A day after the Arizona Cardinals’ 34-28 loss to the Buffalo Bills Sunday, there remains a buzz of what could have been, especially as it relates to the last-drive play when wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. broke open on a second-and-6 play with 1:10 remaining in the game from the Buffalo 39-yard line.
Social media went insane Sunday night when a freeze-frame of the play appeared to show Murray in the pocket, looking downfield at Harrison. Of course, that wasn’t close to being accurate.
I liken freeze-frames to using your TV remote to pause when someone’s talking and it catches the person in that moment with eyes closed and making a weird face. Just not the reality of things at life speed.
So, it was noteworthy when ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky, a former NFL quarterback, broke down the play on Twitter with the revealing video. Watch it because it shows what is often the case: Things often aren’t often what they appear to be.
Here are Orlovsky’s words:
“The still shot looks like Kyler missed a wide-open Marvin Harrison. How did he miss that? No. 1, they flipped the back. The right guard, center, left guard and left tackle are going left. The back and the right tackle are left to the right (side). So, really, rules-wise would tell me if two guys from off the ball blitzed to this (right) side, you would be hot. You would at least feel warm as a quarterback, especially if those people vacate and you have a slot receiver replacing him.
“So, maybe not hot because they’re coming from depth and you might be able to pass this off and get back to it, but you’re warm and so Kyler I would say, Kyler is going to throw this ball to Dortch in the slot as they’re playing like a catch coverage down here meaning this corner’s reading this No. 2 defender. He could be a Cover 2 corner or a deep quarter player. That’s the thought process.”
Orlovsky then explains what happens next.
He said, “So Kyler’s going to throw that slot, kind of replace hot. Then that defender jumps. We’re in danger of battled ball, a tipped ball, interception, whatever. So he goes to reset, and he goes to work to his left. Now he’s, work to the left, work left, he’s still working left, still working left.”
That’s when Harrison breaks open on the right side of the field, but Murray was moving to his left.
Orlovsky continues while Murray starts moving to his right: “As he retraces here, you might sit there and say, ‘Oh my gosh, how do you not see him?’ but you got to remember: He’s right now … you’re thinking, am I hot, am I warm? As he goes there, he says, I got to get the ball out of my hands. The last thing you can do in this situation is take a sack. That’s a hard thing to see right there. Then, he probably peeks at him here and goes, ‘Oh.’ But (he sees) two bodies (defenders) running downfield (toward Harrison). So I honestly don’t sit there as like, ‘What a miss to Marvin Harrison here.’
“For me, this is way more about broken coverage. You’re asking me to see something that I might see once-a-year type of thing. Again, Kyler’s peaking left here and he resets. Look at his back angle as he resets. There’s just a ton of bodies here (in front of him). He’s probably gonna struggle, yes, to see over that. Not his fault. I don’t think that is a ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe he didn’t see or miss a wide-open guy.’”
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Sub scribe on Spotify , YouTube or Apple podcasts .
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