Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins takes blame for QB Kyler Murray’s INT

DeAndre Hopkins spewed more MVP chatter for Arizona Cardinals teammate Kyler Murray on Monday.

And on Tuesday, Hopkins intercepted what looked like a rare mistake by his quarterback to make Murray’s two-game start to 2020 look even better.

Murray threw a pick Sunday in the first quarter of Arizona’s 30-15 win over the Washington Football Team. At first glance, it appeared he either overthrew Hopkins streaking across the middle or underthrew Andy Isabella, who was running a deeper pattern down the middle.

Bad decision on this INT. Not exactly sure what happened.

I’m guessing that Kyler was trying to look off the deep safety to fit this ball into Isabella or he just threw an inaccurate ball to Hopkins. pic.twitter.com/ov7mt6ztb9

— NFL Film Review (@NFLFilmReview) September 22, 2020

Turns out, Hopkins went the wrong way and drew Washington safety Landon Collins into the middle of the field for an easy interception.

“There’s a lot of stuff I can get better at,” Hopkins said Tuesday. “I think the interception that he threw last week was definitely my fault. I ran the wrong route. The safety wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for me running the wrong route. I definitely hurt my team in that aspect.

“I definitely got to get better and play better.”

The pick was Murray’s second of the year. His first, in a Week 1 win over San Francisco, came on a batted pass that was caught by the 49ers’ Jaquiski Tartt.

Still, it’s been a good start for the 2-0 Cardinals and Murray, who has passed for 516 yards and rushed for 158 more with five combined touchdowns.

Murray is completing 66.7% of his passes and is the first quarterback to begin a season with more than 500 passing yards and 150 rushing yards through two games.

Aside from the interception, the quarterback’s connection with Hopkins has appeared seamless. Hopkins had a career-high 14 catches in Week 1 for 151 yards and got the scoring off Sunday with an easy touchdown catch in the first quarter.

Hopkins is first in the NFL with 22 receptions and fifth with 219 receiving yards. He appears more impressed with his quarterback than his own performances so far.

After Seattle Seahawks wideout D.K. Metcalf and safety Jamal Adams promoted Russell Wilson’s MVP candidacy as Week 3 began, Hopkins followed suit.

“I just seen some other guys campaigning for their quarterback, so why not campaign for mine?” Hopkins said. “And he make it easy from what he’s doing.”

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