WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

Notes, Quotes

The Sports Xchange

October 25, 2018 at 12:12 am.

–Offensive coordinator Mike McCoy was fired at midseason for the second year in a row. A year after being relieved of his duties with the Broncos following a 3-7 start, he was canned by the Cardinals after they fell to 1-6 following a 45-10 loss to Denver last Thursday night.

Quarterbacks coach Byron Leftwich was promoted to coordinator, but head coach Steve Wilks wouldn’t say if Leftwich is assuming the role on an interim basis or a permanent one.

“Right now,” Wilks said, “it’s hard to say that anybody’s going to be permanent.”

–“It’s not fun. If I could prefer it, I would have one offense, but that’s not really how it all worked out. So, I’m just going to do the best I can with what I’ve got. I think what I have right now is a really good football team. We are all underperforming a bit, but like I said in the past, I am very happy that we’re a really good football team playing not so well, as opposed to hitting our potential as a team that maybe doesn’t have as much potential.” – Rookie quarterback Josh Rosen, who is now on his fifth different offensive coordinator in four years.

–Head coach Steve Wilks said it wasn’t the Cardinals’ 45-10 loss to the Broncos, Arizona’s worst home loss since a 38-0 rout by the Seahawks in 2003, that resulted in the firing a day later of offensive coordinator Mike McCoy.

“I think the last seven weeks did when you go back and look at it,” Wilks said last Friday in announcing the move. “So, it just wasn’t one thing last night. Last night was embarrassing, as I stated. We’ve got to do better. Our fans deserve more and it’s unacceptable.”

–One of the problems the Cardinals had with fired offensive coordinator Mike McCoy was plays not getting relayed into the quarterback at a quick enough pace. That happened a few times in last Thursday’s rout by the Broncos, including on the Cardinals’ second play from scrimmage when rookie quarterback Josh Rosen had to call a timeout.

“Unacceptable from a game-day standpoint,” Wilks said.

–“Maybe that put a spark in my teammates, who knows? But at the end of the day, I’m here, I’m an Arizona Cardinal, I’m ready to move forward. My teammates know that I fight for them each and every day I step out on the field. There’s a reason why I’ve got that ‘C’ on my chest and I want to continue to lead by example.” – Cornerback Patrick Peterson on if any positives could possibly come out of him asking to be traded to a contender.

BY THE NUMBERS: 135 – Receiving yards needed on Sunday by Larry Fitzgerald (15,800) to surpass Terrell Owens (15,934) for second place on the NFL’s all-time list.

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