Rookie Kyler Murray's late scamper set up Zane Gonzalez's 31-yard field goal as time expired, lifting the visiting Arizona Cardinals to their first victory of the season with a 26-23 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
Murray, who rushed for a 6-yard touchdown in the first quarter, used his feet again to rush 24 yards up the middle on the final drive for the Cardinals (1-3-1), who were playing their first game since the death of owner Bill Bidwill. He passed away at the age of 88 on Wednesday.
Murray rushed for a team-leading 93 yards, and Chase Edmonds added a 37-yard touchdown as Arizona was able to present Kliff Kingsbury with his first win as a coach while preventing Cincinnati (0-5) from doing the same for Zac Taylor.
Edmonds' touchdown off a pitch gave Arizona a 23-9 lead with 7:13 remaining in the fourth quarter before Andy Dalton tossed scoring strikes on his next two possessions to even the contest.
Dalton, who threw for just 22 yards in the first half, finished with 262 after connecting with Auden Tate over the middle for a 2-yard touchdown and a 42-yard score to Tyler Boyd with 2:03 left in the fourth quarter.
Early in the game, the Cardinals answered Randy Bullock's 23-yard field goal with a nine-play, 68-yard drive, capped by Murray's touchdown run on fourth-and-2 with 3:40 remaining in the first quarter.
Murray, who was the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, scampered around the left side before powering past cornerback William Jackson III at the goal line. Murray's rushing touchdown was his second in as many games, as he had a 9-yard score in the fourth quarter of Arizona's 27-10 setback against Seattle last Sunday.
The teams traded field goals before Murray's 19-yard scamper put the Cardinals at the Bengals' 4-yard line with 14 seconds before halftime. Murray's completed pass at the line to Larry Fitzgerald went nowhere, and the quarterback quickly spiked the ball to allow Gonzalez to drill a 20-yard field goal attempt to give Arizona a 13-6 lead at halftime.
Cincinnati attempted to answer on its first possession of the second half, but the 15-play drive resulted in a 23-yard field goal from Bullock to trim the Cardinals' advantage back to four.
--Field Level Media
Arizona | Cincinnati | |
Kyler Murray | Player | Joe Mixon |
10 | Attempts | 19 |
93 | Yards | 93 |
9.3 | Avg Yards | 4.9 |
1 | Touchdowns | 0 |
24 | Long | 18 |
Arizona | Cincinnati | |
David Johnson | Player | Tyler Boyd |
3 | Receptions | 10 |
65 | Yards | 123 |
21.7 | Avg Yards | 12.3 |
0 | Touchdowns | 1 |
24 | Long | 42 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Arizona | 514 | 266 | 248 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 |
Cincinnati | 370 | 108 | 262 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 |