Cardinals' Kyler Murray, Kliff Kingsbury Discuss Slide Decision
With less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter, Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals offense were driving against the Philadelphia Eagles — down 20-17. Facing a second-and-10 on the Eagles' 34-yard line with 36 seconds left, Murray had a nine-yard run and was one yard short of the first down at the Eagles' 25.
The clock ticked down and the Cardinals had no timeouts remaining. Instead of running a play on third-and-one, Murray spiked the ball. That forced head coach Kliff Kingsbury to attempt a field goal for the tie with Matt Ammendola, who filled in for the injured Matt Prater.
Ammendola missed the 43-yard field goal with 22 seconds left and the Cardinals suffered a crushing defeat.
After the game, Kingsbury was asked about what the team's belief was during the spiking of the ball debacle.
“I thought he was clearly past and they brought it back,” head coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters. “By that time we had committed to clocking it . . . It was just past the point of no return.”
Kingsbury also said that the decision to spike the ball was his and not Murray's.
Even the scoreboard at State Farm Stadium showed that the Cardinals completed the first down.
Murray was honest about the spiking of the ball ordeal.
“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.”
During the last drive, Murray had a chance to get a chunk of yards when he flat-out missed a wide-open Zach Ertz on the left side.
There were opportunities at the end of the game, but Arizona couldn't get it done.
"At the end of the game, we had a chance to move the ball downfield. That's all you can ask for," Murray said.
The late-game blunders overshadowed the fact the Cardinals were facing a 14-0 deficit to start. Murray played his best football of the year as he threw for 250 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 55 yards.
Arizona would also end up allowing 20 points to the only undefeated team in the league, and it was a performance good enough for a victory.
In the end, Arizona falls to 2-3 and this loss hurts in Cardinals' land.
"Am I taking it hard? Obviously. But at the end of the day, we've got to keep going, keep pushing forward. (We've) got a lot of season left. We've got a great team, great locker room. I'm confident in everybody in that locker room. We've just got to get together because right now, you know we're not playing complement football," Murray said.
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