Kyler Murray had a chance to kick the Arizona Cardinals’ rebuild off right. He’d helped his team jump to an early 17-3 lead against the reigning AFC East champion Buffalo Bills on the road. And while an undermanned defense allowed Josh Allen the opportunity to erase that advantage, his Cardinals still had a chance.
Murray got the ball back trailing 34-28 with 1:56 to play and three timeouts. He rallied Arizona to the Buffalo 39-yard line with 1:10 left, where he danced behind the line of scrimmage, avoided Bills defenders and eventually fired a laser to Greg Dortch for a seven yard pickup and a first down.
It was a fine enough play with a decent outcome. But it was not the best case scenario.
That would have been finding Marvin Harrison Jr., sprinting toward the end zone so all alone that CBS’s cameras couldn’t fit a single Bills defender in the same frame.
Kyler Murray danced in the pocket for 6 seconds and somehow NEVER SAW A WIDE OPEN MARVIN HARRISON JR FOR A GAME-CHANGING TOUCHDOWN pic.twitter.com/HG5ysapKB8
— Christian D’Andrea (@TrainIsland) September 8, 2024
Murray had, from snap to throw, roughly seven seconds to figure out who he wanted the ball to go to as he worked capably through pressure. At no point, seemingly, did that include the highly touted rookie wide receiver Arizona drafted fourth overall.
Four plays later — and zero attempts to Harrison, who had one catch for four yards on three targets — the Cardinals turned the ball over on downs and cemented Buffalo’s comeback from a 14-point deficit. A touchdown there would have made the score 34-all, pending the extra point. While the Bills would have had a full minute and two timeouts to rally (and likely would have, since four of their six second half drives ended in points), this is still a play Arizona would like back.
The Cardinals return to action in Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams.