Kyler Murray’s throw for the Arizona Cardinals against the Buffalo Bills during the 2020 season is still one of the more remarkable plays that the NFL has seen in recent years.

Ever since he was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals with the #1 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Kyler Murray has arguably been nothing short of exhilarating when it comes to what he brings to the football field. 

We always knew that something like this was possible, because his numbers in college gave us an indication of what was going to happen when he reached the NFL. During his Heisman Trophy-winning season of 2018, he put up a staggering 4,361 passing yards and 42 touchdowns compared to just 7 interceptions, whilst also rushing for 1,001 yards and 12 touchdowns. 

As one of the more dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks in the league, he has managed to put up 11,480 passing yards and 70 touchdowns through the air whilst also rushing for 1,786 yards and a further 20 touchdowns along the ground. 

Taking the Cardinals forward

All of those numbers have seen the Cardinals improve over the past few years. Although things started out slightly rocky in his first season as they only won 5 games, their wins increased to 8 in 2020 and then 11 in 2021 - although Murray only played 14 games and went 9-5 - and reach the playoffs.

Whether or not they’ll be able to keep that upward trajectory going this season or if things will plateau is yet to be seen, but hopefully they’ll at least be in control of games and won’t have to rely on last-minute heroics in order to get them through. 

But at least if they do, they know they’ve got someone who can pull off the miraculous when they need to.

The birth of the ‘Hail Murray’

During the 2020 season, the Cardinals found themselves down by four points in the final seconds of the game, but this wasn’t just any normal ‘Hail Mary’, as Murray was forced to use his feet to escape from an onslaught of Buffalo Bills defenders.

Not only that, but when he threw the ball up in the air, he did so into double coverage that soon became triple coverage as another Bills defender came flying into the picture, only for DeAndre Hopkins to haul the ball out of the air and get the Cardinals the win:

There certainly are some memorable Hail Mary throws in NFL history, but there are arguably none that had as many moving parts needed to pull it off than this one.