Contextualized Gamelogs 2021 By: Nick Guarisco (@Fantasylawguy)
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ARIZONA CARDINALS Passing Game: QB Kyler Murray • Week 1 – 230, 1-1, 13-91-1 @ SF. Murray was actually at 100 RUYD before kneeling twice for -5 yards in victory formation. Fantasy football can be so heart- breaking. His performance was still nice after a slow start. He meshed well with DeAndre Hopkins, operating at an up-tempo pace (76 snaps). Murray’s rushing was the difference against a good 49ers defense, allowing the Cardinals to come from behind and pull off the week 1 upset. • Week 2 – 286, 1-1, 8-67-2 vs. WAS. The speedy, elusive Murray again made defenders look silly on his way to the end zone twice on scrambles. He is running a lot more this year. He’s showing out with a better supporting cast thanks to DeAndre Hopkins. • Week 3 – 270, 2-3, 5-29-1 vs. DET. He wasn’t very good in this game, but the fantasy points were still scored because he accounted for all 3 of the Cardinals’ TDs. Murray’s RUTD was a ridiculously freaky juke that embarrassed the defender. He has a RUTD in 3 straight games. Murray relentlessly worked his connection with DeAndre Hopkins and found Andy Isabella for his first score. • Week 4 – 133, 3-0, 6-78-0 @ CAR. Murray and the Cardinals offense was much worse in real life, but Murray’s fantasy line was great. The Cardinals were outmatched for more than 2 quarters. At halftime, Murray had 54 PAYD. Murray turned it on when the Cards were trailing 28-7. Luckily, all the garbage TDs went to Murray. He had one very long run in the 3rd quarter and a few short PATDs late. • Week 5 – 380, 1-1, 9-31-1 @ NYJ. His 2-yard RUTD was a designed run, and his 5th TD on the ground. The Jets offered minimal pressure, and Murray worked his connection to DeAndre Hopkins with ease. He took numerous chances downfield, unlike the last few weeks. • Week 6 – 188, 2-1, 10-74-1 @ DAL. He only completed a lousy 37% of his throws. He was 9/24. But one of his completions was a beautiful 80-yard bomb to Christian Kirk in stride over the top of the defense. His first TD was a shovel pass to Kirk. Murray did damage with his legs as usual in the blowout win. Murray missed Larry Fitz open in the end zone on an errant throw. He missed a number of throws in this one, but he’s still the QB1 through 6 weeks and is actually near pace for Lamar Jackson’s 2019 numbers. The hype appears real: he is this year’s Lamar Jackson. • Week 7 – 360, 3-1, 14-67-1 vs. SEA. Murray rebounded in the passing game. He led the Cards to a game-tying field goal late in regulation and then the game- 1 Contextualized Gamelogs 2021 By: Nick Guarisco (@FantasyLawGuy) winning kick in OT. Murray was effective as a rusher once again and completed 34/48 passes. He has posted a top-10 QB week in every game this season. • Week 8 – BYE • Week 9 – 283, 3-0, 11-106-1 vs. MIA. Murray gets knocked for his inconsistency throwing downfield, but that’s where he lived against an up-and-coming defense, finding Christian Kirk and Darrell Daniels for 56 and 21-yard TDs. Murray was electric on the ground as usual and looks to finish as the QB1 on the year. Murray revealed after the season that his shoulder injury happened in this game. • Week 10 – 245, 1-1, 11-61-2 vs. BUF. Trailing 30-26 with a few seconds remaining, Murray was forced to his left but found a way to square his shoulders while fading backward to launch the game-winning Hail Mary 50 yards through the air to the grasp of DeAndre Hopkins between 3 defenders for the win. With 2 RUTDs, Murray now has 10 RUTDs on the season. He’s scoring more than Lamar Jackson did in his MVP 2019 season, the greatest QB season ever for a QB. • Week 11 – 269, 2-0, 5-15-0 @ SEA. It was a quiet night for Murray, though he still managed 2 scores. He got his throwing shoulder crunched and was seen wincing and warming up his arm on the sideline. His passes did not have the usual zip afterward. Murray faced a surprising amount of blitzes and pressures against the league’s worst pass defense. His scores went to Chase Edmonds and Dan Arnold. Murray did not look to run much in this one, either because of Seattle’s aggressive defense or because of his dinged up shoulder. • Week 12 – 170, 0-1, 5-31-0 @ NE – Clearly trying to protect the shoulder he injured a few weeks ago, Murray was held out of the end zone for the first time all season. Christian Kirk dropped a quick slant for a TD and then Keeshawn Johnson was brought down at the 1-yard line the next play. ARI went for it on 4th and 1 and did not convert just before the half. Murray was confused by Pats blitzes. His pass velocity looks weak. • Week 13 – 173, 3-1, 5-15-0, FL vs. LAR. Murray saved his day with 3 scores, 1 of them a meaningless TD to Dan Arnold. Arnold also caught a wide open 59-yarder early in the game. • Week 14 – 244, 1-0, 13-47-0 @ NYG. This is Murray’s highest rushing total in 3 games. D-Hop racked up much of Murray’s yards after the catch, but Murray was taking what the Giants gave him. • Week 15 – 406, 3-1, 8-29-1, FL vs. PHI. The Eagles were short a handful of corners against Murray, but he made it look easy, throwing for a career high in yardage. Murray turned the ball over twice inside the 10-yard line, fumbling on the opening possession and later tossing an INT on a miscommunication with D-Hop in the end zone. • Week 16 – 247, 0-1, 8-75-0 vs. SF. Murray suffered some sort of lower leg injury on the final play. He appeared in pain as he was helped to the bench. Before then, he threw a back-breaking INT in the end zone late in the 4th quarter. 2 Contextualized Gamelogs 2021 By: Nick Guarisco (@FantasyLawGuy) • Week 17 – 87, 0-0, 2-3-0 @ LAR. EXITED late in the first quarter with an ankle injury. He tried to return in the 4th quarter of a do-or-die game where the Cards offense could do nothing against the Rams’ suffocating defense without Murray. • Season Summary: Murray finished as the QB1 through 16 games on the back of an amazing 133-819-11 rushing line. He also threw for 3,971 PAYD with a 26-12 TD/INT ratio (7.1 YPA). His numbers tailed off a little toward the end of the season, possibly due to a dinged up shoulder. • Adjusted Fantasy Totals: WR DeAndre Hopkins • Week 1 – 16/14-151-0 @ SF. In what was expected to be a slow start considering the switch to a new team, scheme, and QB in a COVID-shortened offseason, which was even more difficult with Hopkins missing a ton of training camp due to a mini contract dispute, Hopkins hauled in a career-high 14 catches on a whopping 40% target share from Kyler Murray. He even had a 34-yard TD negated by penalty in the 4th quarter and brought back to the 1-yard line. The next closest WR on the team had 5 targets. It looks like Kliff Kingsbury is going to have Murray pepper D- Hop with targets early and often. • Week 2 – 9/8-68-1 vs. WAS. Hopkins had a rare drop in the first half and didn’t have his number called much in the second half while the Cardinals bled clock with their running game in an easy win. Hopkins is the clear alpha WR on this team and could lead the league in targets. • Week 3 – 12/10-137-0 vs. DET. CHRISTIAN KIRK OUT. Hopkins is already up to 32 grabs in 3 weeks and could finish as the WR1. Even with a lack of big plays, Hopkins is getting peppered early and often. Christian Kirk was OUT for this game and Larry Fitz is on his last legs. Kliff Kingsbury has had zero trouble scheming the Murray to Hopkins connection. • Week 4 – 9/7-41-0 @ CAR. This may be Hopkins’ worst game of the year, but that’s not a bad floor. Hopkins was a game-time decision going into this game with an ankle injury. Still, this was a good matchup against a weak Panthers defense, the Cardinals were trailing all game, so credit to CAR for shutting him down. Murray and Hopkins couldn’t get on the same page other than short throws. • Week 5 – 7/6-131-1 @ NYJ. It was Hopkins’ 5th straight game with 6+ catches. He bullied a rookie CB when paired up, beating him one-on-one for a 45-yard catch and then again on a 37-yard 50/50 ball TD in the corner of the end zone. It was nice to see Murray target him on deep passes. • Week 6 – 8/2-73-0 @ DAL. Nuk was targeted on 33% of Kyler Murray’s 24 throws, but Murray only completed 9 passes in this game. He only needed to. Hopkins and Murray couldn’t get their connection going until a huge 60-yard gain in the 4th quarter where Hopkins showed off his blazing speed and was tripped up before the end zone.