'Hop' and 'Hollywood' need to get the ball for Cardinals' offense to start finding itself

After sitting alone in front of his locker and staring at his cellphone for what seemed like an eternity following the Cardinals’ 19-16 overtime loss to the Buccaneers on Sunday night, DeAndre Hopkins finally finished getting dressed and met with a small group of reporters.

It was fitting that his swaggy pair of rust-colored sweatpants had the words “Better Days” stitched onto his left pants leg.

Hopkins has seen many better days than Sunday at State Farm Stadium and he can only hope that he has more better days during his team’s final two games of the season because on this night, it was about as bad as it could get.

Despite being targeted 10 times, he almost had the first game of his magnificent career without a catch.

Hopkins didn’t make his first reception until there was 7 minutes and 54 seconds remaining in regulation. It went for four yards. That was enough to extend the NFL’s longest active streak with at least one catch to 145 consecutive games, but it tied for Hopkins’ lowest output ever. On Oct 2, 2016 in a game against the Titans, he also finished with just one reception for 4 yards.

At least his team won that game. And after this one, well, let’s just say Hopkins wasn’t happy.

“I’m a competitor, man,” Hopkins said. “You ever see Kobe Bryant get pissed off? That’s the dog I got in me. I’m always going to be like that.”

To put things into perspective, Hopkins didn’t have Kyler Murray throwing him the football. It wasn’t veteran backup Colt McCoy, either. The Cardinals were forced to turn to unproven Trace McSorley because of injuries to the other two quarterbacks. In his first NFL start, McSorley sailed a boatload of his passes and equally bounced them off the grass.

“You just move on,” Hopkins said when asked how he would process his inactivity and the nature of this loss. “I’ve played with plenty of quarterbacks in my lifetime, so you know for me it’s a part of the game. … It’s what I signed up for – to come play football no matter who’s throwing me the ball.”

To be fair, McSorley only had a week of practice with the first-team offense. It’s not like he’s had many opportunities to throw the ball to Hopkins. Ditto when it comes to the Cardinals’ No. 2 wide receiver, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, who didn’t catch his first pass until the second half and finished with just three receptions, although one of them went for 47 yards, tying the longest pass play by the team this year.

Embattled coach Kliff Kingsbury, whose team fell to 4-11 following its fifth straight loss, took the blame for not getting Hopkins and Brown more involved in the pass game.

“I’ve got to do a better job of getting the ball out to DeAndre obviously and find ways if it’s not killing the flow of the offense or the game plan that we had set up,” he said after the game. “I’ve got to do a better job adjusting and getting him the football because he makes the whole thing go.

“I thought we had some opportunities. I thought Hollywood made a great play down the field. But we definitely have to make some of those plays and find ways to get those guys the football.”

McSorley noted that the Buccaneers were “squatting” on Hopkins, defensively, and doing a good job of taking away the quick passing lanes. But he shared in the blame, too.

“There were times I could have gotten him the ball and I’ve got to do a better job when those opportunities are there because of how dynamic he is and how good of a player he is. I can’t let those opportunities slip and go away.”

Brown said he taught himself early in his career to keep his head clear at all times and not let inactivity cloud his judgment or alter his emotions.

“If you don’t get ball until the fourth quarter or you don’t get a ball until overtime,” he said, “you’ve got to remind yourself that next play could be your play.”

Asked how he learned to adopt that positive philosophy, Brown paused and smiled.

“I mean, it was a blessing and a curse to be in Baltimore,” he said, referring to spending his first three NFL seasons with the run-happy Ravens. “There were plenty of games where I didn’t have a touch until the third (quarter) and would still end up with a good game. I learned that early on.”

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Brown noted that Hopkins is far more vocal than he is but stressed that any talk or ranting that Hopkins did during Sunday night’s game was of the encouraging kind to pick up himself and his teammates.

“I’m not a guy that needs the ball, I’m not a complainer, but I know I can help my team when I do get the ball,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins said he had a brief chat with McSorley after the game and that he simply told him to “keep grinding,” adding, “It’s his first start. I just gave him words of encouragement. I k now it’s hard playing in this league, especially at the quarterback position. I’m not going to be hard on him if I’m having a one-catch game. It’s part of the process. He’s dealing with a lot of stuff.”

So is Kingsbury, whom a growing chunk of the fanbase wants to see him go.

“I’m not hard on anybody. You’ve got to move on,” Hopkins said of his relationship with the head coach. “It’s part of the game. Those guys (the Buccaneers) get paid as well like we do. They did a good job today. We had a chance to win the game. It just didn’t go our way.”

Maybe like the words on Hopkins’ sweatpants read, “Better Days” are ahead.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cardinals offense struggles when top receivers aren't part of it