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The year was 1977 and both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks began their first campaigns in the NFL. The league now sat with 28 franchises. The Bucs struggled mightily in their first two years in the league. They didn’t win their first game until their 27th outing, which came in Week 13 of 1977. That season, John McKay’s squad finished dead last in the league in total yards, rushing and passing yards per game and points scored.
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Why bring that up? Because that’s exactly what happened to the Arizona Cardinals in 2018. No team was worst when it came to all of those four categories a season ago. Hence, the team’s dismal offensive performance last season marked the first time since the aforementioned Bucs that a team ranked at the bottom of each of those categories in the same season. And that was just Tampa Bay’s second year in the NFL.
A year ago, offensive coordinator Mike McCoy was fired after seven games in 2018. And by year’s end, the club totaled just 225 points and 24 offensive touchdowns. Hence one reason the decision was made to move on from head coach Steve Wilks and the decision to hire innovative Texas Tech sideline leader Kliff Kingsbury.
While the Cardinals struggled for three-plus quarters offensively in Week 1 vs. Detroit, quarterback Kyler Murray and company eventually got their act together. So is this new-look Arizona offense made for the long haul?