Early in the 2008 season – Week 2, I believe – Kurt Warner was dealing, tearing up the Miami Dolphins in what is now State Farm Stadium and finished a blowout win with a 158.3 passer rating, as perfect as a passer rating can get.
Warner was 19-for-24 for 361 yards, a very Warner-esque showing (three TDs to Anquan Boldin.)
No, Kyler Murray didn’t reach those yardage totals Sunday. But he was 17-for-21, he also had three touchdown passes (for 266 yards total), and he had that perfect passer rating of 158.3. He and Warner are the only two Cardinals to ever pull that off.
Warner didn’t add in 59 rushing yards, though, and he certainly couldn’t have added in the scrambling that makes Kyler Kyler, the perfect example of which was on display on the final TD bullet to tight end Elijah Higgins after Murray bought himself time and left the Rams grasping for air.
“You feel guys swarming around you, and you try to make them miss,” Murray said after a 41-10 domination of L.A. “Then I look up and I see Elijah in the back of the end zone. I had a feeling that once it left my hand that it was a touchdown.
“It’s a good feeling when you’re playing fast and guys are moving around in the scramble drill to be able to do things off schedule.”
Kyler Murray was good in Buffalo. He was great on Sunday. If he plays like that – and the Cardinals can run it like they have shown they can do – this offense is going to be that scary thing everyone hoped to see.
Next week will be interesting. Aidan Hutchinson is coming off a four-sack game for the Lions, who visit Arizona. Hutchinson vs Paris Johnson Jr. with the dose of Kyler’s scrambling ability will be fascinating to watch.
But for those looking for Kyler Murray to have his best season thus far, he’s off to a promising start.
— So it took an extra week. That’s what Marvin Harrison Jr. can – and will – be.
— It is kind of funny Murray only had four incompletions and they were all Harrison targets. “Unacceptable,” Harrison said, and I have no doubt he totally thinks that.
— Trey McBride’s sideline catch for 21 yards was a thing of beauty. That guy has some of the best hands in the NFL. And the pass from Murray was so good, dropping it in between two defenders and the sideline.
— To have the Rams return the opening kickoff to the Arizona 49 and get immediately stoned was a huge moment for the defense and what that game turned out to be.
— Part of that was the Jonathan Gannon challenge. A reminder that Gannon didn’t challenge a play until Week 18 last season. It came out in Week 2 this year and he was successful, changing a first-down catch to a third-down incompletion, forcing the Rams to go for it and the defense holding up on a Cooper Kupp catch for the turnover on downs.
— The Cardinals had a surprise guest on Sunday, beyond Olympians Michael Phelps and Noah Lyles. Former Cardinals linebacker Markus Golden, who recently announced his retirement, was an honorary captain for the coin toss.
“Markus Golden did not tell me he was going to be doing the coin toss, which is absolutely absurd,” said Dennis Gardeck, who punctuated one of his sacks with a Golden “St. Louis stomp” celebration. “He kind of got me charged up seeing him out there. That is my dog. One of my favorite teammates I have ever played with.”
— The Cardinals had a 99-yard touchdown drive for a second season in a row.
— It’ll go unnoticed with everything else going on, but Matt Prater drilled a 57-yard field goal like it was a 37-yard field goal and you can’t ever take that for granted.
— My almost-favorite play of the game: James Conner, swarmed on a running play after reversing direction, saw Kyler out of the corner of his eye just behind him and faked a pitch to the QB. I would guess Conner would catch hell if he ever a) made a dangerous play like that and b) exposed Murray to the defense had it happened – but it was funny to consider.
— That fade-end-zone-jump-ball wasn’t happening with Kyler and MHJ yet. … Yet.
— With Harrison’s 130 yards and Conner’s 122, the Cardinals had their first game with a 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver since 2020 when running back Kenyan Drake (100 yards) and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (127) did it on Nov. 15 in the Hail Murray win over the Bills at State Farm Stadium.
— Conner surpassed 5,000 yards rushing for his career with his big day.
— We will leave you with wide receiver Michael Wilson, who was as happy as anyone after the win.
“I feel like we haven’t had a convincing win like that in a long time, or since I’ve been here, at least,” he said. “Someone said a stat, like 70 percent of games come down to one score. To win by, I don’t even know how much we won by, three, four scores, 30 points? It feels really good to just, you know, walk over a team. That doesn’t happen a lot in the NFL.”
