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Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. — Everything finally clicked for quarterback Kyler Murray in the second half of the Arizona Cardinals‘ upset win over the Philadelphia Eagles on New Year’s Eve.
He was nearly perfect, completing 13-of-14 passes for 133 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Cardinals’ offense to four touchdowns on four possessions. But the numbers didn’t matter. And, to a degree, neither did the win. Murray played the best game of his short season, showing the steely nerves, mature stoicism, evasive quickness and deft touch that helped him become a $230.5 million quarterback last year.
“You got a glimpse of just our offense and [the] whole [of] how we can play — running the ball, throwing the ball, catching, getting open, every aspect of the game,” quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork said.
In other words, that game showed Murray was back from a devastating ACL injury in his right knee that sidelined him for almost a year. His seventh game back was, simultaneously, the culmination of Murray’s comeback, a preview of what’s to come in 2024 and a glimpse at what could’ve been.
His play over the final eight games quieted the conversation around Arizona looking for Murray’s replacement, and coach Jonathan Gannon quashed any doubt.
“I’ve been convicted since I got here,” Gannon said last week. “What the guy’s done for us, the player that he is, the person that he is, the competitor that he is, I kind of chuckled. That’s been my view for, since I got here.”
The offense and the quarterback position defined the Cardinals’ 4-13 season.
Three signal callers — Joshua Dobbs, Clayton Tune and Murray — lined up behind center. A fourth, Colt McCoy, spent the entire offseason getting ready to play before he was cut days ahead of the season opener.
“It was crazy at the beginning of the year,” Woolfork said. “You can’t make it up. You can’t. It’s not a book you can read. It’s not anything you can do [about] that. So, obviously just learning from that situation, growing from it, I think that’s the biggest thing I’m probably gonna take away [from] my coaching career moving forward.”
For the first six weeks of the season, the Cardinals, starting Dobbs, were waiting for the day Murray’s window to return to practice opened.
Even when not playing, Murray impressed his teammates with his work ethic. On Fridays, when most players jetted out of the facility as soon as the last meeting was over, he took his time, getting in a workout or a treatment.
“You could definitely see he wasn’t taking it for granted,” wide receiver Zach Pascal said. “And he was happy to be out there, and then the plays he was making, it’s like, ‘Dang.’
“When you’re missing your quarterback and you looking for one, it’s a struggle, and then he comes back and plays like this, [it’s like] ‘OK, this is exactly why we got this man.'”
Murray played his first game 11 months to the day since his ACL injury.
From there, the rest of the season was an exercise in evolution for Arizona’s offense.
Murray’s energy trickled down throughout the team, Pascal said. The first three weeks back were, by and large, his preseason, with him showing steady improvement, and a better understanding of the offense and his role in every ensuing game.
Murray wasn’t shy to admit he was trying to “mold it all together,” as he said after his fifth game.
“He’s grown in a number of different situations,” offensive coordinator Drew Petzing said. “I think you saw a lot of that in the game [against the Eagles]. The mix of tempos, the communication of the line of scrimmage, moving around protections, decision-making, getting the ball to the check down and putting him in some people’s hands.”
Gannon wished there was another game to be played this weekend to see Murray continue playing like he has.
“We just need a little time on task,” Gannon said. “That was my whole point to you guys about it’s going to take a little time. I know he kind of poo-pooed on that after he lit it up against Atlanta, but I really think the sky’s the limit. I think that he can hit another level. I know our team can.”
Rookie wide receiver Michael Wilson understood what Murray was going through. He missed significant time in college due to injuries and worked to return to a high level — but he didn’t have the same level of the attention and scrutiny. That made Murray’s return and performance all the more impressive to Wilson.
“That’s a lot of pressure,” Wilson said. “But he carries himself the right way. He’s accountable and he expects nothing but excellence and, honestly, perfection out of himself. So my hat’s off to him. He’s been through a lot of adversity. And he’s handled it the right way.”
Murray, like many of his teammates, can see where the offense is headed. It got to the point in Philadelphia where Murray was in a “zen flow,” Woolfork said.
“He’s consistent in who he is, like Kyler Murray doesn’t try to be anybody but Kyler Murray,” Woolfork said.
Months before Murray stepped foot on the field, speculation swirled around the Cardinals that they could, potentially move on from him after the season, especially if they had a high-enough draft pick to take a quarterback.
But he won three games, moved the Cardinals to the No. 4 pick, just far enough down the draft board to be outside of the top quarterback talk. While nothing is ever etched in stone in the NFL, Gannon told Murray early in his tenure that he wanted him to be his quarterback.
Having that vote of confidence meant “a lot” to Murray.
“For me, it was really nothing that was in the back of my mind or anything like that,” Murray said. “I wasn’t really worried about it. I was just focused on going out, playing well, and proving him right. I continue to try to do that every day.”
Despite the conversation that circled about, the quarterback said knowing how Gannon felt made returning to the field a bit easier for him.
Murray knows at some point he’ll be replaced, and that teams, including the Cardinals are always looking for the next, best option.
“It’s on you to make them realize or make them understand what type of player you are and that they’ve got something in you,” said Murray, who added that he doesn’t feel like the Cardinals are trying to replace him this year.
Murray will treat this offseason like the ones he had before his injury. He got in a workout on Monday, a day after the season was over while the large majority of his teammates had already left for the offseason.
“I can’t wait just to be able to have a full, normal offseason,” Murray said. “Obviously, I want to continue to get stronger in my leg and not only that, but just be able to be with the guys, get that rhythm and be able to go out there to throw routes and work on the little nuances of the game that we didn’t get to do this year.
“Things I felt like have held us back in a sense on the field … we’ve gotten better I feel like in that aspect because we’ve been on the field together, and that’ll only grow when we’re on the field in the offseason working those things out.”
