The Arizona Cardinals opened the door for Kliff Kingsbury to become an NFL head coach, but it was in Foxboro where he held his first job in the league.
Kingsbury was a sixth-round pick by the New England Patriots in 2003. The former quarterback only spent one season in New England and was on injured reserve for the majority of the campaign. But it still was an important year for Kingsbury, who watched the Patriots put together a Super Bowl-winning season from a different lens.
Speaking with the media ahead of the Cardinal-Patriots Week 12 matchup, Kingsbury explained how he was impacted by his brief tenure in New England.
"I learned more football in that short time than any other stop along the way when it comes to coaching and pertaining to coaching," Kingsbury said Monday, as transcribed by Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. "The work that goes in and the game-planning, preparation day in and day out.
"I really got to see behind the scenes there. It was phenomenal being around all those coaches that went on to be head coaches and went on to win a bunch of Super Bowls. and obviously, getting to watch that Super Bowl was phenomenal."
Kingsbury's Cardinals have legitimate playoff aspirations as the regular season nears the home stretch. In hopes of leading Arizona to the postseason for the first time since 2015, Kingsbury surely will look back on his lone Patriots season as a blueprint of sorts.
