Arizona Cardinals-Los Angeles Chargers: Murray shines

Arizona Cardinals rookie quarterback Kyler Murray did not look much like a rookie in his professional debut

Well, that was fun.  For what we got out of Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, it was worth every moment.

Murray did not look much like a rookie in his debut on Thursday night.  He finished the night 6-7 for 44-yards in his first NFL preseason start.

He wasn’t nervous but he certainly found out quickly what it is like to play behind a subpar offensive line.  He was sacked once thanks to an offensive line that looked liked it was ready to go home already.

Murray scrambled like we wanted to see.  He took a couple of hits but came out unscathed.  At this point, we really couldn’t ask for much better.

The most impressive thing was watching him not run out of trouble but watching him stick in the pocket and find his receivers.  As we’ve been reminded a number of times, he’s not your normal rookie coming into the NFL.

Sure, he’ll make mistakes but he has a very good grasp of this offense.  To his own admission, Murray has said the difference he has noticed so far in practice is guys are bigger and faster.  However he said he had to wait to get into game action to really find out.

He saw a little of what he should expect but again, it’s just preseason.  They’ll be coming at him faster come September 8th when the Detroit Lions arrive.

Murray didn’t throw too far down field but he found a few different guys.  He found Damiere Byrd and Trent Sherfield.  He found Larry Fitzgerald on one play.  He also threw a nice screen pass to running back David Johnson.

For now, Murray shines.  There is still work to do and things to learn.  But if this was a test, Murray earns an ‘A’ for his first one.