The Arizona Cardinals have an entirely new look on offense this year under first-year head coach Kliff Kingsbury, and some people around the NFL have been openly skeptical about the chances it has of succeeding. Veteran offensive lineman Justin Pugh does not seem too concerned.
Oakland Raiders cornerback Lamarcus Joyner called Arizona’s up-tempo offense “pretty boy football” during his team’s preseason game against the Cardinals last week. Pugh joked that he didn’t mind the remark because “we’ve got some good-looking guys, man.” Joyner sacked Kyler Murray during the game, but Pugh didn’t think that was anything to feel proud of.
“If you want to troll, you better make sure you come correct, because I will correct you,” Pugh said, via Shane Dale of ABC 15 in Arizona. “It’s easy to talk smack when it’s third and 17 and you’re a (defensive back) and you know things are going to happen in your favor. I would love to see those same things be said when it’s third and (short) and we can run right at them. But when you don’t put yourself in a good situation to succeed, obviously people are going to have negative comments.”
Rex Ryan has been another critic of the Cardinals during the preseason, calling their offense boring and predicting that they will “get whipped” in Week 1. Pugh isn’t sweating that, either.
“I think we’ve seen through Rex Ryan’s career, he always says things to grab your attention,” Pugh said. “He’s on TV now. You have to say things to kind of get people riled up, so I get that. … That’s something that is part of this league — guys are going to talk. And if you don’t have success, guys are going to keep talking, so we’ve got to go out there and we’ve got to shut them up.”
The results for Murray have been mixed in the preseason, and he was called for a couple of controversial penalties that he may have to watch out for. Still, a lot of people believe he and Kingsbury are a perfect fit for each other. There will be some growing pains, but it’s too early to judge whether or not Kingsbury’s air raid offense will work at the NFL level.
