GLENDALE – Shyness. That was the word best associated with the end of the Kliff Kingsbury era with the Arizona Cardinals.

Whether it’s the product on the field (especially at home) or the mountain of distractions off it, there was no escaping it for the franchise.

Fast forward to two seasons later, and shame once again rippled through State Farm Stadium in Kingsbury’s presence, albeit for a much different reason.

Returning to Arizona as the Washington Commanders’ offensive coordinator, Kingsbury and former Arizona State Sun Devil Jayden Daniels once again got their offense going, splitting the Cardinals 42-14 on Sunday.

“We got a few stops on defense. We scored some points, but not many (positive points),” head coach Jonathan Gannon said after the game. “This competition is very humiliating and we are humiliated today.”

Even with Washington’s scoring and turnover streaks coming to an end, the Commanders had more than enough offensive power to get the job done on Sunday.

As a team, Washington racked up 449 yards of offense and scored on all but two drives throughout the afternoon.

Other than an early interception, the Cardinals defense essentially had no answer for Daniels, who completed 86.7% of his passes (26-for-30) for 233 yards and a touchdown. He wasn’t fired.

“He’s a good player. He’s dynamic,” head coach Jonathan Gannon said after the game. “We had him wrapped up a few times and he came out and made some plays with his legs. He gets the ball out and is accurate.

“I give him a lot of credit, but we have to do a better job of impacting the quarterback.”

Washington’s run game also saw little resistance, rushing for 216 yards and four touchdowns on 37 carries. Daniels also had his handprints in the run game, trailing 47 yards and a touchdown on eight carries.

The Commander’s offense absolutely took it to the Cardinals on Sunday. But it was Kingsbury’s victory laps on the sidelines at seemingly every Washington touchdown scored — the occasional peek at Arizona’s sideline — that provided the proverbial twist of the knife for Cardinals fans.

And as bad as the defense looked, the offense wasn’t much better.

In what has become a common theme for the Cardinals this season, they had little trouble scoring on their opening drive behind a quarterback Kyler Murray two-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.

But just like last week, Arizona’s offense couldn’t sustain the fast start. After going 55 yards for the score on the opening drive, the Cardinals recorded just 51 yards over the next five possessions before finally finding the end zone for the final time late in the third quarter.

One of the most glaring issues with the Cardinals offense was the inability to move the chains on third down, converting four times out of eleven attempts (36%).

The poor third down conversion rate has been a recurring theme in recent weeks, with the Cardinals going 1-for-9 on third down in last week’s loss to the Lions.

“We have to be able to stay on the field,” Murray said after the game. “That will take a lot of pressure off the defense. We all work together. If you can’t stay on the field on third down and the defense is always on the field, they get worn down and vice versa. As a team we have to get better.”

Seeing Kingsbury on the sidelines of State Farm Stadium would undoubtedly bring back memories for Cardinals fans.

However, they probably didn’t expect the Cardinals to pay tribute to Kingsbury’s final drive in Arizona with this kind of performance.

A positive in the wait?

If you can find something positive outside of two defensive stops and a few touchdowns, take a bow. That’s harder than finding Waldo.

But while the negatives take center stage, how Arizona responds in the aftermath of the loss will say a lot about the makeup of this team.

“We’ll get back to it and the positive will be what we get out of this tape tomorrow, the adjustments we make, the corrections we make and we’ll be better for it,” Gannon said. “That will be the positive of it.”

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