Cardinals QB Kyler Murray makes key adjustment in his seventh season

TEMPE, Ariz. -- As Arizona Cardinals backmost Kyler Murray sat successful the pouch with the timepiece ticking nether 15 seconds successful the 2nd 4th of a Week 2 crippled against the visiting Carolina Panthers, his violative enactment neutralizing the four-man rush, helium had options unfolding successful beforehand of him.

Arizona was successful a four-wide acceptable with the receivers moving a scissors route. Both slot receivers -- Trey McBride and Michael Wilson -- were moving downfield past cutting outside, and some wideouts -- Marvin Harrison Jr. and Zay Jones -- were doing the aforesaid but cutting inside. All 4 were investigating the Panthers' brushed Cover 2, trying to find unfastened grass.

Arizona was up 13-3 astatine the time, the archetypal fractional was winding down and the extremity portion was a propulsion away. Murray had a choice. Both McBride to the close and Wilson to near were options for a perfectly placed slice to the beforehand corners of the extremity zone. Or Murray could've sent a dart down the seam to either Harrison oregon Jones.

Nobody would've thought doubly if Murray tried immoderate of those throws. Those assertive plays person go expected retired of Murray. His aggressiveness rate, arsenic measured by NFL NextGen Stats, has been his highest implicit the past 2 seasons, astatine 15.3% and 16.8% successful 2023 and 2024, respectively. His aggressiveness complaint is 11.2% 3 games into this season.

Instead of taking the heavy shot, and the accompanying hazard that would've travel with the imaginable precocious reward, Murray did the opposite. He chose the harmless play: a quick, 3-yard walk to a wide-open Trey Benson, the moving backmost who came retired of the backfield and consecutive up the mediate of the discourtesy enactment earlier turning astir astatine the 20-yard enactment and waiting for Murray to deed him. Benson turned the walk into a 12-yard gain, mounting up an 11-yard touchdown flip from Murray to Wilson connected the adjacent play, which enactment the Cardinals up 20-3 with 4 seconds near successful the archetypal half.

"It was a large determination by him to measure down the field. It wasn't there," Arizona violative coordinator Drew Petzing said of Murray. "They played a truly brushed zone, find the checkdown, determination the chains and springiness america the accidental to spell get 7 determination earlier the half.

"That was awesome."

It was the benignant of play, 1 of 55 successful the Panthers game, that gets easy forgotten about. Not sexy, not aggressive, not a touchdown.

Boring, actually.

And that's precisely however Murray likes it.

In his seventh NFL season, Murray has learned that, sometimes, the boring plays are the champion plays. He has 4 checkdowns done 3 games, according to ESPN Research, tied with the Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen for sixth most. Since helium entered the league successful 2019, Murray has thrown the eighth-most checkdowns successful the NFL. And since 2023, erstwhile helium started playing nether Petzing, Murray has thrown for the sixth astir -- and that includes a shortened 2023 play successful which helium played conscionable 7 games aft returning from an ACL injury.

"I would accidental that's astir apt the secret," Murray said. "Because successful precocious schoolhouse and college, you tin benignant of get distant with doing stuff, trying to bash excessively much. It doesn't wound you successful the ass similar it does successful the NFL. So, astatine this level, you propulsion a 5-yard hitch, nine...