With 2:39 left in the first quarter of the wild-card matchup between the Cardinals and Rams, Arizona had third-and-16 from its own 19-yard line, one play after Von Miller sacked Kyler Murray for an eight-yard loss. Head coach and offensive shot-caller Kliff Kingsbury’s response was to call a bit of trickeration, with Murray throwing the ball to receiver Christian Kirk, and Kirk throwing the ball to running back James Conner.
The play gained 18 yards, good enough for a first down, but trouble was afoot. Kirk threw the ball slightly forward to Conner, which gave the Cardinals an illegal forward pass penalty, and the ball moved back to the Arizona 14-yard line for the punt on fourth-and-21.
One more thing you may notice about this play is that the Cardinals were static before the snap. That’s been an issue for this team all season long, as Murray has been more efficient with pre-snap motion, and Kingsbury has been reluctant to call it. In the 2021 regular season, the Cards used motion on 31% of their plays, which ranked 29th, and their Positive Play Rate of 47% ranked eighth.
This season, when given the benefit of motion, Murray completed 116 of 164 passes for 1,231 yards 461 air yards, seven touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 107.9. Without motion, Murray completed 167 of 267 passes for 2,556 yards, 1,478 air yards, 17 touchdowns, eight interceptions, and a passer rating of 100.1.
And in Arizona’s Week 30-23 Week 14 loss to the Rams, Murray completed 12 passes in 16 attempts for 173 yards and a passer rating of 109.6 with pre-snap motion. Without motion, he completed 20 of 33 passes for 210 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 53.9.
If the Cardinals want to get in this game, perhaps getting little crazier pre-snap, and a little less so after the snap would be a good idea.