Arizona Cardinals' offense bottoms out in shutout loss to Cleveland Browns
The easiest thing to wonder about after the Arizona Cardinals played a dud of a game Sunday in Cleveland is whether this team will win a game again, and that Kyler Murray can't get back fast enough.
Murray looks set for next week at home against Atlanta, at long last, after lengthy knee injury rehab. He will certainly give the Cardinals a chance in games.
Rookie Clayton Tune, try as he might and seemingly running for his life on many pass attempts, couldn't generate much offense at all at quarterback for the Cardinals in Sunday's 27-0 loss to the Browns.
Arizona managed just 58 yards of net total offense in being shut out for the first time this season. Even plays that worked were called back by penalty, including a phantom offensive pass interference penalty on wide receiver Hollywood Brown that wiped out a 25-yard completion to Rondale Moore in the third quarter.
And some plays were just unlucky. Defensive end Dante Stills tipped a pass in the air, and it landed in the arms of Cleveland's Amari Cooper for a touchdown in the second quarter.
Cleveland's defense had a lot to do with the Cardinals' struggle on offense. But it was asking a lot to go with an untested (except for preseason) rookie in Tune against the Browns, one of the league's top defenses, and Tune had a rough afternoon as Arizona's offensive production hit rock bottom.
An overthrown ball was intercepted. Later, Tune fumbled while being sacked, and late in the third quarter, he threw another interception. He only had four more completions than the number of times he was sacked, seven.
It was another week of at least a decent defensive effort canceled out by a lack of consistent offense, and in Sunday's case, lack of offense at all. But the Cardinals defense, victimized by explosive plays often this season, gave up two long pass plays from Deshaun Watson to Cooper that led to a field goal and a touchdown.
Should Murray be ready to go next week, he could be missing three starters on the offensive line. Dennis Daley was already filling in at left guard for the injured Trystan Colon, who stepped in for the original starter Elijah Wilkinson when he went on injured reserve.
And on Sunday, both right guard Will Hernandez and left tackle D.J. Humphries left the game with injuries.
Fans can only hope Murray can run the way he did before he tore an ACL in a game last December. He may be doing a lot of it.
It might help, also, that running back James Conner is eligible to come off injured reserve after four games missed due to a knee injury. Conner, too, can provide an emotional lift, one that a 1-8 Cardinals team will need.