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Arizona Cardinals rookie quarterback Kyler Murray took his bumps and bruises in his first NFL career start. However, he fought back mightily, nearly completing a comeback from 17 points down. The game would eventually end in a tie, yet Murray showed he belongs in the NFL. However, his belonging in your week two fantasy football lineup is a whole other question.
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Kyler Murray Fantasy Outlook vs. Baltimore Ravens
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Cardinals QB Kyler Murray had his moments in his NFL debut
For most of the Cardinals week one game, Kliff Kingsbury’s college-like air raid offense looked well, college-like. Arizona’s offense struggled so mightily that the coach would come out and proclaim the first three quarters of week one’s game was “the worst offense I’ve ever seen.”
Kingsbury harvested the blame for the team’s poor play. However, he did put Murray in position to succeed, Murray just didn’t get the job done, at first.
According to Next Get Stats, Murray started week one’s matchup vs. Detroit 0-5 on quick pass attempts, and 0-6 when operating out of an empty backfield. Two things that Murray excelled at during his time at Oklahoma.
Murray would go on to finish the game strong, compiling 22+ fantasy points. Rewarding fantasy owners who rolled the dice on the rookie QB in week one. However, a big chunk of those stats occurred when Detroit thought they had already locked the game up. You also can’t overlook the fact that Murray threw the ball an absurd 54 times in his NFL debut. That’s not likely to happen again this coming week.
In a league where the Chicago Bears defense reigns supreme, it was actually the Baltimore Ravens who led the NFL in total defense a year ago. If that stat didn’t pique your interest, I’m sure their week one performance vs. Miami caught your attention.
Baltimore surrendered just ten points last Sunday, accumulating three sacks, two interceptions, and one forced fumble in the process. Baltimore held Dolphins QBs to just 10.4 points in the contest. This performance was nothing out of the ordinary for a Ravens defense who allowed the fourth-fewest points to fantasy QBs on a per-game basis a season ago.
Should You Start or Sit Kyler Murray in Week 2?
Murray will be fantasy football starter material at times this season, however, week two vs. Baltimore is not the time.
Murray is a phenomenal talent but does not have the pieces around him to be a QB1 lock on a week to week basis. It also doesn’t help when your offensive line decides it would rather play defense than block the defense…
As odd as it may sound, Arizona does not want to get into a shoot out with Baltimore’s offense. The Ravens racked up nearly 60-points in week one. The Cardinals defense surrendered the fifth-most yards in the NFL over the first week of the regular season.
Arizona’s best chance of winning on Sunday is to control the time of possession. Meaning Murray should not throw the ball in excess of 50 times, also meaning he should not be in your fantasy lineups.
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