What to watch for in Arizona Cardinals season finale
By Sion Fawkes
What kind of Kyler Murray will show?
Kyler Murray is not an elite quarterback. Yet. Murray will be recognized among the league’s elite if he puts his leg injury behind him and takes the Cardinals into the playoffs. Sure, his 3,884 passing yards, 26 touchdown passes, 11 rushing touchdowns, and 816 rushing yards scream mic drop for those advocating his elite status.
But you’re not an elite quarterback in this league until you become a proven commodity with the only stat that matters: Winning. Because posting pretty numbers to help fantasy owners win their leagues won’t put the Cardinals in the playoffs.
If Kyler Murray does what he has done all season long in games that the Cardinals won shows up, the Cards will be playing for at least another week in January. They’ll be either a sixth or seventh seed, but they will have punched their ticket into the show, and once upon a time, a 9-7 Arizona Cardinals team went to the Super Bowl and almost won it.
So anything is possible. But Kyler has a tall task ahead of him with Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey, and the stingy Los Angeles Rams defense in full force. Sure, they won’t have Michael Brockers.
But Kyler’s heroics have come when the Cardinals have needed him to shine. Especially two months ago against the Buffalo Bills. Murray has also beaten teams better than his Cardinals on paper, like the week one version of the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks.
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Murray has proven he can hang with and beat the NFL’s best. And while he’s not at 100 percent, if the accurate passer and dynamic runner Murray is, shows up in week 17, the Cardinals are going to the playoffs. If he’s off as he was against the Niners last week and posted a season-low quarterback rating, the Cards are going home.