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Sooners in the NFL: Kyler Murray Leads Comeback in First Game Back From Injury

Kyler Murray didn't miss a beat in his first game of the season.
Ross Lovelace|
Sooners in the NFL: Kyler Murray Leads Comeback in First Game Back From Injury
Sooners in the NFL: Kyler Murray Leads Comeback in First Game Back From Injury

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Oklahoma Sooners

Kyler Murray missed 335 days of football and returned to the field like nothing happened. 

He was the same scrambling magician football fans have come to know and love since his Oklahoma days, making throws on the run and turning nothing into something. Murray didn’t miss a beat, leading a game-winning drive against the Atlanta Falcons and leading Arizona to its second win of the season. The Cardinals walked away victorious, 25-23.

The 5-foot-10 speedster totaled 249 passing yards on 19-of-32 passing and an interception. He recorded six rushes for 33 yards and one touchdown. He also led another touchdown drive all the way down to the one yard line, and set up a quarterback sneak for backup quarterback Clayton Tune. Despite the interception, Murray was terrific, all things considered.

Murray, a Heisman Trophy winner in 2018 at Oklahoma, signed a mega deal to be the Cardinals’ franchise quarterback not long ago. Then, last season, the star signal caller tore his ACL in devastating fashion. Plenty has changed since he last stepped on the field. Arizona’s head coach Kliff Kingsbury was fired and his top receiving threat, DeAndre Hopkins, was traded to the Tennessee Titans. The Cardinals underwent a mini rebuild in Murray’s absence, and with a good amount of draft capital heading into the 2024 NFL Draft, the team seems to be gearing up for major improvement next season.

While everything around Murray looks different in Arizona, he looks the exact same. On the last drive of the game, his full skill set was on display.

On a major third and long, Murray scrambled out of the pocket, spinning the Falcons defenders in circles and turning on the jets for a 13-yard gain. It was magic. Two plays later, Murray fired a bomb 33 yards down field to his tight end Trey McBride to move Arizona insane the 10-yard line. That would set up a game-winning field goal to send Atlanta home packing.

It was an impressive debut for Murray, and one that he can certainly build off of. He will spend the rest of the season trying to show the Cardinals that he's still the team's quarterback of the future.

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Ross Lovelace
ROSS LOVELACE

Ross has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Oklahoma Sooners since 2018. He's made guest appearances on various radio stations and the Sooners On SI podcast. Ross enjoys public speaking and has done so at multiple churches and high schools across the OKC metro area. In addition to writing, Ross has been the Play-by-Play announcer for Crossings’ basketball and football programs since 2020. In high school, Ross started with Thunder Digest, where he discovered his passion for writing. From there, he worked for the OU Daily as a women's basketball reporter and worked for Sooners On SI and Thunder On SI. Ross holds a bachelor's degree in Public Relations and a minor in Communication from the University of Oklahoma. Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Ross played basketball and wrote for his own Thunder blog at Crossings High School in OKC. He enjoys reading, New York Jets football and a week at the beach. Ross and his wife live in New Orleans, where he is a Marketing and Volunteer Coordinator at the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and the New Orleans Super Bowl Host Committee. His Twitter handle is @Rosslovelace.

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