ARIZONA CARDINALS
Cardinals’ Kliff Kingsbury, Kyler Murray paying no mind to COY or MVP talk
TEMPE — Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury said Wednesday that good teams are usually recognized with awards like the NFC Defensive Player of the Week honor linebacker Jordan Hicks received.
The awards don’t stop at the players, with the head coach among the favorites through 13 weeks of action to take home the NFL Coach of the Year honor.
Entering play Thursday, Kingsbury (+300) has the second-best odds to take home the award behind only New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick (+100), according to BetOnline.ag.
Kingsbury’s standings in the race for COY shouldn’t come as much of a shock to many with the Cardinals atop the NFL at 10-2 and feature one of the most effective offenses in the league.
But if you ask the head coach, the current odds sound about right given his former coach’s stature in the game.
“They should just name the award Bill Belichick and when he retires bring that back,” Kingsbury said with a smile on Thursday. “Until he retires I don’t think any one else should get that award, honestly. He should be that every single year that he’s coaching.”
Joining Kingsbury in the end-of-the-year awards nominee list is quarterback Kyler Murray.
Despite the signal caller’s three-game absence, he sports the third-best odds to take home the NFL MVP at +800.
Murray has recorded 2,399 yards and 19 touchdowns on a league-high 72.7% passing to go along with another 206 rushing yards and five scores on 59 carries.
Ahead of him are Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady (+130) and Green Bay Packers signal caller Aaron Rodgers (+600), two players who have been there before.
“I think any player, when you’re growing up as a kid, yeah of course,” Murray said when asked if he likes being mentioned among the MVP favorites. “But at the end of the day, the team stuff … for me it holds true. We’ve been good as a team, won as a team. Usually every guy gets what they deserve on the team.
“I’ve been a part of some great teams in my football career and a lot of guys have won awards so I believe that it’s true. As far as being mentioned with Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, those types of guys, those guys you look up to and the best to play to play the game. It’s definitely an honor and hopefully we can keep playing at a high level.”
