TEMPE, Ariz. — With a few days to digest Sunday’s 34-7 blowout loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Arizona Cardinals rookie quarterback Kyler Murray looked back at the game with repulsion.
“It’s just a disgusting feeling,” Murray said Wednesday. “I’m sure you were disgusted watching it. I was disgusted being in it. It’s not a good feeling. You just don’t want to have that anymore, so just try your hardest not to allow that to happen again.”
Murray said that type of loss “can’t happen again.”
Murray has faced losing more this season than he believes he has in his entire football career. The Cardinals are now 3-8-1. Asked how far back in his career he would have to go to count eight losses, he couldn’t think of that many.
“I don’t think I’ve lost eight times,” Murray said. “Ever.”
Murray lost three times as a college starter at Texas A&M and Oklahoma and never in high school.
“Losing is losing, but that last game was a different type of losing,” Murray said. “I wouldn’t say I’m proud of the way I’m handling it because, like I said, I don’t like to lose, but I understand there’re going to be ups and downs. It’s all a learning process, and right now, we’re kind of in that process of moving forward and moving on from the past and just going into the next week trying to get better and put up a better performance on Sunday.”
The Cardinals’ offense produced just 81 yards in the first three quarters of Sunday’s game before piling up yards and scoring a touchdown in a fourth quarter facing a Rams defense that had subbed out some of its starters. Coach Kliff Kingsbury can see Murray is “definitely on edge” this week and said it’s clear Murray wants to play better.
So, what does an “on edge” Murray look like?
“Just focused, locked in,” Kingsbury said. “You can tell he didn’t like the way he played coming off the game. He knew we can play a lot better, and he can be a big part of that. He’s been really focused so far.”
There wasn’t a way to prepare for that type of loss, Murray said.
“I feel like those games happen to everybody,” Murray said. “You see them all across the league. I don’t want to say it’s inevitable, but for it to be one time in my rookie season, I think you just have to learn from it, take the good with the bad and then move on from it.”
Murray added: “I was trying everything in my power to stop it mentally and externally, but it was just a bad day. It kind of showed from start to finish.”
Murray said he didn’t see that type of game coming even though the whole day seemed off.
Murray left his Apple AirPods headphones at home and didn’t realize it until he had been driving for about five minutes.
“It was tough,” he said.
He didn’t consider going home to get them, but “it was just that kind of day. I think it transferred to the game.”
Source : ESPN
