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Kyler Murray had a very tough go in his next preseason game as a pro, departing the match down 26–0 and finishing the night with adverse yardage. Murray was not good — but had been bad as it seemed, or is there some reason for hope?
Kyler Murray had a rough Thursday night, and also the internet is freaking out. Everything started out so well a week. Murray played only 1 set in his very first game as a professional, finishing his first six passes and leading his Arizona Cardinals to the border of scoring position prior to exiting.
Murray had a far worse outing Thursday against the Oakland Raiders. He played much of this first half, and from the time he left, Murray and the Cards trailed the Raiders 26 to zip.
Along with the web, obviously, melted.
Let’s begin with the harm. There’s a whole lot of it.
Murray played drives against the Raiders. These drives gained 13, -6, -10, and -10 yards. Altogether, Murray played with the majority of the first half, leaving the match almost exactly halfway through the second quarter. The Cardinals had only 8 minutes and 21 seconds of possession in four possessions united at the time. In 15 plays that were offensive, they blended to shed 13 yards.
Murray ran once for 3 yards, a designed run on his very first play from scrimmage. He completed just 3 of 8 passes for only 12 meters, a measly 1.5 yards per attempt. Murray had a 45.8 quarterback rate for the day. He had three fines himself a delay of match and also two false starts — and was sacked twice. One of these was his final drama of the afternoon, an 11-yard sack in the end zone for a safety that ended his night. When he left the game, the Cardinals were trailing 26–0.
In the center of the second quarter –to the RAIDERS.
Calling Murray’s results ugly is a insult to the word awful. But was it all as bad as it seemed?
Let us dig a little deeper into the circumstances. There is some good and some awful. The bad? Murray played all of his time with David Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald about the field, therefore it is not like he didn’t have some talent around him. Fitz and DJ shared three targets. They caught one of them and lost three yards. Welp. Johnson raced four times for six yards. Tons of digits to go around for everyone.
The Cardinals had just one first down in Murray’s time around the area. It came out of a defensive penalty, illegal hands to the face. Remember how Murray abandoned the game down 26–0? On another play the Cards ran, backup QB Brett Hundley threw a touchdown. Arizona outscored Oakland 26–7 with no Murray.
But there was really a bit not in Murray’s prefer too. The game could not get anything going, along with the offensive line put in a miserable performance. Oakland blitzed Murray early and frequently, hoping to force the rookie into quick decisions, and he had been throwing off his back foot all game.
The four drives that were Murray of arizona began on the 10, 25, 24, along with lineup. He faced a 3rd and 11, both 3rd and 12, both 3rd and 13, 3rd and 17, as well as 3rd and 25 on various forces. That is a whole lot of dreadful field positions and disadvantageous scenarios for any outsider to maintain, let alone one as green as Murray. The one time Murray faced a 3rd and short, David Johnson ripped off a large run to get a first down… and got called back on a holding penalty. The Cardinals just could not capture any rhythm.
The simple reality is that virtually any cop would have fought in Murray’s place. The Arizona offensive line was awful, and Murray had a man or two in his face within seconds after the snap nearly every single play. He performed every snap with his back against his own goal line and’d zero plays at a place where the offense had an advantage. A few quarterbacks could have, although he did not perform per se.
Murray’s match wasn’t an indictment on his height or his armhis conclusions, nor his future. If anything, it may have been an indictment of Kliff Kingsbury’s offense — although that struggles to maintain up when the Cardinals scored 26 points after Murray left. Possibly the Raiders defense is just that great. Perhaps it was only four poor forces.
More likely than anything else is the fact that Kingsbury is likely keeping things fairly vanilla in the preseason. Why roll out your finest plays when the games don’t matter and give away your winning script? There’s no reason to run Murray and place him in danger with nothing on the line.
Murray was not good Thursday night but that he was not terrible either. He simply never had much of a chance to start with. It is far too soon to draw some conclusions.
Murray remains the significant Rookie of the Year favorite, +165 in Bovada. The Cardinals are +600 to make the playoffs, or +10000 to win the Super Bowl, if you are feeling lucky. If you’re a little more bearish on Arizona’s opportunities, they are +750 to finish with the worst record in the NFL. Happy gambling.
Read more here: http://www.huntinglegends.com//?p=4135
