Three Standouts in Cardinals' Chaotic Comeback
The Arizona Cardinals took a dramatic 25-23 victory at home against the Atlanta Falcons. Here were some of the best performances of the week nine win.
1: QB Kyler Murray
Let's get the obvious one out of the way. The 26-year old quarterback saw his first NFL action in 11 months after his ACL tear, and he did not let us down. Although making a couple mistakes, Murray was accurate, electric and confident in his 2023 debut.
Murray went 19-for-32, with 248 passing yards and was inches short of a passing touchdown to both WR Marquise Brown and WR Michael Wilson. Murray did scramble for his first touchdown since 2022 and gave Atlanta's defense a rough go all day.
Down by one point late, Murray escaped heavy pressure on third and long, turning a potential sack into a 13-yard game. He then dropped a 33-yard pass to TE Trey McBride, setting up the game-winner from K Matt Prater.
Something tells me this is just the beginning of Kyler's return campaign.
2: TE Trey McBride
It's not the first week the young TE has been at the top of the Cardinals' leaderboards. McBride had another excellent performance, bringing in eight receptions for a stunning 131 yards.
McBride led Arizona in receiving yards, and surpassed his recently-set career high in yards. It was also the first time a Cardinals TE had eclipsed the 100-yard mark since Rob Awalt in 1989.
McBride was the recipient of Murray's first 2023 completion, as well as Kyler's first deep ball attempt, and made an excellent play on an under-thrown ball on Arizona's game winning drive for 33 yards.
The young TE looks more and more like a franchise player with each passing week, and he played a crucial role in Arizona's comeback win today.
3: K Matt Prater
That's right, the veteran still has it.
Prater was unbelievably instrumental in this week's win. He was a perfect six-for-six on all of his kicks today, but was four-for-four on field goals.
Obviously, the most notable was the walk-off game winner, but Prater was money from long distance all game. The 39-year-old was perfect from 23, 46, 51 and 56, and accounted for 13 of Arizona's 25 points.
Prater is now 18-20 on field goals in 2023, and is an impressive 10-11 on kicks of over 40 yards, and a season long of 62.
The veteran kicker still has plenty of leg, and he used all of it today.
