Arizona Cardinals: Redbirds still struggling to find their identity

After making two big changes, the Arizona Cardinals are struggling to find their identity on offense.

After the 8-8 season of last year, there were higher expectations for 2018. The Arizona Cardinals signed a couple of veteran quarterbacks to mentor the rookie Josh Rosen. After all, there was a new coaching staff and a new direction that appeared it would bring a winning attitude.

Currently, Arizona has matched last season’s loss total at eight, but with six games left to play. The rookie quarterback is now the starter. Most of all, there was a change at offensive coordinator.

After making those two big changes, the Redbirds are still struggling to find their identity on offense. The remaining schedule does not get any easier. Should the Cardinals preserve their current position in the 2019 NFL Draft or build an offensive identity going forward?

Rosen debuted in Week 3, after the Cardinals offense was highly stagnant to begin the new campaign. He has led the team to victory twice over the San Francisco 49ers. However,, the offense is not getting better.

Arizona is ranked last in total offense with an average of 240 total yards per game. They have the worst running offense by averaging 78.8 yards per game. The Redbirds rank 31st in passing yards with an average of 162 yards per game.

Byron Leftwich runs the offense now after replacing Mike McCoy in Week 7. The wins over the Niners came in Weeks 5 and 8. Is there any visible difference between the two coordinators?

Since Week 1, Arizona has not found any continuity on offense. Are they a run-first team featuring David Johnson? Or are they a pass-first, wide-open attack with the ageless one, Larry Fitzgerald? Actually, neither one, because they have no idea which attack identifies them.

Arizona travels west to play the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday in Week 12. The Chargers have a good offense led by Philip Rivers. Perhaps Leftwich may elect to run Johnson and throw short passes to keep Rivers on the sideline.

Expect Arizona to be double digit underdogs on Sunday. The Cardinals will not be playoff bound but can begin to forge a new identity throughout the rest of this season. What they have done so far, has not been effective.

What have they got to lose but, yet another game? Will they find their identity or protect their draft position? It’s hard to decipher at this point.