The Arizona Cardinals made Kyler Murray the No. 1 overall pick as the anchor to Kliff Kingsbury’s “Air Raid” offense, but the entire Cardinals unit looked to be a flop through three quarters. Then the legend of Murray was born.
Murray had the Cardinals from a two touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter en route to an improbable 27-27 overtime tie against the Detroit Lions. The Cardinals quarterback led the team on five consecutive scoring drives to give Arizona the improbable result.
Murray finished 29-of-54 for 308 yards with two touchdowns and an interception for a 77.1 passer rating. While the overall numbers weren’t impressive, the rollercoaster debut for Murray was leading the Cardinals to 300 yards on 41 plays from early in the fourth quarter to the the middle of overtime (the five consecutive possessions which the Cardinals scored, an average of 7.31 yards per play.
The Cardinals failed to score an offensive touchdown against the Detroit Lions through three quarters as Murray was a putrid 9-for-25 for 70 yards with zero touchdowns and an interception for a 27.9 passer rating. Murray ended the game 17-for-23 for 204 yards in the comeback.
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The highlight of Murray’s game through three quarters had nothing to do with his play on the field, but his own offensive lineman running into him. The best drive for Arizona at that point went eight plays for 42 yards, which led to a Zane Gonzalez 42-yard field goal.
Murray finally was able to give the Cardinals offense life in the fourth quarter with a 41-yard pass to Larry Fitzgerald (which led to a field goal) and a 27-yard touchdown pass to David Johnson to get the Cardinals their first touchdown of the year, cutting the deficit to 24-16.
The Cardinals had just 150 yards of total offense early in the fourth quarter, but showed progress with 138 over their last two drives. Murray led the Cardinals back from a 24-9 deficit with back-to-back touchdown drives. The final one a nine play, 55-yard drive that was capped with a Larry Fitzgerald touchdown.
Murray threw a two-point conversion to Christian Kirk to tie the game at 24-24 and send the game to overtime. He led the Cardinals on a seven-play, 65-yard drive to give them a 27-24 lead in overtime before Detroit tied up the game with a field goal of their own.
No. 1 overall picks in their debut have lost 11 straight games prior to Murray’s tie. The streak, however, was extended to 12 games with the tie. The last top pick to win his debut was David Carr in 2002. Only Carr, Michael Vick (2001), John Elway (1983) and Jim Plunkett (1971) have won their debuts as No. 1 overall picks.
