Cardinals’ mishaps erase career day for QB Murray

In a game where Kyler Murray had a career-high 106 rushing yards, threw for three touchdowns and ran in one more, he showed that he can do everything asked of him. But in the 34-31 loss at home to the Dolphins, the Cardinals would have needed to ask even more, including some absurd requests. He gave them a dual threat, when what they needed was a quadruple.

Murray, who does not play defense or kick field goals, was incredibly frustrated after the loss. While he did not blame any of his teammates,it was clear that the loss was not on his individual performance.

“We have to put it all together,” he said. “It’s a team game, and we didn’t do that.”

It was a different type of frustration than in some of the other losses Murray has seen with this Cardinals. Of the Cardinals’ 442 net yards, he had a hand in 389 of them.

“Guys have every right to be as mad as they are, because we all know how talented and how good we can be,” wide receiver Christian Kirk said. “And it’s tough and it’s frustrating when we don’t do it.”

A strip-sack gave the Dolphins an early 7-0 lead, and in a three-point game, it proved deadly. But the bulk of Cardinals’ missteps came on defense and special teams.

Murray was 21 of 26, throwing for 283 yards. He has had only two games with more total yards, and those were the against the Seahawks in a game that went to overtime and against the Jets who are the Jets.

Coach Kliff Kingsbury once again pinned the loss on some of his own decision making, praising his secondyear quarterback at the same time.

“I thought he was really efficient,” Kingsbury said. “I had some bad play calls that kept us out of the end zone. I think that was kind of it. Me screwing it up on those. But he was asked to perform his job and he did it at a high level. He escaped some things and made some plays with his feet. I thought he performed at a high level.”

To do so, Murray averaged 9.6 yards per carry.

Needing just one yard on 4th and 1, he faked a handoff to running back Chase Edmonds, kept his arm extended for a minute as he evaded his first of five Dolphins defenders, caught his balance and picked up 28 yards before eventually heading out of bounds.

Linebacker Jordan Hicks immediately re-enacted Murray’s quick feet, mimicking the play up and down the sideline to celebrate.

“You see him make amazing plays all the time, so it shouldn’t surprise you but when you see him do it over and over again, for some reason, it is surprising,” Hicks said.

“And you watch him hold the ball out here and mix guys, and constantly — it’s over and over and over again throughout the year — and it’s big time guys. It’s not guys who this is their first game starting. It’s guys who have been out there, played a lot of football in this league. So special guy, and it’s fun to watch.”

And outside of those 106 rushing yards, Murray connected with nine different receivers. Kirk led the day with 123 yards on five catches, including a 56-yard touchdown, dropped right into his hands from Murray.

Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins had just three catches for 30 yards, but a slew of different defensive pass interference calls on plays where Murray looked his way were good to move the Cardinals downfield throughout the game.

“He definitely impacted the game. He always does,” Kingsbury said of Hopkins. “They started doubling him and that should open things for other guys. I’ve still got to find ways to get him the football more because when he touches it, good things happen. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to.”