Since the miraculous 'Hail Murray,' the Arizona Cardinals have stumbled, losing three straight games and falling out of a playoff spot.
The most surprising issue during the skid has been the lack of offensive consistency. Over the last three losses, quarterback Kyler Murray is averaging 59.9 fewer pass yards per game and 46.8 fewer rush YPG than in the first nine games of the season.
Murray has consistently said his Week 11 shoulder injury has had nothing to do with the nosedive in production. Whatever the reason, the Cardinals' QB hasn't produced like earlier in the season.
Weeks 1-10: 263.9 pass YPG, 7.6 pass yards per attempt, 67.1 rush YPG, 10 rush TDs
Weeks 11-13: 204.0 pass YPG, 5.3 pass yards per attempt, 20.3 rush YPG, 0 rush TDs
Perhaps much of the credit for the Cardinals' struggles can be attributed to defenses adjusting to Murray's dynamic running ability. Keeping the second-year QB in the pocket and making him throw into tight windows has proven to discombobulate Kliff Kingsbury's offense.
Even with the recent struggles, Murray believes the offense is "not far off" from clicking.
"We make it harder than it has to be," Murray said, via the team’s official website. "If we just simplify these games, it's pretty simple in itself, but at the same time it's hard to execute at this level.
"I'm not worried about the pressure or anything like that. We've got four games left, and each game is crucial. We know that; everyone knows that. We understand that it's a 1-0 mentality, and we've got to win."
Defenses have adjusted to Murray. Now it's on the QB and his coach to adapt for the home stretch.
"I don't think we've really scratched the surface from where he can be as a player and he really hasn't spent a lot of time on task at the NFL level -- I don't know the total number of games, I guess it's about 28 at this point, and so the room for growth is tremendous," Kingsbury said of Murray. "How he really has progressed from year one to year two and what we see happening moving forward. He's attacked it. There was nobody who was kind of keeping it warm for him or showing him how to do it, he's kind of had to learn on the fly and has done a tremendous job of picking things up. I'm excited to watch his development as we move forward."
The Cardinals need Murray's development to come in a hurry.
With four games left, Arizona sits on the outside of the playoffs looking in. Sunday's game against a New York Giants defense that just shut down Russell Wilson will be a big test for Murray. If the Cards struggle to score once again, they could watch their postseason hopes drift away as well.
