Where do I begin?
To tell the story of how great a game can be?
The sweet love story that is older than the sea.
The simple truth about the game you bring to me.
Where do I start?
—With apologies to the movie, Love Story, and a couple word changes, circa 1970
We’ll start or begin with 6:29 remaining in the third quarter of the Arizona Cardinals’ improbable 28-27 win over the Miami Dolphins Sunday in Miami Gardens, Fla., with a temperature of 82 degrees and 52 percent humidity.
The Dolphins led 20-10, and were on their own 13-yard line after a 59-yard Blake Gillikin punt to the 7 was returned six yards. An incomplete pass on first down was followed by a shotgun snap that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa failed to handle and after it careened past the goal line, he batted the ball out the back of the end zone for safety.
Somehow, that seemed to give life to the Arizona offense. To that point, the Cardinals had run 34 plays for only 161 yards (4.7 per play) with three three-and-outs and totaled only nine first downs.
Prior to the 13-yard loss on the aborted snap, the Dolphins had 286 yards on 48 plays.
After a first-down incompletion, running back James Conner, who had a mere six yards on 10 carries at that point, went for 13 yards and that was followed by a 17-yard play to tight end Trey McBride.
The Cardinals were off to the races. The drive ended with a stunning 22-yard touchdown catch by wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and a failed two-point conversion.
The Dolphins bounced back with a touchdown for a 27-18 lead, but the Cardinals didn’t waver. A Conner 2-yard run made it 27-25 and we all know what happened after a third-down stop that led to another long drive for the winning field goal as time expired.
No one saw the reversal of fortunes coming. On the three scoring possessions, the Cardinals had 228 yards on 29 plays (7.9 per play) with 13 first downs including 4-for-4 on third down. Before that stretch, they were 3-for-9 on third down.
Quarterback Kyler Murray was 14-for-17 for 170 yards and the duo of Harrison (4-78) and McBride (4-57) had eight of the receptions for 135 yards. McBride had a 17-yard play for a third-down conversion and Harrison one for 16.
In the game, Murray was 26-for-36 for 307 yards, while McBride (9-124) and Harrison (6-111) each eclipsed 100 yards.
A few days before the game, Harrison had to admit things hadn’t been as he envisioned after seven games. When asked Sunday if this was how he envisioned things going, there was laughter when he said simply, “Yeah, definitely.”
Murray had always maintained confidence in Harrison with the belief big days would come. Asked about figuring out what would work and being consistently on the same page, Murray said, “I don’t really see all the speculation and stuff because I’m not really on Twitter and stuff like that. But he hears it. I hear. It’s hard not to hear it. At the end of the day, he’s got to be himself and just continue to get better each and every week. That’s all we have to do. It’s going to get there. (Expletive) don’t happen overnight, you know what I mean?”
There were several big plays aside from the touchdown, especially an 18-yarder that got the Cardinals to midfield on second-and-15 two plays after left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. was flagged for holding.
“I’m super proud of him today,” Murray said. “He kind of took over. It’s one of those moments where you feel like when I dropped back, especially that dig over the middle where we got the holding penalty; catches it, takes a hit in the head and stays up. Those were confidence-builders. And I feel like this game was really big for him and for me and for us to get on that (same) page. Again, a guy like that, you have to just give him opportunities, and I think that’s a big deal.”
When Harrison was asked about the whole figuring it out thing, his awareness shined through.
“At the end of the day, it just comes down to execution,” Harrison said. “I’ve got to run the right route. I’ve got to run a great route to get open. I catch the ball. He needs to do his job; his part as well. That’s what it comes down to at the end of the day.”
So, Marvin, no secret sauce.
“Yeah, no secret sauce,” he said.
As for Murray, who added 19 key yards rushing and wasn’t sacked for a third consecutive game, and Harrison, head coach Jonathan Gannon said, “The touchdown to Marv, unbelievable catch. Unbelievable play there. Kyler, I thought, was electric. They couldn’t sack him. He extended plays a bunch. He had a couple of free runners, he extended the play, got out of them. He’s tough back there to get down, and when he extends plays, our guys get open, and we make plays. He was lights out, too.”
Former NFL quarterback Chris Simms couldn’t resist on NBC’s Football Night in America when he said, “Remember when Kyler Murray got in trouble for playing Call of Duty? Duty called for him today to make some plays in the pass game and Kyler Murray delivered.”
On extending plays, Murray said, “That’s the gift that God blessed me with, being able to move around. I trust those guys up front. It’s the NFL. You have guys coming off the edge every weekend that are pretty dominant, but the guys up front, they hold their own and I’m proud of them to be able to fight for four quarters. Obviously, a team like that that blitzes a lot, it’s on me to be able to get the ball out knowing I’m hot.”
McBride’s success came on National Tight Ends Day, which Murray said he knew about.
“That didn’t go into my play,” he said, “but yeah, I did know that. Elijah’s (Higgins) birthday too (No. 24). Shout out to Elijah.”
Higgins added 13 yards on two receptions.
Murray glowed about McBride, saying, “He’s a beast. I can’t say enough about Trey. I tell you all every week I think he could be the best in the league. The athleticism, being able to block. He can do it all. We’ve got to continue to get him the rock.”
Only in his third season, Murray said, “When he first came in, he was kind of the young buck who didn’t really know what was going on. That stopped a little bit. The game is moving fast. You have to learn a lot, but now it’s like he’s a damn savvy vet. He gets it. He’s under control at all times.
“The game is moving slow for him, and he’s telling me certain things that he sees and zones and stuff like that. Trey has come a long way.”
Hopefully, facetiously, McBride referred to National Tight Ends Day as “a huge holiday in this world. So obviously knew that was a day and was happy that I was able to have a good day on National Tight Ends Day.”
It was left to Harrison to admit “it feels great,” but then added some perspective knowing that despite being technically in first place in the NFC West, the Cardinals are 4-4 as are Seattle and the 49ers, with the Rams at 3-4.
“It’s hard to get wins in this league,” Harrison said. “It’s hard to be consistent in this league, period, so obviously we have to keep going, keep building on this and never get complacent.”
That’s an obvious message in a league where the true separator is being able to win close games. After losing one-score games to Buffalo and Detroit, the Cardinals were 2-7 since Jonathan Gannon became head coach last season.
They are now 5-7 after three victories over the 49ers, Chargers and Dolphins by a total of four points.
Gannon usually notes, even after a big win, that “we got a long way to go,” and Sunday he said about momentum, “I don’t think wins carry over, but I think confidence does and I think that’s what you are starting to see a little bit. These last three weeks, you take two trips back and forth. You play a Monday night game. It’s a short week.
“Those are just external factors. So we lay it out to them: ‘Hey, this is what the challenge is. This is what the week is going to look like.’ We have to get ready to play good ball to get a win … Next game.”
Which is next Sunday against the Bears.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
