- Kyler Murray stunned the Las Vegas Raiders defense with a jaw-dropping two-point conversion.
- In total, Murray ran nearly 85 yards around the field before finally reaching the end zone.
The Arizona Cardinals escaped a disastrous 0-2 start to the season thanks to the wily, unpredictable legs of quarterback Kyler Murray.
Trailing the Raiders 23-7 heading into the fourth quarter, the Cardinals had their work cut out for them. The comeback began halfway through the final period, with running back Darrel Williams punching a touchdown in from the one-yard line.
With the Cardinals now down 23-13, they elected to go for two, with hopes of cutting the Raiders lead to just one possession.
Murray took a shotgun snap and surveyed the field. Seeing nothing to his liking, he started running... backwards.
While such a play would be a disaster for most other quarterbacks in the league, for Murray, running backwards is simply a way of freeing up more space to run forwards later in the play.
In video game fashion, Murray spiraled in and out of the Raiders defense, eventually finding paydirt.
It took Murray 19 seconds to gain two yards, and he needed every one of them. According to NextGenStats, Murray's two-yard gain came after running nearly 85 yards around the field. Again, Murray didn't waste a step.
With the successful conversion, the Cardinals had cut the Raiders lead to just eight points.
After a solid stop from the Arizona defense, Murray led the Cardinals on an 18-play, 73-yard drive, surviving four fourth downs along the way.
Capping the drive once again was Murray, who on the final play of regulation, again scampered into the end zone after the Raiders defense were overwhelmed covering Arizona's receivers.
The Cardinals needed one more two-point conversion to force overtime, and nearly crushed their own chances by taking a delay-of-game penalty that pushed them five yards back on the attempt.
It didn't matter for Murray, who threw an absolute dart through the tightest window to connect with A.J. Green.
In the extra period, the Cardinals' opening drive stalled, but the defense came through, forcing a scoop-and-score that ended the game.
Ballgame. Cardinals win.
"I want to say they dropped nine, had two people rushing. I knew they weren't going to be able to tackle me," Murray said of his wild two-point conversion after the game. "It was just about, hopefully, backyard football at that point, trying to find somebody, move, get open and make a play."
Murray and the Cardinals made the wrong kind of headlines this off-season when the quarterback signed a massive extension that included an odd "homework" clause that mandated Murray to conduct his at-home film study without distractions, including video games.
But on Sunday, Murray was a different kind of video game quarterback, making plays even the best Madden players in the world wouldn't dare attempt.
It's just the sort of play that made Murray worth $230 million in the first place.
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