Cardinals Flight Plan: Load1ng - Kyler Murray's Return

[JosiahLee]

Great content in this episode with an inside look into K1's recovery. I cannot wait to see him take the field next year. I think the pundits are going to be proven wrong. He seems highly motivated and more mature.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

Link?

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Great content in this episode with an inside look into K1's recovery. I cannot wait to see him take the field next year. I think the pundits are going to be proven wrong. He seems highly motivated and more mature.

The best part about the bottom is you can only go up

 

[Cheesebeef]

The best part about the bottom is you can only go up

Chris… you’ve been a Cardinals fan wayyyyy too long to make such a silly statement!

 

[netsnjkidd]

Link?

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[BritCard]

I enjoyed it.

I think it doubled the number of words I've heard Kyler speak outside of post game pressers.

Got to say, hard not to see him back game 1, he looks well ahead of schedule. I thought he might miss half the season. If not back game 1 it's hard to see him missing more than 2-3 games.

 

[cardpa]

Murray is saying all the right things as of now. The question is will they translate to the field once he comes back? He talked about learning the new offense and getting better at communications, however the one thing that is still missing is acknowledgement that he needs to get better at progressions, reading defenses, learning to move better in the pocket, etc.

There are still rumors floating around out there that the Vikings are interested in obtaining Murray. Speculation is that's why Cousins will be a FA in 2024 and the Vikings at this point do not have a successor in the wings for Cousins and didn't draft one in 2023. The Vikings are still good enough to win 9-11 games which would put them in a position of needing to spend a lot of draft capital to move up in 2024 to grab a QB.

On a side note, Drew Allar, the talented QB at Penn State was invited to the Manning Passing Academy and didn't go because his HC James Franklin thought it would be more advantageous for Allar to stay in State College and work with his teammates while Drake Maye did attend it. The Academy was a 4 day camp. Other college coaches work to get their QB into this academy and Franklin just hampered Allar's progress with advice like this. As I said before, Allar's biggest obstacle to becoming a top draft pick in 2025 is James Franklin.

 

[football karma]

Take 1:

a cynic would call last nights Flight Plan an effort to rehabilitate (pardon the pun) Kylers image

by the end of last year, his image was that of a petulant loner who didnt like his teammates and was indifferent to putting in the mental work to be a QB.

This offseason the org has made it a point to address that -- including the various teammates talking about their relationship with Kyler.

Also interesting in how he has enthusiastically endorsed the new staff and FO-- in contrast to reports last year on how he didnt get along with Kliff.

I dont think its fiction --- but it is marketing.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

Take 1:

a cynic would call last nights Flight Plan an effort to rehabilitate (pardon the pun) Kylers image

by the end of last year, his image was that of a petulant loner who didnt like his teammates and was indifferent to putting in the mental work to be a QB.

This offseason the org has made it a point to address that -- including the various teammates talking about their relationship with Kyler.

Also interesting in how he has enthusiastically endorsed the new staff and FO-- in contrast to reports last year on how he didnt get along with Kliff.

I dont think its fiction --- but it is marketing.

Of course it’s an image piece…that’s pretty obvious. Someone has finally gotten through to him, that his aloofness has been one of the biggest reasons he has an image problem. Allowing the cameras in starts to make him more relatable. He said all the right things…just needs to keep on the path and back it up.

 

[football karma]

Take 2:

An optimist would say that Kyler was humbled by last year and has taken the criticism to heart and is taking the change in staff and FO to make a fresh start.

It doesnt hurt that he clearly knows that he has the last 9 games or so of next year to make his case that he is the guy -- and has seen his friend Baker Mayfield go from "the guy" to journeyman awfully quickly.

It is also clear he didnt think much of the prior coaching staff and front office.

finally: he talked about hurting his wrist in camp. Would really like to know if that was the wrist on his throwing arm. Still no explanation on how a QB goes from highly accurate on deep balls for his whole career to the worst.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

Take 2:

An optimist would say that Kyler was humbled by last year and has taken the criticism to heart and is taking the change in staff and FO to make a fresh start.

It doesnt hurt that he clearly knows that he has the last 9 games or so of next year to make his case that he is the guy -- and has seen his friend Baker Mayfield go from "the guy" to journeyman awfully quickly.

It is also clear he didnt think much of the prior coaching staff and front office.

finally: he talked about hurting his wrist in camp. Would really like to know if that was the wrist on his throwing arm. Still no explanation on how a QB goes from highly accurate on deep balls for his whole career to the worst.

I think it’s a combination of both your takes. About the wrist, I took it to mean his throwing hand…otherwise why really mention it, since a non throwing injury shouldn’t really impact his game, right? It would also explain some of his deep ball issues last year…that part of his game fell off a cliff.

About the previous staff…I always thought he was reluctantly listening to Kliff and he really didn’t respect him…it was clear to me in Flight Plan, that he also didn’t think highly of Keim. I don’t think Kyler thinks highly of coaches and people in authority, who are just ‘fanboys’…and it was always pretty clear that Kliff and Keim fell into that category.

 

[Crimson Warrior]

Hmmm.. All that stuff is great but it's still going to come down to how hard he works and how bad he wants it.

And, we're going to learn a lot more about his mental toughness and leadership this year because it's going to be a struggle on offense, especially with the patchwork offensive line.

Unfortunately, after last year, there are some questions that need to be answered. If he really and truly wants to be great, I'm 1000% confident there's no stopping him, and he'll do his part to get us a championship.

But as it does so often in life, it's going to come down to how much heart he has. Hopefully the money hasn't spoiled him.

 

[kerouac9]

Hmmm.. All that stuff is great but it's still going to come down to how hard he works and how bad he wants it.

And, we're going to learn a lot more about his mental toughness and leadership this year because it's going to be a struggle on offense, especially with the patchwork offensive line.

Unfortunately, after last year, there are some questions that need to be answered. If he really and truly wants to be great, I'm 1000% confident there's no stopping him, and he'll do his part to get us a championship.

But as it does so often in life, it's going to come down to how much heart he has. Hopefully the money hasn't spoiled him.

I'm as big a Kyler skeptic as there is, but this is utter nonsense. It's a built-in excuse to blame the player (which I know you won't do in this situation, even if you're saying it now) exclusively for underperformance.

I've said this many times before, but I believe that Kyler is an extremely hard worker. I just think that he's consistently worked on the wrong things. He loves being in the gym, and he hates to lose. But those aren't the sole determinants of success.

I don't know what the "it" is that is about and going to come down to, but "it" won't be more than 7 wins in 2023 even if Kyler comes back 100% healthy and participates fully in training camp (he won't).

Good, talented players land in terrible situations all the time and fail to reach their potential. Thomas Jones' time here is an excellent example.

 

[MadCardDisease]

Obviously I'm rooting for the kid. I think he is misunderstood. I do think he has a bunch that he can work on to improve himself as a teammate and a person. I believe that going through the struggles last season opened his eyes to the fact that he still has a ton that he can improve on. I guess only time will tell.

Clearly he is putting in the effort to get back on the field. I'm no doctor but man he does look a lot better than I was expecting at this point in his recovery. Right now I would say that I'm optimistic about Kyler remaining the Cardinals franchise QB.

 

[Crimson Warrior]

I'm as big a Kyler skeptic as there is, but this is utter nonsense. It's a built-in excuse to blame the player (which I know you won't do in this situation, even if you're saying it now) exclusively for underperformance.

I've said this many times before, but I believe that Kyler is an extremely hard worker. I just think that he's consistently worked on the wrong things. He loves being in the gym, and he hates to lose. But those aren't the sole determinants of success.

I don't know what the "it" is that is about and going to come down to, but "it" won't be more than 7 wins in 2023 even if Kyler comes back 100% healthy and participates fully in training camp (he won't).

Good, talented players land in terrible situations all the time and fail to reach their potential. Thomas Jones' time here is an excellent example.

It's nonsense? Let me rephrase.

I'm saying (perhaps ineloquently in my initial post, if so please forgive me) there's a strong correlation between success and effort level/work ethic. Hopefully you don't disagree with that!

Talent and discipline are also requirements for success of course. I think "Working on the right things" as you put it (i.e. the hard, not fun, not intuitive things) would be an example of a person showing discipline.

The bottom line is that last year something went drastically wrong for Murray, and unfortunately he has to prove himself again, even to his most fanatical of zealots like me K9.

My overarching points is that, to me, there's is little doubt he has MVP level talent. And so, if he is willing to "put in the work" to be an MVP, then he'll be an MVP. Just for you, I'll elaborate on this a little more and say that by "putting in the work" I mean a disciplined, thoughtful approach to being a great QB which includes, being a leader of men, a flawless tactician, and honing his physical skills to generate maximum production on the field.

If he'll consistently work to be great at all of those things, then I think eventually he'll win a superbowl (either with or without the Arizona Cardinals), and probably even have a career that garners some NFL immortality. But he doesn't, if he doesn't work his tail off K9, then I think unfortunately he'll go into the dustbin of history as an also-ran.

Better? Or am I still off base? I'll give you last word my friend!

 

[Captain Matt]

I find myself comparing my 21 year-old self with my 27 year-old self when I look at Kyler.

Life gave me a few swift kicks in the gut as a young man - and I had to fight my way back. Things I had always taken for granted disappeared over-night and I had to earn my way back. In the end it all worked out but as I reflect back on my career I’m a much better officer because of those struggles. Much, much better.

Holding out hope that Kyler gains a new appreciation for the opportunity to play QB in the NFL and he raises the play of the team around him. The “seasoning” that comes from a few years in the league and the opportunity to focus on himself and to commit to getting better could be exactly what he needed.

Or he could waste it and become Baker 2.0.

I’m hoping for the former!!!!

Go cards.

 

[kerouac9]

I'm saying (perhaps ineloquently in my initial post, if so please forgive me) there's a strong correlation between success and effort level/work ethic.

I would say that effort level and work ethic are necessary but not sufficient factors for the kind of success you're thinking about. You can have absolute elite physical talent and fall short of greatness because you're unwilling to put in the work to maximize it. Robert Nkemdiche is an example of this.

You hear this a lot about seven-footers in the NBA. They're tall, they feel weird in the world and end up in basketball because they're tall. They don't really love the game, but they have this rare physical attribute and people push them into it. Look at Deandre Ayton as an example.

Wasn't enough to keep him from being the #1 overall pick in the NBA draft or getting a max contract extension, though.

And so, if he is willing to "put in the work" to be an MVP, then he'll be an MVP.

Completely disagree with this. The NFL MVP is a narrative award, and it's usually given to the quarterback on the team with best record at the end of the season or the most momentum. Russell Wilson has nine Pro Bowl trips in his backlog and never gotten an MVP vote.

 

[Crimson Warrior]

Ha. Interesting that. The difference between a tall guy that plays basketball vs. a basketball player who happens to be tall.

I'm guessing you think Murray is a football player that's fast and who has a strong arm, vs. a fast guy with a strong arm who happens to play football. I certainly do, which is one of the reasons I'm still betting on him.