'Quick,' 'elusive,' 'a nightmare': Kyler Murray's levels up Cardinals' offense

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, quarterback Kyler Murray showcased how his legs can be an asset to the Arizona Cardinals' offense.

On third-and-2, trailing 30-20 in the fourth quarter, Murray scrambled for a 4-yard gain. Had Arizona failed to get a new set of downs, the Cardinals would've likely punted. Instead, six plays later, Murray took off on a designed run to his right. Aided by a perfectly executed blocking scheme, he was able to score, facing pressure only at the goal line.

Then, on third-and-5 with 0:22 left, Murray made the split-second decision to take off to his right when he couldn't find anything open, running for 5 yards and getting the first down -- setting up kicker Chad Ryland for a game-tying, 58-yard field goal to send them into overtime.

It was Murray at his rushing finest: He scored, improvised and beat guys to the edge. It's the type of play that had the Cardinals on the cusp of the playoffs.

But as much as he tried to run and throw his team to a win Sunday, the 36-30 overtime loss to Carolina eliminated the Cardinals (7-8) from playoff contention. The team's focus now turns to playing spoiler in their Week 17 game against the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, NFL Network). If Los Angeles (9-6) loses, the NFC West will be determined by the Week 18 Rams-Seahawks game.

"He's a nightmare to prepare for," Rams coach Sean McVay said of Murray. "He's so dangerous because he can beat you in the pocket and then, obviously, if you lose a rush lane, he's so explosive."

Murray knows his legs add a dimension to an offense that -- unlike in years past -- doesn't rely on them. He also knows he's capable of making dynamic, game-changing plays when he runs.

But the 27-year-old's challenge this season has been knowing when to use them.

"I think when you get the opportunity, you have to do it," Murray said. "I had more opportunities [against the Panthers] to use my feet. I definitely would love to do that more, but I don't make the opportunities."

The past two seasons have been a major change from Murray's first four seasons in the NFL under former Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury. His offense, a version of the Air Raid, needed Murray's legs to be a focal point instead of a bonus. Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing's pro-style scheme relies on a James Conner-led run game with Murray being the complementary player at times.

He is on pace for his fewest carries (71) but third-most rushing yards (518) in a season in which he has played at least 14 games. Murray has played 15 or more games in a season only three times in his six-year career: 2019, 2020 and 2024. In 2020, Murray ran 133 times for 819 yards and 11 touchdowns through 16 games.

And his career high of 7.3 yards per carry this season is proof that his runs are about quality, not quantity.

"When I'm running, it just happens," Murray said. "It's not something that I can go out there and force. I wish I could, but it's not. When you see me taking off, it's just kind of natural flow of the game, but I believe it does open things up.

"Obviously when you can run the ball well, it opens everything up."

AMONG HUNDREDS OF Murray's plays this season, two exemplify how effective he is when he decides to make something happen with his feet -- and they couldn't be more different.

In Week 5 at the San Francisco 49ers, Murray showed off his speed. It was first-and-10 at the 50-yard line during the first quarter, and Murray took the snap in shotgun from the left hash and faked the handoff to Conner. After seven Niners crashed the line, Murray kept the ball and took off to the right, where he found an opening and was off. He hit a speed of 21.27 mph, the fastest speed for a quarterback in the past seven seasons, according to Next Gen Stats.

He knew he would score at the 44-yard line when he put his left arm up, pointing to the end zone.

"It is not many times you could do that in the NFL," Murray said. "But to be able to finally hit a long run was good. It was fun."

Then there was Week 8 at the Miami Dolphins. Early in the second quarter with Arizona down 10-0, Murray took the snap out of shotgun on third-and-6. Cornerback Jalen Ramsey came off the left edge untouched, but Murray stepped out of Ramsey's way and began scrambling right, forcing Ramsey to nearly fall. Wanting to set his feet, Murray saw linebacker Emmanuel Ogbah waiting for him. Murray cut back left and found receiver Michael Wilson wide open in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.

For some other quarterbacks, that kind of play would be a season highlight. For Murray, it's commonplace.

"Kyler is a hard dude to tackle," Ogbah said. "He's real shifty, small so you can't even really see him until you're right next to him."

When Petzing was hired in 2023, he went through all of Murray's plays from his first four seasons, as well as a few from his college days at Oklahoma. Petzing learned Murray has developed a "really good feel" for how to be an impactful runner.

It's the true balance a running quarterback needs to find, Petzing said, and Murray has found it as well as anyone. Petzing balances letting Murray be Murray -- allowing him to make plays with his feet -- but also making sure he doesn't get hurt.

Coming into the NFL, Murray was labeled by some as a running quarterback. During his first four seasons in the league under Kingsbury, Murray's running was a baked-in part of Arizona's offense.

In the summer of 2021, Murray said, "Honestly, the way I see it is my legs should be a luxury" instead of being relied upon as a primary function for the offense to be successful. He felt they were a necessity in 2020, a way for Arizona to run its offense.

It has been different under Petzing. Murray has gone under center more to create internal conflict for a defense, making it harder to predetermine what Murray will do on any given play.

He sees his ability to make defenders miss as a "gift and a curse."

"There are times where you leave too early and you wish you would've sat in [the pocket], but there's times that you sit in there and you may take a sack when you felt like you probably should have gotten out," Murray said. "That's just part of playing the game, part of playing the position."

Wilson described Murray's ability to escape pressure and extend plays as an "elite trait" that all the best quarterbacks have.

"It makes our job easier," Wilson said. "Because you can get sort of like free touchdowns and free explosive plays because he's able to escape the pressure from the D-line and blitzes.

"Like my touchdown against Miami. I didn't really do anything. I just found an open lane. I didn't have to beat any coverage. And he just did a great job keeping his eyes on me."

Of all the things Murray does well, Petzing said Murray's ability to sense pressure is "one of the more impressive parts of his game." Through his 23 games with coach Jonathan Gannon and Petzing, Murray has shown his coaches he not only knows when to leave the pocket but that he can make a play when he does.

"I trust him to make the right decision," Gannon said.

TWO MINUTES INTO the Cardinals' 41-10 win against the Rams in Week 2, outside linebacker Jared Verse came off the right edge, got by Cardinals tight end Tip Reiman and center Hjalte Froholdt to close in on Murray. The quarterback had faked a handoff to Conner on play-action and was rolling to his left -- right into Verse's path.

As Murray began to set his feet to make a pass, he glanced left and saw Verse getting by Froholdt while defensive end Kobie Turner and nose tackle Bobby Brown III were shedding their blocks. With most quarterbacks, a sack or a throwaway would've been inevitable.

Not with Murray. He thought about throwing over all three as they closed in on him, but then he thought better of it. Instead, he pulled the ball down and started to take off to his right. Verse chased Murray down, diving and wrapping up Murray's left leg. Had Verse finished the sack, he would've dropped Murray for a 10-yard loss.

Instead, Murray escaped for a 6-yard gain.

"It sucks," Verse said. "He's just so quick, he's so elusive. The way he's able to just kind of realize where your body's going, your momentum and everything like that. I've thought about it a lot since I had a couple moments with him where he was right there and just couldn't wrap him up."

It's a sentiment shared by many opponents.

One Murray play can wreck the game, Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. He saw it firsthand in Week 7 on "Monday Night Football." On first-and-10 early in the fourth quarter, Murray went through his progressions but nothing was open. He scrambled to his left trying to buy more time, eventually tucking the ball and taking off to the left. Murray knew that if he could turn the corner and get by linebacker Junior Colson, he'd be gone -- and that's what he did en route to a 44-yard touchdown run.

KYLER MURRAY 44-YARD HOUSE CALL 💨#LACvsAZ | Exclusively on ESPN+ ➡️ https://t.co/BnBBSPmfGX pic.twitter.com/u1IKNJjV2A

Defenses know he can -- and likes to -- sit back in the pocket and throw the ball, but they can't assume that's what he'll do, Verse explained. They also know that if the pocket collapses, he can get out of harm's way.

"It puts a lot of stress on a defense," Verse said.

Cardinals left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. has seen defenses line up against Murray all season with a rush plan, which Murray has quickly forced them to abandon. Teams tend to start out with a more conservative approach to Murray until they can feel him out: Defensive fronts stay more gap sound against Murray, even if they have the personnel who can adlib and freelance well enough to make plays on their own, Johnson noticed.

"Them jumping out of a gap can lead to an explosive play really quick," Johnson said. "You have to stay a little bit more within your rules and not try to make a selfish play that might be a big play."

All of that, however, may not matter.

"It's tough," Dolphins defensive tackle Calais Campbell said. "He's up there in the best in the business making guys miss and we had a lot of opportunities on him. A lot of guys, unblocked, getting to him and he just makes a guy miss and throws the ball away. Those are hidden yardage, those are big plays, especially when it comes to momentum and the way the ball game goes. Those plays -- you make them, it's a whole different ball game."

In those moments, Murray doesn't see what his runs or his escapes do to a defense. Cardinals wide receiver Zach Pascal has heard defensive ends react with "Oh, f---," after Murray escapes their grasp or gets away.

Murray sees the reactions when he watches the tape.

"Like palms up or just like the body language of like, 'God, we did everything right and what are we supposed to do?'" Petzing said. "... It certainly is hard when you feel like you got him hemmed in, you got the right answer, you got a free runner, you got the leverage you want, all of a sudden you gave up a touchdown, you gave up an explosive player or he ran for a first down."

NFL Nation reporters Sarah Barshop and Marcel Louis-Jacques contributed to this report.