Murray Magic: Kyler just one of the reasons the Arizona Cardinals beat the Falcons

Given the stage, the circumstance and all the intrigue and drama leading up to it, it only figured Sunday’s game between the Cardinals and the visiting Atlanta Falcons would come down to a play featuring quarterback Kyler Murray.

And right on cue, after the Falcons got a 9-yard touchdown run by quarterback Desmond Ridder to take a 23-22 lead with 2:33 left to play, it was Murray Magic time. But would he deliver in his season debut, in his first game back from tearing his ACL last December?

He did.

Not only did he scramble his way out of trouble for a huge 13-yard gain on third-and 10-from the Arizona 42 with 1:50 remaining, but two plays later he soared a deep pass downfield to tight end end Trey McBride for an even bigger 34-yard gain.

That set up a 24-yard, game-winning field goal by Matt Prater as time expired and the Cardinals snapped a six-game slide with a 25-23 victory.

Social media: Cardinals, Falcons and Bears fans react to the return of Kyler Murray

“They score the touchdown and in my head I was like, ‘Of course it sets up like this – for us to go back down and score,’ ” Murray said after going 19 of 32 for 249 yards and rushing six times for 33 yards and a touchdown. “At that point, you’ve got to make your mind up. There’s no quit in that group. I think we showed that tonight.”

His wild, 13-yard scramble, in which he nearly was sacked by safety Richie Grant, seemed to take forever. He changed directions, ran backwards, then scurried to his right and cut up the field before safely sliding for the first down.

“It might sound cliché or like not possible, but for me, at the end of the day if it comes down to me and it being in my hands, I’ve got to make something happen,” said Murray, who was playing 11 months to the day after he injured his knee. “I didn’t see anything downfield, I thought they had pretty good contain, but God blessed me to be able to do things like that and that’s kind of what happened for me.”

McBride’s big reception, which was a little underthrown by Murray, brought the Cardinals all the way down to the Falcons’ 9-yard line, giving Prater an easy chip shot for the winner. Prater made all four of his field goals, including two from 50-plus yards, extending his own NFL record for successful kicks from that distance or further to 76.

McBride, meanwhile, finished with a game-high eight catches and 131 yards, the most by a Cardinals’ tight end since Rob Awalt finished with 105 yards back in 1989.

“Yeah, they told me that after the game. I thought that was crazy,” said McBride, who has 28 receptions in his last five games, 20 more than he had in his first five games to start the season. “I wasn’t even thought of. It was still 10 years before I was born so that’s crazy. But it’s very cool. It’s very awesome. It’s very special for me. I’m very thankful for this organization, I’m thankful for all these guys and I hope that drought doesn’t last that long again.”

Murray scored on a 6-yard keeper near the end of the first half, capping a 9-play, 75-yard drive and his backup, Clayton Tune, came in on first-and-goal near the end of the third quarter to score on a 1-yard dive over the goal line to give Arizona a 22-17 lead.

The Cardinals’ defense forced a turnover on downs during the following possession, but after giving the ball back to Atlanta, cornerback Antonio Hamilton was called for pass interference that went for 32 yards. The Falcons scored on Ridder’s TD run, but Hamilton made amends when Atlanta went for the two-point conversion and after a short completion, he shoved receiver Drake London out of bounds shy of the goal line.

“Yeah, huge play. Huge play because now it’s a different drive,” Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said. “I thought that was well executed. It was a good call by (defensive coordinator) Nick (Rallis) I thought. … They knew what was coming and executed it and it was a great play.”

But nothing, really, compared to Murray’s crazy 13-yard scramble, which McBride joked seemed to cover 80 yards. The Cardinals had to convert at all costs and Murray, in his first game back, delivered.

“I just want to win. It feels good to win,” he said. “That’s like the icing on the cake. It would have been a s----y night to come out here and lose and just all of this build up for what? I’m just happy for us and the team, man. I knew I was like 15 yards back from the line of scrimmage and I knew it was third and 10, so you know, you do the math.

“At that point, if I have to take a hit, I have to take a hit, but we’ve got to win the game, you know what I mean? That was kind of the mindset. When you’re running like that, everything’s kind of blurry and for me it was just do whatever is necessary to win.”

What went right for the Cardinals

Murray’s debut was a success: After six straight losses, including a miserable 27-0 rout by the Browns last week in Cleveland in which the Cardinals only had 58 total yards of offense, Murray’s return brought “energy and belief within the team,” according to Gannon. And he was right. Sure, there were some mistakes, like an interception in the middle of the field that was returned 25 yards by linebacker Nate Landman, but the positives outweighed the negatives by far.

“Kyler is a heck of a player. He’s a guy who makes plays. He’s a guy who extends plays,” McBride said. “It’s third and long, he runs around for 80 yards. He’s a guy who you can never stop with him. I’m very excited to have him back and I’m thankful that he gave me some opportunities today.”

James Conner’s return was key: After missing the past four games with a knee injury, the Cardinals got their No. 1 rusher back in the lineup and he responded with 16 carries for 73 yards – a solid average of 4.6 yards per run. Considering how dinged up the team has been at running back, having one of their captains and biggest tone setters back was another boost.

“Unreal. Unreal,” Gannon said. “Some of those runs that he popped, even the one to start the two-minute there – I think it was a 9- or 10- or 11-yard run – to play the snaps he played. I think he was in the range that we wanted not playing for a while. The guy’s a captain for a reason. He’s so positive, he’s great with the offense when they come off, he’s a premier player.”

A big fourth-down stop: Nursing a 22-17 lead, the Cardinals were able to force a turnover on downs after the Falcons had driven 54 yards on 15 plays, consuming 7 minutes, 30 seconds. Heinicke left the game earlier in the drive because of a hamstring issue, and Jonathan Ledbetter was credited with keeping backup QB Desmond Ridder short on a fourth-and-1 try with 7:49 left to play.

What went wrong for the Cardinals

Ill-timed penalties led to two Atlanta TDs: Twice on third down during the first half, the Cardinals’ defense had a chance to stall a Falcons’ drive or at least forced them to settle for a field goal. However, a roughing the passes call on Dennis Gardeck on third-and-8 from the Arizona 42 allowed the Falcons to complete a 12-play, 75-yard drive capped by a touchdown pass from Taylor Heinicke to Scotty Miller. Later, an illegal contact penalty on rookie corner Starling Thomas V on third-and-5 from the Arizona 35 allowed Atlanta to finish another 75-yard drive, capped by Bijan Robinson’s 5-yard touchdown run for a 14-6 lead.

Too many penalties overall: The Cardinals were hit with 11 flags for 112 total yards and somehow, it didn’t cost them the game. Arizona had three penalties during its first possession of the game, which seemed to set the tone. It got progressively worse.

“They were calling it a little tighter,” Gannon said of the officials, adding, “We’ve got to continue to emphasize that, and you’ve got to adjust as the game goes how they’re calling it.”

The run defense wasn’t good: Robinson, the rookie who was a prep standout at Tucson Salpointe Catholic, finished with 22 carries for a game-high 95 yards – his third most this season. Overall, the Falcons ran for 184 yards on 41 total carries and usually, that that almost always will get you beat on defense, especially when your team loses the turnover battle, as the Cardinals did on Sunday, 1-0.

Did you notice?

Left tackle D.J. Humphries is usually the player who leads the group huddle at the end of pregame warmups and fires up the team with an emotional talk. But with him being inactive on Sunday because of an ankle injury, it was Conner who took his place in his first game back from a knee injury leading the charge.

Taking over for Humphries at left tackle was Kelvin Beachum, who filled in there last week in Cleveland after Humphries went out in the fourth quarter.

Right guard Will Hernandez (knee) made the start despite missing two days of practice last week. Carter O’Donnell started at left guard for Arizona.

Rookie wide receiver Michael Wilson was back in the lineup after missing last week’s game with a shoulder injury. Wilson, who entered the game with the team’s second-most 401 receiving yards, had three catches for 34 yards.

It appeared Wilson had scored on a 15-yard reception for Murray near the end of the third, but after further review, he was ruled down at the 1.

The Cardinals went for it on fourth-and-1 at their own 30 during their second possession of the game and Tune was in to take the snap out of shotgun. He pitched the ball to Conner for a 4-yard gain and a first down.

Facing third-and-4 from the Falcons’ 28-yard line, Murray decided to go for it all and fire a pass to Marquise Brown in the right corner of the end zone, but it was just out of reach and fell incomplete. If Murray had looked, however, McBride was wide open underneath, and a simple pass and catch would have easily been enough for a first down.

Receiver Zach Pascal left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return. Gannon said afterward he didn’t think the injury was serious.

Grading the Cardinals' performance vs the Atlanta Falcons

Offense (B): Anything was better than last week’s miserable showing and the Cardinals outgained the Falcons, 352 yards to 254 overall. Murray found a nice rhythm upon settling in and he kept feeding McBride, who’s been the team’s hottest pass catcher for the past month or so. Thanks to Conner’s return, Arizona also finished with a respectable 122 yards rushing as a team.

Defense (B-): It could have been better, especially against the run, but the Cardinals made some nice stops when they needed to the most and they won. Linebacker Kyzir White (11) and safety Budda Baker (10) led the way with double-digit tackles. Rookie pass rusher BJ Ojulari had two of Arizona’s three sacks. And Hamilton’s heads up play to knock London out of bounds before he could get into the end zone on Atlanta’s late, two-point conversion attempt was critical.

Special teams (A+): Not only did Prater make all four of his field goals, including two more from beyond 50, but Greg Dortch’s 49-yard punt return helped set up Tune’s 1-yard touchdown sneak at the end of he third that put the Cardinals ahead 22-17. Dortch also had a 22-yard kickoff return. If not for a holding call on rookie Owen Pappoe on a punt return, it was virtually a perfect day for Jeff Rodgers’ unit.

Arizona Cardinals personnel notes

With his 51-yard field goal in the first quarter, Prater tied Neil Rackers (16 in 100 games) for the most field goals from 50 yards or farther in Cardinals’ history. Prater did it in just his 40^th game with the team.

Later in the third, Prater was successful from 56 yards for his 17^th field goal from 50 yards or longer, giving him the record outright.

With his second completion of the third quarter on an 11-yard pass to McBride, Murray joined Josh Allen, Cam Newton and Russell Wilson as the only quarterbacks in NFL history with 14,000-plus passing yards and 2,000-plus rushing yards in their first five seasons.

Gardeck’s 7-yard sack of Heinicke in the third quarter was the 13^th in his career, setting a franchise record for the most by a Cardinals’ player who entered the league as an undrafted rookie free agent. It was also Gardeck’s team-leading fifth sack of the season.

Up next for the Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals, 0-5 on the road so far this season, travel to Houston to meet the Texans. Kickoff is 11 a.m. (Arizona time). Houston (5-4), which beat the Bengals 30-27 on Sunday, is 3-1 at home. The Cardinals and Texans have met just five times with Arizona holding a 3-2 series edge.

Murray passed for three touchdowns and Conner ran for a score during the Cardinals’ 31-5 victory in the last meeting on Oct. 24, 2021, which vaulted Arizona to 7-0 at the time.

Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. with Roc and Manuch on Fox Sports 910-AM.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Return of Kyler Murray and James Conner boost Cardinals for second win