https://www.azcardinals.com/news/cardina...oordinator



As a Marshall fan, I'm not sure I'm actually pleased with this development, given how bad the Cardinals o-line situation is, and the question marks that naturally follow with a rookie QB, a feature RB coming off an injury, an aging All-Pro WR and an unproven receiver corps otherwise.

https://www.azcardinals.com/news/offensi...als-season

Could have been worse. OC could have fired Byron.

When you have little to no passing game and then you constantly decide to run your best player between the tackle 90% of the time, your offense is going to be extremely predictable.

(10-19-2018 11:54 AM)va-eagle Wrote:  Could have been worse. OC could have fired Byron.

That's actually up for debate, in my book. He may be better off in the long term being able to just say he was a soldier under Wilks/McCoy like he was with the previous regime... now, he seemingly will end up having to own whatever good or bad evolves over the rest of the season.... and the best bet is on the "bad" of course.

On the other hand, yes, if he turns it around, he's going to be a hot commodity.

I'm just one of those who believe that you can't make talent out of optimism and fairy dust. The best laid plans are going to fail if you don't have an army that is capable of competing.

I watched some of the first half and thought Josh Rosen looked horrible. I'm not sure how Leftwich can salvage anything for them.

I was kinda hoping Byron would come here as OC/HCIW. That dream has now died.

(10-19-2018 12:30 PM)wh49er Wrote:  When you have little to no passing game and then you constantly decide to run your best player between the tackle 90% of the time, your offense is going to be extremely predictable.

Actually I read the stat in this. They’ve been running DJ between the tackles 60% of the time. Under Arians they ran DJ between the tackles 35% of the time.

I think this is a good development since Byron coaches under Bruce Arians. Maybe he can get the offense turned around. That offensive line is pretty bad though.

With all of the issues listed here, statistical improvement of any kind will help him. It's a good audition, at worst, for a good college OC job.

(10-20-2018 09:17 AM)USM@FTL Wrote:  With all of the issues listed here, statistical improvement of any kind will help him. It's a good audition, at worst, for the Marshall head coach job.

FIFY.

Smart money is that it ends up being perceived as a bad audition--simply because of the lack of prime time talent, particularly on the O-line--and as such, won't get him anywhere near any HC job, Marshall or otherwise.

But to USM@FTL's point, I agree, even worst-case, he's now added a line to his resume' that will allow him to be in the conversation for D1 OC jobs... and given that the current MU OC is almost certainly looking to fast track himself to a HC job somewhere, Marshall possibly will have an opening again relatively soon.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...d-johnson/

Quote:When head coach Steve Wilks installed Byron Leftwich as the Cardinals’ new offensive coordinator, one of the things he said was that he hoped Leftwich can help David Johnson rediscover his 2016 success.

Leftwich was on former Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians’ staff that season and he confirmed on Thursday that he plans to borrow from his former boss when he was asked how much he will take from Arians.

“Everything,” Leftwich said, via Kyle Odegard of the team’s website. “I sat shoulder-to-shoulder with B.A. every day I was here. There have been a lot of long nights sitting next to him, us nodding off together.”..............

http://www.espn.com/blog/arizona-cardina...n-leftwich

Quote:The Arizona Cardinals showed Sunday it wasn't how they started, it was how they finished.

In Byron Leftwich's first game as interim offensive coordinator, the Cardinals' offense showed signs of evolution throughout the first three quarters but lacked in production. They scored just three points heading into the fourth.

Then, with a seventh loss minutes away, the offense produced. A lot.

Rookie quarterback Josh Rosen led Arizona on a 73-yard drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown pass to rookie receiver Christian Kirk with 34 seconds left to give Arizona an 18-15 win over the San Francisco 49ers as the Cards head into their bye week.

"We were a little inconsistent at times but when we needed it in the end, we showed up, particularly on the offensive side of the ball," coach Steve Wilks said.

Wilks was pleased with Leftwich's first game calling plays, which produced Arizona's first 300-yard game of the season.

"Byron had us into a rhythm," Wilks said. "As you can see, the operations were great from a standpoint of just getting a play in, being able to get to the line of scrimmage and [identifying] the defense and linebacker was outstanding."

Rosen called Leftwich a "steadying force" for the offense...........

Cardinals looked better in the 4th than they have all season. They scored two touchdowns and had a third promising drive cut short because Gresham was carrying the ball like a loaf of bread.

https://www.azcardinals.com/news/the-rap...n-leftwich

(includes video)

And to think I was worried Byron was in trouble in taking that thankless dead-end ARZ job.

Coach Bruce Arians said on Wednesday that OC Byron Leftwich will call the Bucs' offensive plays.
It's a shift in philosophy for Arians, who called his own plays as the coach of the Cardinals before retiring at the end of the 2017 season. Leftwich has been groomed by Arians as his QBs coach in Arizona, and Leftwich was a holdover for Steve Wilks in 2018 before the whole staff was fired. Leftwich is a rising star in the coaching ranks, and Arians is doing him a favor letting him try to swim on his own. It's entirely possible Leftwich is groomed as the Bucs' future head coach. Jan 9 - 1:34 PM

Source: Thomas Bassinger on Twitter

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/1478/byron-leftwich

Those who paid attention to the little things could tell that Leftwich would be a coach some day even when he was at Marshall. The kid never sat down when he was on the sideline. He would either be beside the OC or DC trying to learn something new.

(01-09-2019 03:11 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  Those who paid attention to the little things could tell that Leftwich would be a coach some day even when he was at Marshall. The kid never sat down when he was on the sideline. He would either be beside the OC or DC trying to learn something new.

^ #TrueStory

Big surprise to me that Arians unretired because he sure sounded done...


http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000...-cardinals


Byron's fortunate.

And not just because Arians came back and chose him, but indeed, this situation could be extremely good for him. Get that QB to stop turning the ball over in TB, and I could easily see them getting to the playoffs next season.