Last week, the Arizona Cardinals upset the mighty San Francisco 49ers. Quarterback Kyler Murray ran seven times for 83 yards and a touchdown.
On Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, Murray had seven carries again. This time, he gained only 14 with a long run of 5. It was a key factor in Green Bay’s 34-13 victory.
“I thought our guys just played very disciplined football, playing all 11 as one, which is something you have to do, especially when you’re playing a guy of his caliber,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said.
“He is really fast, as you guys saw. He’s really tough to tackle and bring down. He was able to get out on a lot of different plays, but it was nothing that was too detrimental that we couldn’t overcome.”
The Cardinals entered the game ranked just outside the top 10 in points scored. They were third in yards per rushing attempt and ninth in yards per play.
Against Jeff Hafley’s improving defense, the Cardinals couldn’t get past the Packers and couldn’t get out of their own way.
Arizona’s first possession was a three-and-out punt. Its second possession picked up one first down but Keisean Nixon’s third-down breakup forced a punt. Its third possession was another three-and-out, with Rashan Gary pressuring Murray into a dangerous incompletion.
When the Cardinals got the ball again with 6 1/2 minutes to go in the first half, it was 17-0.
A key sequence followed. On third-and-1, Murray faked the handoff to James Conner on a read-option and ran to the left. Rookie safety Evan Williams was waiting for a tackle for loss and another three-and-out punt.
On the next play, Jordan Love’s 44-yard touchdown pass to Christian Watson made the score 24-0.
It was a brilliant play physically and mentally by Williams, who has done nothing but make plays since the moment he arrived at Green Bay’s rookie camp as a fourth-round draft pick.
“Because of the situation, it was third-and-1 and K hadn’t really gotten anything going,” he explained. “He hadn’t been able to make a play with his feet yet, so I’d assume that he’s probably eager to make something happen.
“I know I’m coming off the edge and I know there’s a possibility of read-option where he’s reading me. I figured a guy like that would want the ball in his hands on that third down. Didn’t really do anything but did my job. He pulled it, I was in a great spot, had level feet – they say when you get your shoulders parallel to the sideline, bad things happen in read-option – and he pulled it, tried to make a move and I stayed squared and was able to make that play.”
The Cardinals scored 13 consecutive points bridging the second and third quarters but never really threatened.
Romeo Doubs’ second touchdown of the game made it 31-13. On the second play of the next possession, Karl Brooks forced a fumble on a screen to Conner.
The Packers failed to take advantage – LaFleur regretted his play-calling and Brayden Narveson missed a field goal – but Williams struck again on the ensuing possession. On first down from Green Bay’s 39, Murray hit Greg Dortch for 16 yards but Williams knocked the ball out for the Packers’ second consecutive takeaway.
“Definitely saw an opportunity,” Williams said. “Whenever you’re the second or third to the ball, you have the luxury of being able to punch at it because other guys are wrapping him up and trying to secure the tackle.
“I had him squared up and he was falling forward. When you fall forward, the ball can often get separated from your chest. They say that your power is where your eyes are, so I locked in on the ball, was able to punch it out – put my fist right on it. Big play for the team.”
The hustling play embodied the defensive mentality.
Said Williams: “We have a saying that, our linebackers coach, his name’s (Anthony) Campanile, so we say, ‘Campy 3:16 is God loves those who run to the ball.’”
At that point, the only thing in doubt was the Packers’ final margin of victory. Arizona’s next drive got into the red zone, but offensive holding wiped out a Murray scramble to the 5 and Murray fumbled the snap on the next play for a third consecutive fumbled possession after the Cardinals had only one turnover in each of the first five games.
“Uncharacteristic,” Murray said. “We don’t usually, since JG’s (coach Jonathan Gannon) been here, I haven’t felt like we’ve played a game like that where we’ve made bonehead mistake after bonehead mistake and haven’t taken care of the ball. I felt like we’ve been fairly good about taking care of the ball and today we didn’t. In the NFL, that gets you beat.”
Green Bay limited the Cardinals to 303 yards. A key was defending Murray. This was his 31st career game with seven-plus rushing attempts and his third-lowest rushing total in those games.
“I feel like we did a decent job of pressuring him when we needed to, got the ball out of his hands,” Gary said. “He used his feet to extend plays to help his offense but, the majority of the time through the 60 minutes, I felt like we were able to control him and do what we had to do to get a win.”
Murray entered the game with a league-leading 10.7 yards per carry but managed just 2.0. The bruising Conner, who entered the game seventh in rushing, was limited to just 24 on seven carries.
“It’s believing in the game plan (and), knowing when your opportunities come, you have to win,” Gary said. “I feel like the majority of the time when we had our opportunities, we got pressure, got him off the spot, made him think, eyes downfield, made him run, take away some of the options. We’ve got to keep on communicating how we did today.”
