THE STORY: MIAMI – The offense was finally what the Cardinals envisioned, what they were supposed to be when Kyler Murray was healthy and Marvin Harrison Jr. was drafted and Trey McBride settled into his place as one of the game’s best.
The production was rarely there through seven weeks. But Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium it was everything, and the Cardinals knew it after another dramatic rally, this time ending in a 28-27 win over the Dolphins.
“It feels great,” Harrison said with a smile and in a this-is-a-relief tone, after Chad Ryland booted a 34-yard field goal on the game’s final play.
“Hell, if we get a chance to go score at the end of a game with a chance to win, I like us,” Murray said. “I want the ball in my hands. I want the ball in our hands.”
The Cardinals (4-4) have won back-to-back games for the first time since 2021. And with the Seahawks losing to the Bills Sunday, the Cards are tied for first place in the NFC West and own the tiebreaker as the season reaches the halfway point.
Murray waved that off. “For me, no complacency,” noting that he had been 7-0 before – in that 2021 season – and it didn’t result in anything in the postseason. Jonathan Gannon had a similar reaction.
That didn’t mean the win over the Dolphins (2-5) – who clearly had an emotional lift with the return of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa – didn’t bring with it joy (and a Victory Monday for the players.)
On National Tight Ends Day, McBride led the Cardinals with 124 yards receiving on nine catches. Harrison was wonderful, catching six passes for 111 yards, including a fingertip touchdown and a crucial third-down diving catch in the fourth quarter that needed a Gannon challenge flag to get overturned from a call of incomplete.
Murray threw for 307 yards, his first 300-yard passing game since he did it against the Vikings in Minnesota on Oct. 30, 2022.
Murray did remind people that while the Cardinals want to run (and they struggled with that, gaining only 82 yards on 26 carries) their passing game should and will be potent. To do it against the NFL’s No. 1 passing defense made it more special.
“It’s good to get that feel, that we can be explosive,” Murray said.
The travails of Harrison and the passing game had been well-chronicled – “It’s hard not to hear it,” Murray admitted – but the rookie was spectacular when they needed him Sunday. The diving catch was reminiscent of Larry Fitzgerald’s game-saving diving catch in Green Bay in 2018 and he was disappointed it took a review.
“I knew I caught the ball,” Harrison said.
Gannon had no desire to talk about what Harrison had or hadn’t been doing either.
“There is no panic. Zero panic,” the coach said of his rookie. “He is going to be a big-time player for us. He is a big-time player for us.”
The same goes for Ryland, who has now booted game-winning field goals in the fourth quarter – two on the last play of the game – in three of the four games in which he has played for the Cardinals.
The final drive began at the Arizona 11, after the Cardinals’ defense forced a crucial punt. The Dolphins did have a season-high 27 points, and Tua completed 28-of-38 for 234 yards and a touchdown, but receivers Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill were essentially a non-factor.
“Our goal was to stop ’17’ and ’10,'” safety Budda Baker said.
From there, Murray was a conductor, hitting McBride for 17 yards on third-and-1 and scampering for seven yards on third-and-4 that assured the Dolphins would not get the ball back.
Murray finished the game completing 10 straight passes, and he wasn’t sacked for a third straight game.
The Cardinals come home for two straight games before the bye, against the Bears and Jets. If they have unlocked the offense permanently, it would change the season.
“I don’t think wins carry over,” Gannon said. “But confidence does.”