Hail Murray: Arizona Cardinals stun Buffalo bills at the last minute

Glendale, Ariz. – Diandre Hopkins knows football fans can watch his final, winning catch on Sunday in a sort of awesome way. Even the players and coaches for the Arizona Cardinals could not hide their disbelief when the three Buffalo defenders jumped over and landed with the ball.

But three times All-Pro emphasizes that no magic is needed. Just skill.

“Two plus two equals four,” Hopkins said in his usual low-key delivery. “Go down. Throw it away. “

And what the Cardinals did. Kyler Murray Hopkins had an excellent 43-yard disappointing pass with 2 seconds left to help Arizona win by 32-30 on bills.

The catch was as sensational as the throw, which was quickly called “Hail Murray”.

Seconds out of the clock Murray lost the game for the Cardinals until he went to his left. He tossed the ball towards the end zone, where Hopkins waited with three Buffalo defenders.

“I knew it when I let go of my hand,” Murray said. “You play quarterback, you can tell the trajectory, the touch of the ball.”

Somehow, Hopkins got the ball away from the bodies, and started a wild celebration in the Cardinals End Zone.

“I’m still losing for words,” said Arizona coach Cliff Kingsbury. “What an amazing game.”

Josh Allen wins a 21-yard touchdown pass for bills with 34 seconds left (7-3). But Murray and the Cardinals (6-3, equal to NFC West lead) ended the winning streak of bills in three games with an improbable throw and catch.

This is a crazy ending to another entertaining Cardinals game, which usually comes in the last seconds of recent weeks. Murray threw for 245 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Hopkins had seven catches for 127 yards – and he remembers the last one for a long time.

“It was on three people. They were in place. It’s a good catch I made,” Hopkins said.

The Cardinals trailed 23-9 midway through the third quarter, but responded with two touchdown drives and sandwiched around the field goal to take a 26-23 lead early in the fourth. Murray, wearing bright yellow cleats, ran for two touchdowns, including a 15-yard dash in the middle, giving Arizona their first lead today.

“He’s playing on a ridiculous level,” Kingsbury said. “You saw the last few weeks after that first month. Objectionably, we really settled down. Combining in tempo makes great decisions whether it is with his feet or hands. It will be fun to watch. He is doing us exactly that in most plays. “

Allen had a normal game until the late drive of 73 yards, which lasted 12 plays. The quarterback series was perfect for diving digs who finished with 10 catches for 93 yards. This is not enough for bills that can’t stop Hopkins in the end zone.

“Yeah, we thought it’s very well guarded,” said Jordan Poyer, the bill’s security. “We have three people around him. … It’s really nothing more to say, he has to find a way to get the ball out of his hands somehow.”

Allen completed 32 of 49 passes for 284 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Cole Beasley had 11 catches and a touchdown for 109 yards.

“You can’t win every game, but we lose the way we did – it hurts,” Allen said.

Buffalo took a 23-9 lead when Arizona’s Kenya Drake hit Allen Beasley for a 22-yard touchdown after missing a dilemma.

But the Cardinals responded with a nine-game, 85-yard drive that ended with Murray’s 1-yard touchdown run. Jane Gonzalez scored a 45-yard field goal, while Murray scored 15 yards for a 26-23 lead.

Allen handed the ball to Isaiah McKenzie, who threw it back to the quarterback, who ran 12 yards for Buffalo’s opening score. Allen is the 11th Buffalo player to hold a touchdown pass this season, a franchise record.

Tyler Boss added field goals from 58, 55 and 54 yards to a 16-9 halftime lead. Rookie bounced to the right before going for three points at 54-yards. These are the three longest field goals in his short career.

The Cardinals were frustrated with 206 yards in the first half but zero touchdowns. Gonzalez scored field goals from 23, 42 and 21 yards.

Continuous Murray

Murray has scored for at least one touchdown in five games in a row to equal the franchise record. His first quarterback in the NFL was in 1956 after Green Bay ‘s Tobin Roth.

Injuries

Bills: Four players lost the game when Cornback Josh Norman was placed on the Reserve / Kovid-19 list. … LB AJ Epenesa went in the first half and was estimated to have suffered a head injury. … CB Dane Jackson (knee) left in the third quarter.

Cardinals: TE Darrell Daniels (ankle) left in the second quarter. … Dl Corey Peters left the field with a knee injury in the second quarter. … LB D’Wondre Campbell (calf) exited in the third quarter.

UP Next

Bills: Bills enter their bye week, play again at Chargers home on November 29th.

Cardinals: Travel to Seattle on Thursday night.

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