It’s hard to take our eyes off Lamar Jackson right now.
The Ravens’ quarterback is playing at an MVP level, dicing up teams with his legs and connecting hyper-efficiently through the air despite the loss of receiver Hollywood Brown this offseason.
It’s also hard to figure out why the Cardinals are not using Kyler Murray the same way.
Jackson is averaging 29 pass attempts and nine rushing attempts per game this season. He is gaining 9.7 yards per carry and averaging 8.5 yards per pass, and while both numbers may sag as the year goes on, it’s clear that Baltimore has figured out the right mixture for its quarterback.
Murray, meanwhile, is averaging 47 pass attempts and only four rushing attempts per contest. Some of that is skewed because the team has fallen behind by double digits in all three games this season, but it’s still an indictment of the offensive philosophy.
Murray has the arm talent to be lethal from the pocket, but the Cardinals do not currently have the pass-catching arsenal to go full Air Raid.
It’s fine to give it a whirl when DeAndre Hopkins, Brown, Rondale Moore and Greg Dortch are all available, but until then, this group should look like the Ravens.
Murray is lethal on designed runs, and yet, they’ve been used much too infrequently through three games. Defenses could be put in a bind with the use of bootlegs and waggles that give Murray the option of running or throwing, but they are seemingly not a part of coach Kliff Kingsbury’s philosophy.
“People are asking, ‘Why am I not running?” Murray told Arizona reporters on Wednesday. “It’s not by want-to or anything like that. … I would love to implement that more, but I do what I’m asked to do.”
Opponents have it easy right now. They can play a soft zone because the Cardinals have few explosive players that can gain yards after the catch, which hems in Murray on scrambles and takes away deep shots.
The best way to force them out of it? A potent rushing attack, which the Cardinals should have because of Murray’s presence. Instead, he is being used as a traditional dropback passer, which doesn’t utilize his skill-set well enough.
The Cardinals’ team success has correlated with Murray’s rushing attempts throughout his entire career, but there has yet to be a major shift in philosophy without Hopkins, dating back to the end of 2021.
“I’ve seen the stats,” Murray said. “But the plays that are called, I try to go out and execute.”
To back up what @Burnsy987 presented on air Monday, the Cardinals are 9-1 when Kyler Murray runs 10 or more times in a game. They're 14-14 when he rushes 5 to 9 times and when he's got four or less attempts on the ground, they're 0-11-1 including the postseason.
— Marotta (@Vincemarotta) September 27, 2022
The Ravens have always used the threat of the run as the engine to their offense with Jackson. They finished No. 1 in Football Outsiders’ rushing efficiency in 2019, No. 3 in 2020, and No. 11 in 2021 even though he missed time.
It’s simple math, really. The presence of a mobile quarterback reduces by one the number of defenders that can go full-bore after a running back because the threat of a keeper is always there.
The Cardinals were No. 2 in the NFL in rushing efficiency in Kingsbury’s first season in the desert, as Murray gashed teams with his legs and Kenyan Drake also found success.
But since then, they have finished No. 17 and No. 22 in rushing DVOA.
When the Cardinals began last season 7-0, it was in large part because of an elite passing attack, which could be the reason Kingsbury has stuck with it. However, the offense has sputtered often since then, and the absence of Hopkins means that will likely be the case for at least the next three games.
So instead of forcing a square peg into a round hole, Kingsbury should embrace one of his quarterback’s best traits and get Murray on the move.
