The Arizona Cardinals entered Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions ranked first in the NFL converting 58.3% of their third downs (14-for-24).
Quarterback Kyler Murray was 11-for-11 (now that’s “perfect”) in the first two games and he led the league in that category with a 158.3 passer rating, which would be 200.6 using the BAPR (Balzer Adjuster Passer Rating).
Sunday wasn’t anything close.
They converted their first third down of the game on a third-and-5 pass to wide receiver Michael Wilson on third-and-2 and scored a touchdown later in the drive to tie the game, 7-7. After that, the Cardinals were stoned, failing on all eight of their third-down ties.
As Murray said of the 1-for-9 effort that plummets their season percentage to 45.5, “That’s not good. That’s not how you beat a playoff team and win those types of games.”
For the game, Murray was 3-for-7 for 21 yards on third down for a passer rating of 50.3 that is that “high” because he didn’t have an interception. Had he had one within those seven attempts, his rating would have been 10.8.
Of the 21 yards, 13 came on a fourth-quarter completion to wide receiver Greg Dortch on third-and-17 that led to a Matt Prater 45-yard field goal. He was 1-for-3 on third down in the fourth quarter when they had no running plays.
Four third-down attempts had nine yards to go or more, so many were manageable.
Here is an accounting of the misses in order:
- Third-and-4 from AZ 36: Pass to Wilson for 3
- Third-and-2 from AZ 30: Incomplete to Marvin Harrison Jr.
- Third-and-9 from AZ 3: Murray run for 8 after James Conner 1-yard run and incomplete pass
- Third-and-2 from DET 25: Emari Demercado 1-yard run
- Third-and-13 from AZ 32: Incomplete pass to Dortch after incomplete pass and Conner run for minus-3
- Third-and-6 from AZ 48: Incomplete pass to Harrison
- Third-and-10 from AZ 28: Incomplete pass to Wilson after two incomplete passes
- Third-and-17 from DET 39: Pass to Dortch for 13 after sack for minus-7 and incomplete pass.
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