THE STORY: Kyler Murray took his time postgame as he usually does before finally coming to speak to the media, out of uniform but not yet showered, having had his usual download with quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork.
His message once he emerged was simple.
“I feel like I let the team down today,” the quarterback said. “Self-explanatory. You can’t do that.”
The Cardinals lost to the Seahawks, 30-18, at State Farm Stadium Sunday, falling into an early hole following two Murray interceptions. His weren’t the only mistakes. But they led to two touchdowns, and when you are the quarterback, the spotlight runs hot.
It was a game the Cardinals (6-7) needed badly. The loss puts them two games behind the Seahawks (8-5) in the NFC West, essentially a three-game deficit since Seattle swept the two meetings between the teams. The Rams (7-6) also upset the Bills in Los Angeles, dropping the Cardinals into third place.
The 49ers (6-7) also won, although the Cardinals remain ahead of them in the standings after beating the Niners earlier this year.
The Cardinals went into their bye in first place and feeling good. Now they have a difficult path to even have a chance at the postseason after three post-bye losses.
“I’ve got to find some answers,” coach Jonathan Gannon said. “We haven’t played good ball the last couple of weeks, and that falls on me.”
Murray threw a beautiful 41-yard play-action touchdown to Michael Wilson on the game’s first possession, giving the Cardinals more points against the Seahawks three minutes into the game than Arizona had scored in the entirety of their loss in Seattle two games prior.
But then came the interceptions on back-to-back throws following a Seattle field goal, allowing the Seahawks to also score more points in the first quarter than they had in that 16-6 win in Seattle two weeks ago.
The first, by linebacker Ernest Jones cutting back underneath wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. deep inside Arizona territory, was thrown to the right place, Gannon said. The coach said Jones just made a good play.
Geno Smith hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 19-yard touchdown on the next play, the first home touchdown the Cardinals had surrendered since Week 4 against Washington.
Murray’s next pass was a deep shot to Zay Jones, but it was underthrown and picked off by safety Coby Bryant – the man who had the Pick-6 against Murray in Seattle.
There was pressure much of the game – not as much as the first game against the Seahawks but still evident – although Murray shrugged it off afterward.
“I’m super-confident when I go to sleep at night with the guys in this locker room,” Murray said. “I don’t have no worry or fear when I step on the field, and I mean that wholeheartedly.”
The Cardinals did have a chance to slice the lead a few times. They got a Chad Ryland field goal to cut the lead to 17-10 and had the ball but couldn’t convert, and when Zach Charbonnet broke off a 51-yard touchdown run for a 24-10 lead it was something the Cards couldn’t overcome.
Charbonnet ran for 134 yards in place of the injured Kenneth Walker, and the Seahawks ran for 176 all told and had 409 yards of offense overall, although it was the post-pick 19- and 46-yard TD drives that left the biggest mark.
“We just have keep working,” linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. said. “That’s what it comes down to. Move on to the next week. It’s all we can do. Flush it and just try to win out. Honestly, it’s that simple, we gotta win out. If that’s what y’all want to hear, we have to win out.”
Gannon said Murray battled and clear to support his quarterback. There was nothing that needed to be said to Murray, Gannon emphasized, and to any Murray critics, “the reason we are playing meaningful games in December right now, he’s a huge piece to that.”
Murray finished 25-of-38 for 259 yards and added a second touchdown pass to James Conner later in the game.
“I’m not looking at it like I have to press and become Superman,” Murray said. “I don’t think that’s the answer.”
The logjam in the division made for opportunity for the Cardinals after they started slower than they wanted. But that same logjam has drastically flipped their season in the last three weeks.
The team – and the quarterback – feel that pain.
“It sucks,” Murray said. “It sucks when you’ve put yourself in this position. But at the end of the day we have to show up again.”
