Cardinals' QB Trace McSorley takes responsibility for turnovers in first career NFL start

It was right there for Trace McSorley. A win in his first career NFL start. On Christmas. Against the legendary Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Despite two fumbles lost and an interception thrown on a "Hail Mary" pass as the clock ran out in regulation time, McSorley had the Cardinals in position to win.

He and his teammates just didn't make enough plays to help the Cardinals finally get a much-needed win. The Buccaneers rallied from 16-6 deficit in the fourth quarter and won in overtime, 19-16.

“I thought he battled. I thought he made enough plays to keep us in it. There's some stuff we'd like to have back obviously, but I thought he played hard," Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury said of McSorley. "We had our opportunities, no question.”

"Obviously, number one thing is we didn't win the game. So that's just going to linger and that's just going to hurt most. There's some positives that come out of it, there's some things you've got to get cleaned up. And a lot of that will start with me coming in this week," McSorley said.

McSorley, a sixth-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in 2019, threw 45 passes and completed 24 for 217 yards. He didn't throw a touchdown pass, but did hit wide receiver Marquise "Hollywood" Brown for a 47-yard gain.

The negative plays and the difficulty in getting the ball to Cardinals star wideout DeAndre Hopkins were part of what McSorley had to answer to after the game. Hopkins had one catch for four yards though he was targeted 10 times.

"There's times I could have gotten him the ball. And I've got do a better job when those opportunities are there because of how dynamic he is and how good of a player he is, you know," McSorley said. "I can't let those opportunities slip and go away."

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Hopkins didn't seem to be too upset about it, at least on the surface.

"We had some chances to make some plays, but we've only had a week to throw with each other as well. So that's part of the game," Hopkins said of McSorley, who's been a backup, No. 3 and practice squad quarterback over his career. "I just told him to keep grinding, man. ... I know it's hard playing in this league, especially at the quarterback position. So especially myself, I'm not going to be hard on him for one catch. He's dealing with a lot of stuff."

McSorley took over as the starter last Sunday in Denver, when backup Colt McCoy went down in the third quarter with what later landed him in concussion protocol, and starter Kyler Murray being on injured reserve. He spent the past week trying to ingest as much of the offense as he felt comfortable with and taking first-team snaps.

Murray, it was reported by NBC during Sunday's game, will have knee surgery to repair his torn ACL on Jan. 3 of next year. He's expected to be out about nine months, and his surgery will be done by a Dallas Cowboys team doctor. Kingsbury didn't confirm the reported date of the operation.

McSorley lost a fumble when the ball was knocked out of his hands in the first quarter, with the Cardinals in range for at least a field goal. The Buccaneers didn't score after taking over possession.

The second fumble, however, loomed larger. The Cardinals led 16-13 and faced a third-and-1 with the ball across midfield in Tampa Bay territory.

McSorley faked an inside handoff on a two-back set and instead pitched the ball to Keaontay Ingram, who reached for the ball that was tossed a little behind him. Ingram couldn't come up with it, the Bucs recovered and drove for a tying field goal with 2:27 to play.

"I've got to put it farther out in front of him, so yeah, that's on me," McSorley said. He admitted the two fumbles were the two biggest plays from which he has to improve as a quarterback.

In overtime, McSorley couldn't put together a scoring drive. The Cardinals had to punt, and their defense couldn't get the ball back for the offense.

With family in attendance and a big opportunity as a starter, McSorley just tried to take in the moment before the game.

"Just kind of let the emotions flow over me for a second, but then kind of log back in and get back to work," McSorley said. "Learned a lot. I don't want to make the exact decision what those things were. But I think a couple plays a game that we can execute better. Give ourselves the opportunity to win the game instead of having to go into overtime."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals' Trace McSorley comes up short in first NFL start