losing streak, in 2 games Jacoby Brissett's 3rd down % is 16-28 (57%) which currently would be #1 in NFL, yet Kyler Murray's in 3 games was 18-46 (39%) which would be #18 in NFL.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Hooray! This is such a sweet goodbye to the "3rd and Give Up" offense!
If Jonathan Gannon does not stick with Jacoby Brissett when the Cardinals return from their bye week, he is going to piss off the locker room.
Who Cardinals' fans can blame the most for Kyler Murray's struggles in Drew Petzing's offense is Jonathan Gannon with an assist from Monti Ossenfort, with the ultimate responsibility belonging to Michael Bidwill.
Why Jonathan Gannon was underqualified for the Cardinals' head coaching job:
How was JG under qualified? He’s been a coach in the NFL for years. He had the best defense in the league the year prior and was in the Super Bowl. He’s not lived up to the hype but today he was under qualified is incorrect.
Ask Eagles' fans about JG's qualifications. Take it a step further. Who calls the offensive plays for the Rams and 49ers? Who calls the defensive plays for the Seahawks? McVay, Shanahan and Macdonald, each of whom brings a competitive advantage to their sides of the ball. JG wanted no part of that. He even admitted that Nick Rallis is a better play caller than he is. During the Cardinals' 7 consecutive 4th quarter swoons, what has Gannon done to adjust? Something he vowed to do after Week 2. He does not have that ability as a defensive-minded HC. Nor obviously does Rallis as an NFL DC. Their 4th quarter incompetence in year 3, that's right, it's year 3, is on track for being the 2nd worst in NFL history. And it's not for lack of talent. It's for lack of knowledge and experience. Same thing in the Super Bowl only for an entire second half --- couldn't make one adjustment on any of the Chiefs' 2nd half drives with premier defensive talent in his favor.
One other very important point. What qualifications has JG shown for the #1 task he was assigned for --- to turn $230M Kyler Murray around? Let me ask you this. Did JG do Kyler any favors by installing a run-heavy 12 and 13 personnel offense that brings 7-8 defenders into the box? How has that call been working out? Kyler was born to run a spread offense where his unique talents could be maximized. Taking defenders away from the box gives Kyler an advantage. Gannon vowed in his opening press conference his teams will "maximize the players' talents." If anything, Gannon's plan for Kyler has more than minimized or mitigated his talents. Again, this speaks to HC qualifications. And the type of decision-making it takes to give the team a competitive advantage.
The truth is that as hard as Drew Petzing has tried to make Kyler Murray a good fit in his offense, his offense from the get-go was not the best logical fit for Kyler. In my opinion, Drew Petzing is not the one to blame here. This is what the Cardinals deserved for hiring an underqualified, inexperienced defensive-minded head coach who had a conspicuously flawed plan as to how maximize Kyler Murray's talents.
Ultimately the majority of the blame for Kyler Murray's post-bag struggles falls on the shoulders of Michael Bidwill. One would think that after caving in and gifting Kyler Murray his $230M bag and after firing Kliff Kingsbury (who to this date is the only coach to get a NFL ROY award, two Pro Bowl seasons and 270 yards passing a game season out of Kyler Murray) that in order to protect and make good on the $230M investment, he would put Kyler Murray, not only in the most capable hands, but in the most favorable offensive system. Bidwill did neither.
That speaks to Bidwill's egregious lack of football acumen.
Will Bidwill continue to force Kyler Murray on his own coaches and players? A 100% reliable source told me back in February that the Cardinals' coaches were starting to feel convinced that Kyler Murray's level of play had maxed out in their system. This was one of the main reasons why they were anxious to get Jacoby Brissett on board.
If the Cardinals go back to Kyler Murray after the bye week, one thing will be clear ---> the directive to give the QB reins back to Kyler came from Bidwill.
Bidwill typically gives the fans what they want. Maybe Bidwill is still listening to the Kyler stans?
Come vote on today's Cardinals' QB Poll:
Early results from fans: 70% want Jacoby Brissett to start a week from Monday night.
Which QB did you vote for and why?
Meanwhile here is the Klayton Adams Effect:
Failure starts from the top. Frankly, they got nothing to lose regardless of QB. This team will not get close to the playoffs and will be closed out after their division rivals keep winning with experienced smart coaching staffs. Whether Bidwill changes FO, staff and QB will come down to the only thing he cares about, $$$.
ReplyDeleteHello Walt, I agree Brissett has played very well; however, I think playing Kyler is the right choice for three reasons.
ReplyDelete1. Maximize Kyler's trade value. If the Cardinals want to move on from Kyler, they need him to have some solid tape on film for his next team. Not playing essentially means that the Cardinals would be giving up on Kyler and would accept any offer for him, similar to how the Falcons handled their situation with Kirk Cousins.
2. Despite Brissett's efforts, they've still lost two games back-to-back.
3. I think Gannon still believes Kyler is his best option to win; if he believed it was Jacoby, he would play him. Let's face it, this coaching staff jobs are not secure; if they can't win, they're gone.
Though I believe Jacoby is the better fit and offers the Cardinals the best chance to win, Gannon won't play him because his job security is attached to Kyler, and he lacks the experience and knowledge to get the most out of Kyler, and I don't trust Gannon to properly develop a rookie QB. I say play Kyler, maximize his trade value, and fire this entire staff, including the GM, and hire a competent coach and GM to trade Kyler and draft or sign a QB.
"Maximize Kyler's trade value. If the Cardinals want to move on from Kyler, they need him to have some solid tape on film for his next team." What could convince anyone that more KM tape would be good tape improving his trade value. 7 seasons and counting that this too often injured would magically put good or even create excellent film. If he does by some epiphany put together great film, will they bother to trade him.
DeleteI think they should draft a QB in the top rounds regardless of his play. They need to adopt a Green Bay approach to finding and developing QBs.
I don't think there will be any scenario where Kyler is benched. Trade or play is the only 2 options. Imagine the hullabaloo there would be if he is benched after the fuss he put up for a new contract and he is uncut-able.
DeleteI think the coaching staff is out after this season and potentially MO, as well. Here's an interesting angle: what if Gannon/MO keep Brissett starting to maximize the possibility of staying on in 2026?
ReplyDeleteIf the coaches can win a few games with Kyler, they're likely done at the end of the season anyway. But winning some games with Brissett might convince Bidwill to see what they could do with a new QB. I think this is unlikely (and Bidwill likely has to sign off on benching Kyler too), but if I'm Gannon, seeing the offense under both QBs so far, I would push to start Brissett and at the end of the year point to injuries and Kyler as reasons why Year 3 failed in order to push for a rare 4th year chance.
"I would push to start Brissett and at the end of the year point to injuries and Kyler as reasons why Year 3 failed in order to push for a rare 4th year chance." That's JG/DP/MOs only argument to retain their jobs. It's a poor one but all they got.
DeleteMO, Larry and Curly's #1 job was to improve the play of the QB not prove he sucks. They all agreed to this when hired. They failed and failed in too many other efforts as well.But who embraces failure better than Bidwill.
It boggles the mind that if the #1 job was to improve QB play, they look to Cleveland to hire an OC. That is where QB careers go to die. Bringing in that system requires a game-manager QB, which Kyler just isn't. It looks to decrease big negative QB plays while having the effect of also decreasing a QB's ceiling. In Kyler's case, we haven't seen a reduction in big negative plays (actually the opposite is likely true), but we have definitely seen a reduction in explosives, certainly with his arm.
DeleteLets face it, Bidwill has the final say on who starts at QB and if he can't see how a 6-4 sturdy traditional pocket passing QB with talent is far better in Petzings system then a short dual-threat QB whose afraid to take a hit because like the time he tore an ACL without being hit, he's a bit fragile then Bidwill either has no clue on talent evaluation or he is managing this team purely based on financial figures.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure that Klayton Adams is the reason Dallas is so high on that chart, unless you are saying he is responsible for their crappy defence as well. I do believe Adams was a big loss for the Cardinals and while he doesn't call plays for Dallas, the offence is certainly humming.
ReplyDeleteI've said it on other boards and I'll say it here...
ReplyDeleteStart KM the first half, start JB the second half. Normalcy be damned!
I actually like this idea. Preparing for two QBs with different styles wouldn't be easy for defenses and the O-line already knows how to play with both. I bet JB would be good with it but I bet KM wouldn't. It's kind of a demotion for KM and I never saw him as a team first player so my guess is he'd get a little fussy wipe his social media accounts of any trace of the Cardinals and then post a bunch of pics of himself wearing Michael Vick Jerseys.
Delete