Kyler Murray Blamed for Cardinals' Loss to Eagles After 'Embarrassing' Slide Decision

Kyler Murray's Madden awareness rating is probably going to take a big hit this week.

The Arizona Cardinals quarterback made two mental gaffes late in Sunday's 20-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles that arguably cost his team the game.

Driving late in the fourth quarter with zero timeouts, Murray scrambled out of the pocket and ran for about 9.5 yards before deciding to slide—leaving the Cardinals about a half-yard shy of a first down and facing 3rd-and-1.

Murray then rushed to the line of scrimmage and spiked the ball with 22 seconds left rather than running a play, forcing Arizona into a game-tying field goal attempt. Matt Ammendola then missed the 43-yard attempt to give the Cardinals their third home loss in as many games.

You'll be surprised to find out that people on social media were not particularly kind about the final sequence of plays.

In fairness to Murray, it's worth noting the stadium scoreboard indicated the Cardinals had gotten the first down. It's possible Murray believed he had gotten enough yardage to move the chains.

That said, the stadium scoreboard is not the official measurement. It's on Murray to look to the official marker on the sidelines and to have enough field awareness to know the down and distance.

It's equally worth noting the Cardinals would not have been in that situation in the first place had Murray taken an extra two steps and been willing to take a hit to ensure the first down. Murray should have had 100 percent awareness of the exact yard line he needed to reach; stopping a half-yard short is inexcusable.

Compounding that by not double-checking the down and distance ahead of the spike is the type of moment that can fundamentally alter a team's season.