Tramel's ScissorTales: Kyler Murray's slide could cost Kliff Kingsbury his job
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By the time Monday night arrived, Lincoln Riley’s quarterback magic was a little tarnished.
Baker Mayfield has fallen from grace with the Cleveland Browns. He might quarterback Cleveland next season due to economics and lack of better ideas, but the excitement is gone.
Jalen Hurts remains a pro question mark. Hearty runner. Great leader. But National Football League quarterbacks must deliver the ball accurately into tight spaces on a regular basis, and Hurts has yet to show the ability to do that. Hurts quarterbacked the Eagles to the playoffs, but the shortcomings were apparent Sunday when Tampa Bay routed Philadelphia 31-15 in the NFC playoffs.
On the college level, Spencer Rattler has gone from presumptive No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft to presumptive starter at South Carolina. And Caleb Williams is taking forever to decide to follow Riley to LaLa Land.
More: Sooners and Cowboys both in mix of early look at Top 25 for 2022 college football season
But Riley always had Kyler Murray. NFL phenom. Rejuvenator of the Arizona Cardinals franchise. New-age pro quarterback. Runner deluxe.
Then came Monday night, when Murray quarterbacked as bad a playoff game as you’re likely able to remember. The Rams smothered Arizona 34-11 and it wasn’t that close.
At halftime, the Rams led 21-0. Murray had completed seven of 17 passes for 28 yards, with two interceptions, including a pick that was one of the worst plays in NFL playoff history.
"It's disappointing that we didn't make it a game and come out and play the football we know we're capable of playing, that's really the most disappointing part," Murray said in his post-game press conference. “Losing is one thing, but when you don't even make it competitive, it's another thing.
“I put a lot on my shoulders, put a lot on myself, and to dream of this moment and then be in the playoffs, the first game of the playoffs, and then to play the way I did, to play the way we did, it's, like I said, disappointing.”
The Cardinals started the season 8-1, with the only loss 24-21 to Green Bay. Arizona was a contender for the No. 1 seed in the NFC, and Murray was a most valuable player award candidate.
But the Cardinals staggered to an 11-6 finish, lost the NFC West Division title to the Rams and Murray struggled.
Murray missed three games with injury, so he played 14 regular-season games. His first seven games are in stark contrast to his last seven games.
First seven: 116.8 passer rating, .735 completion percentage, 17/5 touchdown/interception ratio, 8.98 yards per attempt.
Last seven: 86.5 passer rating, .655 completion percentage, 7/5 TD/interception ratio, 6.59 yards per attempt.
Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury suggested inexperience played a role. This was Arizona’s first playoff game in six years and Murray’s first in the NFL.
“I think experience is a big part of it,” Kingsbury said. “There’s only one way to experience playoff football, and that’s to go through it.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t play our best game, and I thought LA played a great game, had a great plan and outplayed us and outcoached us. But I think you just got to go through these moments and learn from it and grow from it and use it as motivation.”
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Maybe. I don’t know. Quarterbacks making their playoff debut went 1-4 over the weekend, but the Bengals’ Joe Burrow was outstanding, and he barely outdueled the Raiders’ Derek Carr, another novice who was tremendous. Hurts, Murray and the Patriots’ Mac Jones struggled.
Last season, quarterbacks went 1-1 in their playoff debuts, with Washington’s lark, Taylor Heinecke, losing but playing well, and Mayfield himself leading the Browns to a 48-37 victory at Pittsburgh.
In the 2019 playoffs, debuting quarterbacks went 2-2.
Maybe a good reason to lose. But a flimsy excuse for playing poorly.
And Murray was bad. His second-quarter interception was atrocious: Standing in the end zone, failing to try to even flee the pocket until Ram linebacker Troy Reeder had Murray in the grasp, Murray flung the ball underhanded in the direction of the sideline. Cornerback David Long Jr. cradled the ball just before it hit the turf and stepped into the end zone for a three-yard interception return.
Murray looked like he never had seen pressure before. He barely looked like he had played an organized game of football before.
And that’s an indictment of Kingsbury. For the third straight season since he was hired to be the developer of Murray, the overall No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft, the Cardinals cratered down the stretch.
Murray went from MVP candidate to mediocre, at best.
The Cardinals’ slump, Murray’s descent and the 34-11 thrashing at the hands of the Rams moves Kingsbury to the might-get-fired list, and who could possibly blame the Cardinals if he did?
“You come out against a really good team and don’t do anything right for the first two quarters, that’s what’s going to happen,” Kingsbury said of the browbeating.
“We got to give them credit. They played a great game and we didn’t do much right coaching or playing the first half.”
In the second half, with the game decided, Murray was a pedestrian 12 of 17 passing, for 109 yards. No monumental goofs, but no spectacular plays, either. None of the magic we saw earlier from Murray.
Another slip by a Lincoln Riley quarterback, and you wonder if the next time we see Murray, he’ll be coached by someone other than Kliff Kingsbury.
More: Tramel: Brent Venables a lot more popular now than when he left OU 10 years ago
Can Kentucky basketball replace Kansas?
Kansas plays OU in Lloyd Noble Center at 6 p.m. Tuesday, and there won’t be many more Jayhawk basketball games in Norman.
KU has been playing at OU since 1920, the Jayhawks have been a national power for three quarters of a century and Kansas fans have produced one of the nation’s most rabid followings for decades.
During the slow decline of college basketball attendance over the last 20 years, KU has provided a spike in ticket sales in places like Norman and Stillwater. When the Jayhawks play at OU or OSU, KU fans in the southern part of Kansas -- Wichita area, southwest Kansas – can get to Lloyd Noble or Gallagher-Iba Arena about as easily as they can get to Allen Fieldhouse, with many more tickets available.
But that bonanza ends for OU when the Sooners join the Southeastern Conference. No more Jayhawks.
Kentucky is the dominant team in SEC hoops. And the Wildcats have the nation’s foremost fan base, trumping even Kansas in terms of travelling fans. But it’s 851 miles from Lexington, Kentucky, to Norman, so there won’t be huge legions of UK fans making the pilgrimage on a regular basis.
OU also will lose its annual Bedlam home-and-home. OSU and OU are expected to continue playing once they are in separate conferences, but almost surely just once per season. That means the Cowboys in Norman every other year.
So Porter Moser’s program figures to be losing its top two draws with the transition to the SEC.
Adding Arkansas will help. The Razorbacks are staging a basketball revival, and it’s only 243 miles from Norman to Fayetteville. Arkansas won’t bring fans in Kansas-style numbers, and Arkansas won’t generate Bedlam-level excitement, but the Razorbacks will help a little on both ends.
Beyond that, basketball attendance might not be affected. Texas will remain a regular at Lloyd Noble, either way.
Alas, OU is leaving the Big 12 in its glory days. Baylor is the reigning NCAA champion. Texas Tech was the previous tournament NCAA runnerup. Iowa State always is fun.
Those regional and historic rivalries will be replaced by the likes of old Big 12 rival Texas A&M and old Big Eight rival Missouri and far-flung opponents like Alabama, Tennessee and Florida.
Good programs. Oft-quality teams. But nothing that moves the needle much. In reality, it will be a bunch of West Virginias. The Mountaineers have been in the Big 12 a full decade and have provided an assembly line of good basketball games, but there’s been no spark of a rivalry.
Of course, the SEC move was made for reasons other than basketball. So OU (and presumably Texas) will live with the fallout on hoops.
But OU will miss Big 12 basketball. The Sooners will miss annual home-and-home Bedlams, and new sabretooths Baylor and Tech, and ancient rival Kansas.
Enjoy the Jayhawks while you can.
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Deion Sanders: NFL owners can’t be told what to do
Deion Sanders always has been quite the talker. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t make good sense.
Sanders, a Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback and now head coach at Jackson State, appeared on letshang.live’s chat during the 49ers-Cowboys game Sunday. He was asked about the lack of minority coaches in football.
“Let’s not just say the NFL, let’s just say college,” Sanders said. “I’m gonna sit up here and cry, cry, cry that we don’t have the number of African-American coaches that it could possibly be, because most rosters are made up of 75 percent African-American players?
“In the NFL, you can’t tell a billionaire what to do. How are you gonna tell a billionaire what to do? That’s the dumbest thing in the world to me, you’re gonna tell a billionaire who made his money by going with his instinct and what he sees and what he trusts and what he knows and what he says on who to hire, that’s not gonna happen. You’re never gonna do that.
“And on the college route, you’ve got boosters that are billionaires and millionaires that are contributing to the university and they make the calls.”
Sanders is correct. The NFL has taken steps – requiring minorities to be interviewed, for instance — and perhaps some progress has been made, but with the recent firings of Brian Flores (Dolphins) and David Gulley (Texans), the only minority head coach is the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin.
There is no such central pressure in the collegiate ranks.
“Honestly I interviewed at a couple” of schools, Sanders said. “I didn’t get the job, I didn’t get hired. And I really sat back and prayed about it and had a couple more and Jackson State came out and athletic director Ashley (Robinson) just approved me, and I started to really pray about it and think about all the possibilities.
“And when I made the decision, it was a peace that overcame me that I knew I was going somewhere to provoke change, and that’s what we’ve done.”
Sanders has made news in recent weeks by signing two high-profile recruits wanted by all the major college powerhouses. Instead, those blue-chip prospects signed with Division I-AA Jackson State.
"I don’t want to coach in the NFL,” Sanders said. “I’m too much of a disciplinarian … these are different guys nowadays. They’re not like the way it used to be. We took pride – if we made $300,000, we wanted to earn it; if we made $1 million, we wanted to earn it. It’s not like that anymore at that level … guys break a nail and they’re going to be out for three weeks.”
The List: Returning Big 12 tailbacks
2021 was billed as the year of the tailback in Big 12 football. Seven Big 12 tailbacks ran for at least 1,000 yards. But only two of those seven return. Baylor’s Abram Smith, Iowa State’s Breece Hall, OSU’s Jaylen Warren, OU’s Kennedy Brooks and West Virginia’s Leddie Brown all declared for the NFL Draft.
Here are the 10 leading Big 12 tailback rushers from 2021 who figure to be back next season:
1. Deuce Vaughn, Kansas State: Rushed for 1,404 yards and 18 touchdowns in his second KSU season.
2. Bijan Robinson, Texas: Billed as a Heisman Trophy candidate, Robinson and the Longhorns were disappointing, but he still rushed for 1,127 yards and 11 touchdowns in his second UT season.
3. Devin Neal, Kansas: As a hometown (Lawrence) true freshman, Neal rushed for 707 yards and eight touchdowns.
4. Kendre Miller, TCU: Huge recruit Zach Evans has entered the transfer portal, leaving Miller as the top Horned Frog tailback. He rushed for 623 yards and seven touchdowns last season, his second in Fort Worth.
5. Roschon Johnson, Texas: In his third Longhorn season, Johnson rushed for 569 yards and five touchdowns.
6. Tahj Brooks, Texas Tech: Brooks rushed for 568 yards in an injury-marred season, his second in Lubbock.
7. SaRodorick Thompson, Texas Tech: Expected back for his fifth season in Lubbock, Thompson rushed for 500 yards and 10 TDs last season.
8. Emari Demercado, TCU: You’re forgiven if you didn’t know Demercado is a four-year Horned Frog. He rushed for 421 yards and four touchdowns in 2021.
9. Eric Gray, OU: The Tennessee transfer rushed for 412 yards and two touchdowns in his first Sooner season.
10. Dominic Richardson, OSU: Backed up Jaylen Warren in his second Cowboy season and rushed for 373 yards and four touchdowns.
More: How will Oklahoma State reload at running back for 2022 season? Start with Dominic Richardson
Mailbag: Cell-phone crazies
A question on how the sausage is made.
Toby: Just noticed – at the end of your columns, you leave a phone number. Do you actually get any sane phone messages? Also, what topic is guaranteed to bring out the crazies?”
Tramel: That's my cell number. So I answer it most of the time. I don't get too many crazy calls. Not as many as I once did. I get some crazy people, but that's not issue generated. That’s just people who need to talk.
Crazy issues? It’s OU football. Notably a Sooner defeat. That’s what stokes the most fire.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Kyler Murray could cost Kliff Kingsbury his Arizona Cardinals job
