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Kent Somers and Greg Moore breakdown the Cardinals’ 33-26 loss to the Raiders.
Brian Snyder and Katherine Fitzgerald, Arizona Republic

The criticism of Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury has been running rampant since his team’s uninspiring preseason loss to the Oakland Raiders last week.

But one site is going against the grain and praising the rookie head coach in Arizona.

The Wall Street Journal published a story Wednesday about Kingsbury with the headline: “Why a Mediocre College Coach May Be the NFL’s Next Great One.”

Yes, it said that Kingsbury could be the next great coach in the NFL. 

The story, written by Andrew Beaton, takes a look at how “Kliff Kingsbury went from being fired by Texas Tech to leading the vanguard of the offensive revolution in the NFL with his college-style offense and rookie quarterback Kyler Murray.”

Praise for Kliff Kingsbury

Kingsbury could change the NFL, Beaton wrote. 

“This is precisely what Kingsbury represents: the forefront of the offense-crazed NFL. In a rapidly changing league, the Cardinals hit the fast-forward button hard with someone who’s an offensive whiz, running the schemes and concepts that were shaping the NFL’s best offenses even before he arrived.”

MORE: Arizona Cardinals depth chart: How roster stacks up for Vikings game

Beaton also wrote about how Kingsbury wasn’t afraid to be different.

“Since his arrival Kingsbury, hasn’t shied away from challenging norms,” he wrote. “The coach with the unusual background began his tenure by making an appropriately unusual decision: taking 5-foot-10 Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray with the first overall pick of the draft. Murray, the Cardinals felt, was a generational talent no matter his small size. But the upshot was huge: Arizona wouldn’t abide by traditions that have governed the league for decades just for the sake of doing so.

Criticism for Kliff Kingsbury

Beaton’s story is a different view from several recent stories slamming the rookie coach and the Arizona Cardinals.

NFL Network analyst Bucky Brooks recently blamed Kingsbury for Murray’s woes in the preseason game against the Raiders.

“I believe this is an indictment of Kliff Kingsbury,” Brooks said on “The Undisputed.” “Kyler Murray needs to go to the sideline and get answers and it appears as if Kliff Kingsbury doesn’t have answers.”

Former NFL coach Rex Ryan, on the “Get Up”, said he couldn’t wait to see the Cardinals get “smoked” in the first week of the regular season.

“They’re going to get whipped Week 1,” Ryan said. “Look, this guy … everyone talks about this great offense and all that. Yeah, if it’s fantasy football and you want points yardage, that’s great. How about wins? Kingsbury, let’s face it, had the best player in our league [at Texas Tech], he was 13-16 with Pat Mahomes at quarterback. How about you worry about wins?”

Oakland safety Lamarcus Joyner called the Cardinals’ offense “pretty boy football” during a mid-game interview with ESPN’s Lisa Salters during the game last week and said he wants to “run that kind of offense out of the NFL.”

Photos: Cardinals vs. Raiders

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