What Went Right and Wrong for the Cardinals in a Walk-Off Win Over Buffalo

The Arizona Cardinals went from being in the driver’s seat, to blowing the game to walking off on the Buffalo Bills within a span of less than five minutes on Sunday. They won 32-30 after quarterback Kyler Murray threw a prayer to a triple-covered DeAndre Hopkins from 43 yards out. 

The catch speaks for itself:

That grab put the Cardinals in first place in the NFC West and shifts the attitude around a team that almost had back-to-back heartbreaking losses. 

“I’m just proud of the guys for fighting for four quarters, really to the end because you know we had 45 seconds (actually 34) to drive the field to give ourselves a chance and we did it,” Murray said. 

What went right

Hopkins

He gets his own category. 

After Hopkins had just three grabs for 30 yards last week, head coach Kliff Kingsbury said he needed to get his top receiver involved more. 

“I went out of that game last week regretting we didn’t get it to him in crunch time more,” Kingsbury said.

Hopkins finished with seven catches for 127 yards and had what he called the No. 1 catch of his career. 

On the last play, Hopkins said the defense was in position, but it didn’t matter. 

“I know I have an advantage of jumping higher than some DBs,” Hopkins said. “I know that if I if I can get my hands on the ball, I’m coming down with it.”

Murray shared his thoughts on the catch.

“I don’t think I saw him catch the ball,” Murray said. “I really don’t remember, it happened so fast. But I knew once it left my hand, it had a good chance.”

Running the football

The Cardinals were two yards away from tripling the Bills’ output on the ground. 

Arizona finished with 217 yards rushing. Running back Kenyan Drake was a game-day decision because of an ankle injury, but he played and his impact was immense. 

He had 100 yards on 16 carries. Fellow running back Chase Edmonds ran for 56 yards on just eight attempts. 

Murray had 61 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to score a rushing touchdown in five consecutive games. Murray also has 10 rushing scores for the season, four away from the NFL record (Cam Newton 2011). 

In the red zone, the Cardinals struggled early in the game, in large part due to straying away from the run. In the second half, Murray was able to utilize read options to make noise. 

“I have a read, if they give me that read then it’s my job to carry the ball,” Murray said.

Second-half defense

The Bills were leading 16-9 at halftime, then scored quickly after the break. 

Then, despite several injuries to starters throughout the game, including nose tackle Corey Peters, the Cardinals shut down Buffalo until the game’s final minute. This allowed the Cardinals to go on a 17-0 run and take the lead in the third quarter. 

The Bills had five possessions in a row of six or fewer plays and no points. 

“I felt like that whole third quarter and leading into that last drive, we had a ton of confidence and momentum going into every single drive,” linebacker Jordan Hicks said. “We feed off of that and I think the offense does too.”

Two interceptions of Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen were a big help as cornerbacks Patrick Peterson and Dre Kirkpatrick each got one.

But, when the Cardinals offense failed to ice the game with 4:30 to go, or at least kill more than a minute, the Bills got to work. 

A 78-yard drive ending in Peterson getting burned by Bills receiver Stefon Diggs in the end zone put Arizona in a dicey situation. 

Still, the Cardinals defense had a lot of obstacles to climb yet it put the offense in position to take over the game. 

What went wrong

Coaching

A lot went wrong on the Cardinals’ sideline. 

Starting at the end of the first half, the Bills had the ball, up by four, in their own territory with under a minute remaining. It was third down and Peters had just gotten injured. After he was carted off, Kingsbury called timeout. This is against the rules after an injury timeout, so on third-and-five, the Bills got a free five yards and a first down. 

To end the half, Buffalo kicker Tyler Bass drilled a 58-yard field goal. 

Later in the game, the Cardinals took over after Kirkpatrick’s interception with 4:31 left and a three-point lead. 

A few first downs makes a Buffalo comeback near hopeless. Even winding the clock down or forcing Buffalo to call timeouts would have been productive. 

Instead, the Cardinals, who had been getting 6.5 yards per carry, threw three times for two incompletions and a sack, which was somehow more useful since it winded the clock down a little. 

“By design, we wanted to be aggressive in that situation,” Kingsbury said. “Try to get the ball back to Hop(kins) on some one-on-ones.”

Not utilizing Murray’s legs in the red zone sooner was also head scratching, as the Cardinals were stuck with three fields goals in the first half. 

Pass coverage

The Cardinals defense as a whole stood strong for most of the second half, but throughout the game, the cornerbacks were getting beat. 

Kirkpatrick got beat several times in both halves including on a comeback route by Diggs that left Kirkpatrick off the screen. 

Peterson was not only bested by Diggs at the end, but he was left on his heels by receiver Cole Beasley in the first half that resulted in a touchdown. 

Diggs and Beasley combined for 21 catches and 202 yards primarily against those two. Plus, Peterson was flagged for pass interference and Kirkpatrick for illegal hands to the face. Peterson dropped one interception point blank before his takeaway. He showed a lot of frustration Sunday. 

Injuries

This last one isn’t something that the Cardinals did poorly, but the defense especially got hit hard by injury. 

Peters was one of four active defensive linemen Sunday due to other injuries across the roster. He went down with a knee injury and was carted off with several teammates comforting him. He’s a captain who has two sacks this year and is vital to the run defense. 

Inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell came out of the game with a calf injury in the second half. 

On offense, tight end Darrell Daniels was carted off the field with an ankle issue in the first half. 

The Cardinals have a short week this week ahead of a Thursday Night Football matchup against Seattle, so they don’t have a lot of time for players to heal.