Cardinals thought Kyler Murray picked up 1st down on final drive

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray went into a slide at the Philadelphia Eagles’ 25-yard line in the final 35 seconds of Sunday’s game in Glendale. The Cardinals trailed 20-17, and Murray picked up nine yards on a rush on second-and-10.

The clocked ticked down, the Cardinals’ offense rushed to the line and Murray spiked the ball.

That set up a fourth-and-1, and Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury elected to kick the potential game-tying field goal with Matt Ammendola, who filled in Sunday for the injured Matt Prater.

Ammendola missed from 43 yards out, and Arizona dropped to 2-3.

After the game, it became clear the Cardinals believed they had a first down on Murray’s run, as the quarterback slid past the line to gain after starting his slide just short. That led to the decision to spike the ball instead of attempting to pick up the first down.

Kyler slid short of the 1st down on this scramble, forcing the Cardinals into a field goal.

Cardinals missed the FG and lost the game. pic.twitter.com/TWCoSeLgT2

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 9, 2022

“I thought he was clearly past and they brought it back,” head coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters postgame. “By that time we had committed to clocking it. … It was just past the point of no return.”

Kingsbury said that the call to spike the ball was his and not Murray’s.

The scoreboard at State Farm Stadium read first down, causing confusion which led to the spike.

“After the play, everyone is screaming ‘clock it,'” Murray said postgame. “I was assuming I had the first down. … After the play was over everyone was screaming ‘clock,’ we practice it all the time. … Hindsight, I would’ve loved to get a few more yards.”

The Cardinals erased a 14-point deficit to tie the game 17-17 in the fourth quarter, but the Eagles took the lead back with a field goal just after the two-minute warning.

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