Kyler Murray has come in for some incredibly harsh criticism from former All-Pro running back LeSean McCoy, as he has blasted the Arizona Cardinals quarterback’s style of play.

To say that the Arizona Cardinals have had an up and down season so far would be something of an understatement, as it’s hard to quite make heads or tails over what they are as a team and what their chances of success are moving forward.

They opened the season with a 44-20 loss at home to the Kansas City Chiefs, understandable given their talented roster, beat a Las Vegas Raiders side in overtime after coming back from a 20-0 deficit at halftime, only to then lose against the reigning Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in Week 3. So are they good, or have they just happened to come across two talented teams early on and so we can’t get a true sense of where they are?

One thing is for sure, if they are to get better as the season goes on, a lot of their success is going to have to come through the arms, and indeed the legs of quarterback Kyler Murray.

Kyler Murray the not-so-magic man?

Murray has turned himself into one of the more dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks in the league ever since his arrival in 2019 when the Cardinals took him with the #1 pick overall, having managed to put up 11,480 passing yards and 70 touchdowns whilst also rushing for 1,786 yards and a further 20 touchdowns coming into the season. 

But he hasn’t exactly been at his best so far this season, as he only has three touchdowns so far this season, although has limited himself to just one interception, whilst he has stayed pretty grounded for the most part in the running game, only having 65 yards in total, although that doesn’t quite factor in how many yards he ran during his bonkers 2-point conversion against the Raiders in Week 2.

Video: Kyler Murray scores bizarre 2-point conversion play:

And it’s that aspect of his game, scrambling around as if his life depended on it, that has left former running back LeSean McCoy feeling rather annoyed at his style of play.

LeSean McCoy rips Kyler Murray

Speaking on the I Am Athlete podcast (quoted by the New York Post), McCoy, who is used to using his legs to great effect, came across as rather unimpressed when it came to Murray and his ability in the pocket. 

He’s trash. Overhyped. Overrated. He plays like a high school player. Runs around, runs backward, he does a circle, the ballerina circle, then goes left, goes right, turns all the way around again, then looks for a wide receiver. He’s trash. That’s not how you play quarterback.

Murray has certainly seemed to focus more on his arm this season, throwing 193 yards in the first game, before increasing it to 277 in Week 2 and then 314 in Week 3, so the criticism from McCoy is perhaps a bit unwarranted seeing as he doesn’t seem to be doing it as much recently. 

But you could make the argument that if the Cardinals are to be successful this season, they might need him to start turning on the jets and running with the ball a little bit more. And if it’s successful, then perhaps it’s McCoy that is in the wrong here for his analysis rather than Murray for how he plays the game.