The 5: Kyler Murray’s top plays from Canton-worthy Week 2
Sep 17, 2024, 1:56 PM | Updated: Sep 18, 2024, 10:01 am
TEMPE — Kyler Murray turned in one the best games of his career in the Arizona Cardinals’ dominant 41-10 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
Completing an impressive 81% of his throws for 266 yards and three touchdowns for a perfect passer rating of 158.3, Murray was on one throughout Arizona’s home opener. Can’t forget about his 59 rushing yards on five carries, either.
The effort marked just the second time in NFL history a player put up at least 250 passing, 50 rushing yards and a perfect passer rating since Ken Anderson did so with Cincinnati in 1974.
It was also Hall-of-Fame worthy, with Murray’s game-worn jersey and game ball from Week 2 heading to Canton where they will be displayed at the Pro Football HOF.
RELATED STORIES
But which plays from Sunday’s showing stood out the most?
A look at Murray’s top plays from Week 2 before turning the page to Sunday’s matchup against the Detroit Lions:
Not enough love
Murray had plenty of big-time plays that had a whole lot of people talking.
But it was a seven-yard pass to running back Trey Benson that really caught the eyes of his head coach and offensive coordinator when watching the tape back.
After finding wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. for a 32-yard gain, Murray kept the ball moving in the right direction with the dump off to Benson.
@BurnsAndGambo here’s the throw Gannon mentioned pic.twitter.com/t4NVYjgOeO
— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) September 16, 2024
Most people would see it as a ho-hum play from the signal caller. Take a closer look, though, and you’ll see Murray’s knowledge of the system and game on display.
“He went from bubble to over-route to checkdown in less than a second for a (seven-yard) gain, because that’s where the ball should go,” head coach Jonathan Gannon told Burns & Gambo on Monday. “That’s pretty special. … That’s accelerated vision, that’s high IQ, that’s never being sped up, that’s playing extremely fast with 100% command.”
“The ability to play that fast in the pocket and get that quickly through a progression in a critical situation when you know protection’s not going to hold up forever is huge,” offensive coordinator Drew Petzing added. “Now, it puts a lot more stress on the defense of, ‘We can’t take away the first two reads and expect him to break down and run out of the pocket.'”
Vintage K1
OK, now it’s time for the real fireworks.
All three of Murray’s touchdowns were impressive in their own right. But the 18-yard touchdown strike to tight end Elijah Higgins to give Arizona an early 21-0 lead might take the cake for most impressive.
KYLER MURRAY ARE YOU SERIOUS?! 😱
📺: #LARvsAZ on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/gfHzqbrZ0w— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2024
Kicking off the second quarter with a bang, Murray did Murray things. After making Rams pass rushers miss on multiple occasions — looking at you Jared Verse — Murray bought himself a wealth of time before finding Higgins in the back of the end zone for the score.
Murray celebrating before Higgins secured the catch was the icing on the cake.
— Kyler Murray (@K1) September 17, 2024
Per Zebra Sports, Murray held onto the ball for 8.55 seconds before the TD strike. Since the inception of Next Gen Stats (2016), that’s the seventh longest time to throw and third longest since 2019.
The catch meanwhile had a completion probability of 24.7%. That’s the lowest mark for a tight end in Week 2 and the 10th lowest among all pass catchers in 2024.
Giving the people what they want
Harrison’s one-catch effort on three targets in Week 1 was far from what many expected to see from the K1-MHJ connection.
Early on in Week 2, however, the two quieted the noise and gave everyone a glimpse of what’s possible.
Kicking off Sunday’s scoring barrage, Murray and the rookie pass catcher linked up for a 23-yard touchdown that raised eyebrows across the league.
On top of it being Harrison’s first touchdown of his NFL career, it was the way it all went down.
MARVIN HARRISON JR.’S FIRST NFL TOUCHDOWN HAS ARRIVED pic.twitter.com/EFquDWaM8V
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) September 15, 2024
Per Next Gen Stats, the touchdown grab had a completion probability of 13.7%, the most improbable score of the season.
That’ll happen when Harrison had just 0.7 yards of separation and 0.7 yards to work with when the ball got to him.
Chemistry building
Murray’s first touchdown to Harrison was something else.
His second TD strike to the rookie isn’t that far behind, albeit for a different reason.
Marvin Harrison Jr. we love you pic.twitter.com/GE6a9vVabw
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) September 15, 2024
Despite having running back James Conner and tight end Trey McBride as his first two reads, Murray rolled out to his right to find Harrison breaking his route down the field.
All Murray had to do was fire a dime on the run and let Harrison do the rest.
Scramble drill
While this one didn’t result in a touchdown like the last three, it was still a major play from Murray.
“You gotta be kidding me.”@K1 and @MarvHarrisonJr have many in disbelief in the first quarter 😱
📺: #LARvsAZ on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/bwBNmggHuB— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2024
Looking to keep the drive alive in the first quarter, Murray again made a pair of defenders miss before finding Harrison down the sideline as he drifted out of bounds.
Harrison again made a great read off his QB, breaking down the field for a wide-open catch. Had Murray put a little more juice on it, there’s a real possibility we’re talking about yet another touchdown between the duo.
“The one-off schedule play on third down I think was awesome, but we practiced that — scramble drill,” Gannon said postgame. “When you have a mobile quarterback, you practice that. The touchdown to start the game, they played a coverage and the safety was sitting low and that’s where the ball should go. That’s what happened in practice. That’s what happened today.”
