Kyler Murray threw two touchdown passes and the Arizona Cardinals narrowly held on for a 20-13 victory over penalty-prone New Orleans on Sunday in the Saints’ first game under rookie coach Kellen Moore
Kyler Murray threw two touchdown passes and the Arizona Cardinals narrowly held on for a 20-13 victory over penalty-prone New Orleans on Sunday in the Saints’ first game under rookie coach Kellen Moore.
Murray passed for 163 yards, hitting Marvin Harrison Jr. five times for 71 yards and a TD. Murray also rushed for 38 yards and his other TD toss came on a 4-yard shovel pass to running back James Conner.
Saints star running back Alvin Kamara scored on an 18-yard, tackle-slipping touchdown run around the right end. Spencer Rattler passed for 214 yards without a turnover and nearly rallied the Saints into a tie during the final five minutes.
Rattler, a second year pro who has now lost all seven of his NFL starts, drove the Saints for Blake Grupe’s short field goal to pull New Orleans within a touchdown with 2:42 left.
After Alontae Taylor’s third-down sack on a cornerback blitz forced Arizona to punt from inside the 20, the Saints began a potential tying drive on their 42 with just less than two minutes left.
Without any timeouts, Rattler scrambled for 9 yards and completed five quick passes to move the Saints to the Arizona 18. After a spike to stop the clock with 13 seconds left, Rattler took three shots at the end zone. All fell incomplete, but the second throw nearly connected with leaping tight end Juwan Johnson, who lost control of the ball as he came down hard in the end zone.
The Saints, who saw their streak of six season-opening victories snapped, took a brief first-half lead on Kamara’s scoring run in the second quarter.
Soon after, Murray’s 45-yard pass to Harrison set up Arizona’s first TD on Harrison’s 1-yard catch that put Arizona in front for good.
New Orleans responded with Grupe’s tying 36-yard field goal before Conner’s TD made it 17-10 with 28 seconds left in the half.
Chad Ryland’s 50-yard field goal made it 20-10 in the third quarter, but Ryland’s 46-yard attempt to further widen Arizona’s lead was blocked by defensive tackle Bryan Bresee, setting the stage for late-game drama.
Aging well
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan, now in his 15th season, was expected to play more of a reserve role this season but started because Chase Young was out with a calf injury. Jordan had 1 1/2 sacks, pushing his career total to 123, tied for 20th in the NFL all-time with Robert Mathis.
Flags fly
The Saints were penalized 13 times for 89 yards, with many infractions coming on improper alignments, shifts or motion by the offense. The Cardinals were flagged nine times for 54 yards.
