ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky on Kyler Murray: ‘It’s probably the best (Murray tape) I’ve ever seen’
Sep 19, 2024, 11:22 AM | Updated: 2:24 pm
Quarterback Kyler Murray #1 of the Arizona Cardinals reacts after throwing a touchdown pass to Elijah Higgins (not pictured) during the NFL game against the Los Angeles Rams at State Farm Stadium on September 15, 2024 in Glendale, Arizona. The Cardinals defeated the Rams 41-10. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky is very high on Kyler Murray after the Arizona Cardinals quarterback’s Week 2 performance against the Los Angeles Rams.
“It’s probably the best I’ve ever seen Kyler play,” Orlovsky said on Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke on Tuesday. “If you just look at the totality of the game, you get that for the majority of season, you’re looking at a guy that’s gonna be firmly in the MVP conversation.”
In the Cardinals’ 41-10 victory, Murray completed 17 of 21 pass attempts (81.0%) for 266 yards, three touchdowns and had a perfect 158.3 passer rating.
Murray also ran for 59 yards on five carries.
Why is ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky so high on Kyler Murray this year?
RELATED STORIES
Orlovsky admitted that he was critical of Murray’s ability to get through progressions in the past, but he believes Murray has looked a lot more comfortable making reads this year.
“I didn’t see that consistently really over the past couple of seasons,” the ESPN analyst said. “So getting through progressions in an efficient way and a timely way and just sometimes you got to make a boring choice, and I thought he did that at a good pace. I thought that he made the appropriate throw and the type of throw on a consistent basis.”
Murray completed all five of his passes of at least 20 air yards for 156 yards and three touchdowns on Sunday. According to Next Gen Stats, that perfect completion rate had a probability of just 0.3%.
And while Murray dished the ball to seven different teammates in Sunday’s win, the quarterback went to rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. more often than anyone else. The rookie caught four passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
“Yeah, I think the big thing is walking the fine line of not lining him up in the same spot all the time,” Orlovsky said about Harrison. “So making sure that you’re moving him around but also not overwhelming him with information that’s going to slow him down.”
Orlovsky also thought Murray has been a lot better in play-action after being critical of Murray in play-action situations in the past.
“Again, something that I’ve been critical about him not doing a good enough job in is operating the play-action game in a manner of full-field progressions,” Orlovsky said. “I thought that was really good and then obviously he made three or four plays that, you know, really only four people on the planet are probably making, him being one of them.”
