It’s no secret that the NFL is a passing league and that a large majority of offensive snaps come in the shotgun to the tune of around 65 percent. The Arizona Cardinals were at 59 percent last season league-wide, according to NFLSavant.com, which is significantly higher than it was in the previous seasons with Kliff Kingsbury running the offense. For example, the website had it at 83 percent during the 2021 season.
While it’s been widely assumed that’s how quarterback Kyler Murray wanted to operate, that theory was debunked by Murray himself during a visit with Arizona Sports 98.7 FM this past week.
Asked about taking more snaps under center, Murray said, “It’s funny you say that because the first couple of years, I asked to do a little bit more of it because I feel like we had tendencies, and obviously with the former regime, it was a lot of shotgun, quote-on-quote Air Raid, stuff like that. Teams could kind of go off tendencies. When you go under center, you got to respect the run, you got to respect the outside zone, you got to respect the play-action. You can’t see the ball at certain times.”
Murray made it clear he’s all-in with the different approach of offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, who he placed in some rarified air after only one season.
Acknowledging that “this is a new age of game and everybody’s throwing it around,” Murray added, “but to be able to do both and be as versatile as possible is what I’d like to be and I think what Drew and everybody else wants to be. Not be predictable. And they do a great job of that, scouting ourselves and understanding … (chuckles) I feel like Drew’s a genius. He’s a really smart dude.
“And he’s very self-aware of what; if we did this, why it didn’t work or vice versa. It’s just little details. I’m very big on the little details because they all matter. I do enjoy being under center and I’m sure we’ll do a little bit more of it.”
With the “genius” calling the shots.
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