Arizona Cardinals
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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 garbge 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, ?-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-winning 1 Contextualized Gamelogs 2020 By: Nick Guarisco (@FantasyLawGuy) 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. • 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. • Season Summary: • Season Totals: • 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. 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 2 Contextualized Gamelogs 2020 By: Nick Guarisco (@FantasyLawGuy) 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. Hopkins had a first down on 3rd and 12 called back by a holding penalty. For some reason, the Murray-to-Hopkins connection was the only thing not working on MNF. • Week 7 – 12/10-103-1, FL vs. SEA. The TD came on an improv-play where the ball was snapped to early and Murray realized Hopkins had a CB 1-on-1 down the sideline. Hopkins barely practiced this week due to an ankle injury. He was questionable for the game but looked healthy. • Week 8 – BYE • Week 9 – 3/3-30-0 vs. MIA. Xavien Howard shadowed Hopkins all over the field and mostly had his number. Hopkins didn’t record a target in the first half. This will probably go down as Hopkins’ worst game. • Week 10 – 12/7-127-1 vs. BUF. With 10 seconds remaining and the Cards trailing 30-26, Hopkins made the catch of the year, high-pointing and snagging a 50-yard Hail Mary for the win between 3 defenders. Hopkins has now seen at least 7 targets in 8/9 games, and his connection with Kyler Murray is reaching Stafford- to-Megatron levels. • Season Summary: • Season Totals: • Adjusted Fantasy Totals: WR Christian Kirk • Week 1 – 5/1-0-0 @ SF. Kirk was overshadowed by DeAndre Hopkins’ 40% target share and 16 targets. There was a few failed deep shots for Kirk, but the goose egg was disappointing. • Week 2 – 4/2-57-0 vs. WAS. Kirk caught a 49-yard pass on the sideline with no room to spare to go along with an 8-yard reception. The targets behind DeAndre Hopkins are too spread out for Kirk to thrive. ARI was able to ride their running game, including Murray’s rushing, to an easy victory. • Week 3 – DNP – Groin. Andy Isabella (4/4-47-2) was excellent in 26 snaps in Kirk’s place vs. the Lions. • Week 4 – 5/3-19-1 @ CAR. Kirk isn’t involved enough to be fantasy relevant, though this was his first TD of the season. He now has 6 catches for 76 yards and 1 TD on the season, in 3 games. • Week 5 – 7/5-78-0 @ NYJ. It was arguably Kirk’s best performance of 2020 as he was consistently used as both a downfield weapon and on intermediate routes. Of course, this was the Jets defense, but his 7 targets tied with the team lead. 3 Contextualized Gamelogs 2020 By: Nick Guarisco (@FantasyLawGuy) • Week 6 – 3/2-86-2 @ DAL. He made both his catches count. He scored on a jet sweep push pass to the right side and then caught a beautiful 80-yard bomb over the top of the defense, roasting the CB. He remains volatile, but he’s now had 3 solid games in a row after a slow start.