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TEMPE, Ariz. -- During a team meeting early in training camp, Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury laid out one of his goals for this season: The offense was going to be more aggressive on fourth down. It wasn’t news to anyone who played under Kingsbury at any point during the past three seasons. He’s always had the mindset to go for it on fourth down in the right situation. This season, however, has been an anomaly during Kingsbury’s time with the Cardinals. There have been plenty of fourth-down situations. More, actually, than he’d prefer. Through seven games, the Cardinals have, indeed, lived up to Kingsbury’s promise. They lead the NFL with 23 fourth-down attempts and 14 conversions, setting the pace in a league that’s putting up a record number of fourth-down tries. Through seven weeks, there have been 284 attempts on fourth down, which is the second most during that span since 2000, according to ESPN Stats and Information. Being the league leader is not a title Kingsbury is proud of, but it’s one that has been attained out of necessity. “I don't love it,” Kingsbury said. “I'd rather get the first down on third down. There's no doubt it’s stressful, but we have a good plan. We're going to be aggressive. But, like I've said, a lot of the ones we've had to go for are situational this season. “But to be able to convert when you need to have it, I think down the road, it's going to pay dividends, hopefully.” Kingsbury has said his decisions to go for it on fourth down this season have been situational -- and the situation just happens to be when they’re trailing. Of Arizona’s 23 fourth-down attempts, 20 of them were called when the Cardinals were down. The other three were when the game was tied. With the season not even at the halfway point, the Cardinals have already gone for it on fourth more than they did in 2019 (20) and nearly as much as they did in 2020 (25) and 2021 (29). Through seven games, this year’s Cardinals are far outpacing the previous three seasons. In 2019, they went for it five times. In 2020, it was seven. In 2021, it was five again. The biggest difference has been that Arizona converted all 17 of those. Arizona has also gone for it on fourth down more in the fourth quarter than any other quarter. They’ve hardly gone for it in the first quarter and rarely go for it in the third. Besides trailing, one of the primary reasons why the Cardinals go for it on fourth down is because they haven’t been converting on third down as much. The Cardinals’ third-down rate is 33.7% through seven games, which is the lowest of Kingsbury’s tenure in Arizona at this point in a season. “I would like to convert first downs on earlier downs -- first, second down -- and not have to get to third and fourth down to see more exotic stuff on third down and stuff like that,” quarterback Kyler Murray said. “I think that just goes to show you the confidence that coach has in us to make it, and then we’ve got to continue to make it. “I know that we’ve had some fourth downs where we haven’t made it. Last year, I think we were pretty good at it. I think we were one of the best teams on third down and fourth down, so hopefully we can continue that.”
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