Arizona Cardinals: Kyler Murray showed incredible moxie in NFL debut

Arizona Cardinals rookie quarterback Kyler Murray started slow but finished incredibly strong in his NFL debut against the Detroit Lions.

Make no mistake about it, Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals offense was absolutely atrocious through three quarters on Sunday. However, once Murray got settled, there was nothing that the Detroit Lions could do to stop him.

Early in the game, Murray consistently looked rattled. He kept getting passes batted down at the line of scrimmage, wasn’t finding open windows to throw to and could not escape the waves of pressure being thrown at him. Murray consistently found himself running for his life early in this game and even threw a terrible interception on a ball he clearly should have just thrown away.

As bad as the first three quarters were, Murray stood tough and balled out in the fourth quarter to bring his team back. Entering the fourth quarterback, Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals trailed the Lions 24-6. They simply could not put together anything offensively up until this point, but then it all just kind of clicked.

On their first drive of the fourth quarter, Murray hit veteran receiver Larry Fitzgerald down the field for a 41-yard gain. That big play came on a 3rd and 14 from the Cardinals’ own 22-yard-line. The impressive catch by Fitzgerald really got the Cardinals offense going and the drive ended with a field goal.

On their next possession, Murray led the Cardinals down the field again, this time capping the drive with a touchdown. This was the first touchdown pass of the rookie quarterback’s career, as he hit running back David Johnson down the seam with a ball placed only where his talented back could catch it.

After a partially blocked punt, the Arizona Cardinals got the ball back on their own 40-yard-line. Trailing by eight points, this was an opportunity for Kyler Murray to make some magic happen.

Using his impressive playmaking ability, Murray drove the Cardinals right down the field. He capped off the drive with his second career passing touchdown, a four-yard toss to Fitzgerald. They converted the two-point play to tie up the ball game and send it to overtime.

Unfortunately, the magic ran out and the Cardinals and Lions played to an overtime tie. Questionable coaching decisions by both sides led to this game ending in a tie. The story of this game, however, will be the incredible turnaround from Kyler Murray.

Murray was absolutely dreadful in this game, but he showed incredible moxie being able to turn his play around. However, we cannot ignore his struggles from early in the game. Murray getting passes batted down at the line of scrimmage is a major concern. If he is too short to see over the offensive line, that will be an issue throughout his NFL career.

He also needs to learn when to live for the next down. Murray is an incredible playmaker who can seemingly always make something out of nothing. However, this is the NFL. You are not going to be able to outrun everyone and throw up a jump ball and hope for the best. If the play is not there, Murray must learn to throw the ball away. His interception in the first quarter was extremely concerning. There was nothing there, throw the ball away and live for another down.

When it comes down to it, this was an extremely fun and exciting game for the Arizona Cardinals rookie quarterback. Murray was far from perfect, but he showed that he undoubtedly has what it takes to be a playmaker at the next level.

Personally, I am excited to see Murray grow as a complete quarterback this season. Next week, he will have an extremely tough test, taking on the Baltimore Ravens on the road.