I’d be nervous about starting Kyler Murray this week. He’s been off more often than on this season, and he’s facing a defense that’s tended to have his number. The Rams have a better feel than other opponents of how to play against him. (And having guys like Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey doesn’t hurt).
Five times in his career, Murray has thrown interceptions that have been returned for touchdowns. Three of those five were against the Rams.
He’s 1-6 against them. Call it 1-5 if you want to set a season-ending game in 2020 that he left early.
Murray’s last game against the Rams was arguably the low point of his career – a 34-11 loss in the playoffs last year, with Arizona getting its only touchdown late. Murray threw for only 137 yards, wasn’t a factor as a runner and threw an ugly Pick Six out of his end zone.
If you set aside Murray’s rookie starts and the partial game, Murray has averaged 240 passing and 30 rushing yards in his last four full games against the Rams, with 5 TDs, no rushing touchdowns, 5 interceptions and 11 sacks.
This time around, Murray will be playing without his best receiver, DeAndre Hopkins. And the Cardinals might also be missing James Conner.
With his pass-run ability, Murray always have the ability to salvage a decent stat line (witness, for example, the second half of the Raiders game). But not a quarterback I’d want to start this week.
| KYLER MURRAY AGAINST RAMS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Site | Result | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Sk | Rushing |
| 2019 | Ariz. | L 7-34 | 19 | 34 | 163 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4-28-1 |
| 2019 | L.A. | L 24-31 | 26 | 42 | 325 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2-0-0 |
| 2020 | Ariz. | L 28-38 | 21 | 39 | 173 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5-15-0 |
| 2020 | L.A. | L 7-18 | 8 | 11 | 87 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2-3-0 |
| 2021 | L.A. | W 37-20 | 24 | 32 | 268 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6-39-0 |
| 2021 | Ariz. | L 23-30 | 32 | 49 | 383 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7-61-0 |
| 2021 | L.A. | L 11-34 | 19 | 34 | 137 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2-6-0 |
—Ian Allan