The Arizona Cardinals (1-7 straight up, 4-3-1 against the spread) are benching quarterback Joshua Dobbs ahead of Sunday’s game at Cleveland. Dobbs has started the club’s first eight games.
“If it’s not Kyler [Murray], then it’s going to be Clayton Tune,” Arizona head coach Jonathan Gannon said at his Monday presser.
This shouldn’t be an indictment upon Dobbs, who was put in a terrible situation when he was acquired two weeks before the season opener by a team that was in full-on tanking mode.
Nevertheless, Arizona covered the spread in its first three games. The Cardinals led at halftime, the entire third quarter and the first three minutes of the fourth in a 20-16 loss at Washington as seven-point underdogs in the season opener.
Gannon’s team had a 28-7 lead at home vs. the New York Giants more than 11 minutes into the third quarter in Week 2. However, the G-Men outscored Arizona 24-0 in the final 18.5 minutes to capture a 31-28 win as a 4.5-point road ‘chalk.’
In Week 3, Dobbs completed 17-of-21 passes for 189 yards and one touchdown without an interception to lead the Cardinals to a 28-16 win over Dallas as 11-point home underdogs. Dobbs added 55 rushing yards on just six attempts.
Arizona was in a one-possession game at San Francisco early in the fourth quarter of an NFC West showdown in Week 4. But the then-unbeaten 49ers outscored the Cardinals 14-0 in the final stanza to pull away for a 35-16 win as 14.5-point home favorites.
Once again, Dobbs wasn’t to blame. He connected on 28-of-41 throws for 265 yards and two TDs without an interception. Dobbs added 48 rushing yards on 12 attempts against San Francisco.
When star RB James Conner, who was averaging 5.4 yards per carry, went down with an injury in a Week 5 home game vs. Cincinnati, Dobbs lost a huge component of the offense. The result on that day was the Bengals winning, 34-20.
For the season, Dobbs has completed 62.8 percent of his passes for 1,569 yards with an 8/5 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He also has 258 rushing yards, three TDs and a 5.5 YPC average.
Tune is a rookie who was Arizona’s fifth-round draft pick. During his five-year collegiate career at Houston, Tune had a 63.9 completion percentage, 11,994 passing yards and a 104/41 TD-INT ratio. He’s ranked third in program history in career passing yards.
Tune also produced 1,248 career rushing yards and 15 TDs for the Cougars. He started every game for UH three years in a row from 2020-22, leading it to a 12-2 straight-up record and an 8-6 ATS mark in 2021.
In a 20-10 loss at Seattle on Oct. 22, Tune made his NFL debut. He completed his lone passing attempt for four yards.
Murray sustained a torn ACL in a home game vs. New England on Dec. 12 of 2022. He started the year on the PUP list, but he was designated to return and began practicing 13 days ago.
Murray’s 21-day window to be activated to the 53-man roster opened on Oct. 18. This window will close on Nov. 8, a few days before Arizona hosts Atlanta.
On Monday, Gannon said Murray is “doing a good job.” Gannon added, “He is making strides, but just want to make sure he feels comfortable with everything that we’re asking him to do.”
Gannon said that regardless of whether Murray or Tune starts, one or the other would serve as the backup if Murray is activated. Dobbs will be QB2 in the event that Murray isn’t activated.
As of late Tuesday morning, most books had the Browns installed as eight-point home favorites. The Cardinals were +290 on the money line.