For the second time this year, the Seahawks will have another divisional rematch game, and with it, another quarterback preview revisit. On Sunday Seattle will take on the Arizona Cardinals, and be forced to stop quarterback Kyler Murray once again.
When the Seahawks played Murray the first time in Week 4, they held the No. 1 overall pick and former Heisman Trophy winner to an average outing. Murray completed 22 of 32 passes for 241 yards, no passing touchdowns, one interception, 27 yards on the ground and a rushing score in a 27-10 win.
Admittedly, most of those numbers for Murray came in garbage time when the Seahawks had the win wrapped up late in the game.
On the year, Murray has thrown only 17 touchdowns against 10 interceptions for 3,279 yards. Somewhat decent numbers for a first-time starter on a poor football team, but hard to strike fear in the hearts of opposing defensive coordinators.
However, in the past three weeks, Murray has only thrown three touchdowns against five picks. The rookie has been getting a little careless with throwing the football, which could prove to be an issue against a Seahawks defense that leads the NFC in takeaways.
The trick with defending Murray is making sure he doesn’t beat you with his legs. While he may not be a true “dual-threat” quarterback like a Lamar Jackson or Cam Newton back in the day, Murray is still more than capable of doing plenty of damage with mobility.
Similar to Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, Murray is quite adept at extending plays with his shifty mobility, whether it is waiting until a receiver is finally able to get open, or scrambling for an easy first down. The Seahawks’ pass rush, weakened by injury, will have to find a way to stop Murray in the pocket on Sunday.
