Learning how to finish: Cardinals cannot afford third second-half season collapse in 2022
A couple weeks into training camp the Cardinals’ offense was running its two-minute offense, working its way toward the goal line at State Farm Stadium when the drive fizzled after two straight incompletions.
In a brief moment of fury, starting right tackle Kelvin Beachum ripped his helmet off and flung it against a retaining wall in the back of the end zone. According to ear witnesses standing nearby, he also voiced his displeasure in a not-so-subtle way, barking out that these were exactly the type of things that cost the Cardinals last season during their infamous second-half collapse.
It isn’t how you start, after all. It’s how you finish. And after opening 7-0 and improving to 10-2, Arizona foundered down the stretch for a second consecutive year, losing five of their final six games, including a brutal 34-11 loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Rams in the NFC Wild Card round.
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Looking ahead to this season, Beachum talked about the importance of taking the next step and learning how to finish. It won’t only serve the Cardinals well when they’re in the red zone or in goal-to-goal situations, but also as they’re trying to wrap up the regular season on a high note instead of their usual funk.
"I agree. It’s all about touchdowns and finishing what we started at this point," Beachum said, noting that head coach Kliff Kingsbury "has talked about efficiency quite a bit in this training camp and that’s something we’ve really been harping on, is trying to not only rep it, but talk about in meetings. It is a heavy emphasis but at the end of the day, it’s on us. We’ve got to find a way to execute in those critical moments in the game.
"It’s 11 guys finding a way to execute. I’m not going to sit here and make some excuse. It’s not something that has to be magical. We have to find a way to get seven when it’s goal-to-goal. It’s as simple as that."
Finding a way not to self-implode while the season is still on the line is just as important, of course, and the Cardinals have yet to figure that out under Kingsbury, now in his fourth season. If it happens again, the toxicity figures to only get worse considering the entire second half of this season will be chronicled by HBO in "Hard Knocks: In Season with the Arizona Cardinals."
"Part of it is being healthy late in the season, which I think any team in the NFL can say that’s something they want to be able to have," Beachum said. "But at the end of the day, it’s being able to lean on those fundamentals, having great technique, and it’s execution. It’s nothing magical. It’s really about execution and executing at the most critical moments of the game."
The Cardinals were without starting quarterback Kyler Murray for three games last season, but managed to go 2-1 with backup Colt McCoy. The two most substantial injuries were to defensive end J.J. Watt (shoulder) and star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (knee), who would end up missing a combined 17 games, not including the playoff loss.
Kingsbury and his staff were adamant once again this training camp and preseason about limiting the work of starters on both sides of the ball. Other teams, like the Chiefs, whom the Cardinals meet in the season opener Sept. 11 in Glendale, prefer to let their starters get a decent amount of reps in camp and preseason games.
Not here. Kingsbury thinks the rest and cautiousness will help avoid another possible second-half fade to the season.
"I think we looked at everything," he said. “We want to stay healthy, there’s no doubt. Some of those key injuries last year got us. So, we’re hoping we’ve made some adjustments that can help us and even into the season, we have to be smart with how we practice, and I think we have a good plan in place."
Murray, named to the Pro Bowl last season for a second consecutive year after winning Rookie of the Year honors, has said the Cardinals may have let distractions and outside noise get to the team during its late-season collapse. He’s also said the team can learn from those negative vibes and can find a way not to let it happen again.
In his mind, it starts with this team’s ultra-competitive edge, which has been on display since the start of camp through the end of the preseason schedule. It’s what he likes most about this year’s roster, he added.
"The competition is through the roof," said Murray, the first player in NFL history with 70 or more passing touchdowns, 20 or more rushing touchdowns and a 66.86 completion percentage in his first three seasons. "There’s a lot of animosity and juice flowing where we’re ready to go against somebody else. I know in past years we’ve started out hot and this year, I think we just need to keep sticking to it, staying through it, and finishing in the end."
The NFC figures to be wide-open in 2022 and a team that starts hot and finishes strong could be poised to make a run at Super Bowl 57, which will be played at State Farm Stadium on Feb.12. After the Buccaneers and Rams won the championship in their own stadiums each of the past two years, the Cardinals can think of no better trend to continue than winning their first title now and making it three in a row for the host team.
"We want to be the team here playing in it," running back James Conner insisted. "I don’t want nobody else using our locker room getting ready for that game. It’s our locker room, so it means everything to us and that’s what we want to do this year."
Just making the playoffs again isn’t enough, Cardinals players have said. They want more and they want it now, especially after last season’s disappointing ending.
"I think there’s no question that we have unfinished business," said Watt, the former three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. "The way we ended the year was embarrassing and unsettling. Anytime that’s the way you finish, you have unfinished business and business you need to attend to."
The day before the Cardinals broke camp in Glendale might have been one of the most spirited and high-energy practices of the entire summer and according to starting left tackle D.J. Humphries, it didn’t come as a surprise.
"No, we’ve got a bunch of competitors, man," Humphries said. "We’re full of just a bunch if alpha dudes that want to compete. Like, we’ll end this drill because we want to fight and Kliff hates it because he don’t like fights. I understand it because he’s a coach and it can mess up drills. But it’s like we’ve got a bunch of dudes that compete so hard, and we’ll take this thing to blows right now because that’s the edge of our team.
"We compete, compete and compete. We’re going to psych each other up and if you lose, you’re going to hear about it. It’s nothing personal. It’s just who we are when we get on the field. We love each other up, but I can yell at (outside linebacker) Dennis (Gardeck) all day and go sit down and eat lunch with him and he’ll be right next to me. That’s kind of just the bond we’re starting to build and the identity we’re starting to build around here."
But is that enough to help avoid a third straight second-half season collapse?
"Yeah, I think keeping that role and just continuing to have that edge and being competitive is definitely going to carry us far," Humphries said.
Kingsbury insists this year’s team is better than last year’s, which finished 11-6 during the regular season. The only star new addition was wide receiver Marquise "Hollywood" Brown, Murray’s good friend and former college teammate at Oklahoma. Arizona also added two new guards — Will Hernandez and Cody Ford, another former college teammate of Murray’s — along with some depth at various positions on both offense and defense.
Overall, the competitiveness throughout this team has been noticeable.
"Yeah, I think watching us compete just day in and day out, they understand what they were for a majority of the season," Kingsbury said, referring to last season and the change he notices now. "They could have competed with anybody. Then all of us, coaches and players, didn’t close it out like we could have.
"But they’re playing with a lot more confidence after I think feeling what that felt like to be one of the top teams in the league for a certain amount of time. You have to have some good fortune and stay healthy and do all those things, but I definitely sense a more confident team with a lot of those key contributors back and then some young pieces that have stepped up."
Whatever happens this season, Beachum is quick to warn his Arizona teammates not to tale this year lightly. Entering his 11th NFL season, he knows how quickly each season turns into the next.
"They go by fast," Beachum said. "Whether you’re on winning teams or whether you’re on losing teams, the season goes by fast once it starts. It’s on and gone. You just have to relish each moment. Each season has its own flavor to is. I’m excited for what this season holds for us.
"There’s going to be a lot of things that are going to be happening and going on in this locker room, both internally and externally, but we have a great opportunity in front of us. That’s what’s most exciting about this season."
Follow Bob McManaman on Twitter @azbobbymac.