The Arizona Cardinals suffered their first loss of the 2021 regular season on Thursday night, falling to the Green Bay Packers 24-21. It was a game that came down to the wire, and one that appeared was headed to, at the very least, overtime.
After the Cardinals’ defense made a goal-line stand on one end of the field, Kyler Murray led the offense 94 yards down to the other end in just over three minutes to put Arizona in position to tie the game with a field goal. With the Cardinals just 5 yards away from the end zone and 15 seconds left, head coach Kliff Kingsbury dialed up one last throw to potentially win the contest without needing overtime. What happened next was disastrous.
Murray threw a pass to A.J. Green on the far right side of the field, but the wideout did not see the ball coming. Packers cornerback — and former Cardinals practice-squader — Rasul Douglas made a great play and picked off the pass to seal the victory for Green Bay. After the game, Kingsbury was asked about what happened on that pivotal play. He responded saying that it was a miscommunication, and that Green didn’t know the route.
“Yeah, I mean, we feel like it’s a safe throw if (Green) knew the route to run,” Kingsbury said, via PFF’s Doug Kyed. It was the right place to go with the ball. Just didn’t communicate on some level and then the guy made a good play.”
Murray was also asked about the play, and responded saying that he didn’t exactly know what happened.
“I honestly don’t know,” said Murray. “Just a miscommunication. I couldn’t tell you, but you know, we just gotta be better.”
Murray added that he hadn’t spoken to Green yet, but knew that he was “hot.”
The miscommunication was obviously a costly one, and gave Arizona its first loss of the season. The 7-1 Cardinals still own first place in the NFC West, but have fallen behind the Packers for home-field advantage in the NFC.
