Getty Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rondale Moore.
When the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1 of the regular season, the defending AFC West champions will not face one of Arizona’s dynamic playmakers on offense due to injury.
After leaving practice due to a hamstring injury on Thursday, September 8, Cardinals wide receiver Rondale Moore was listed as out on Arizona’s final injury report for Week 1.
Game Status for Week 1:
With veteran wideout Deandre Hopkins suspended for the first six games of the regular season, Arizona was already entering the regular season opener not fully stocked in the receiver room. Now without Moore — a second-round pick for the Cardinals in 2021 — Arizona’s top receivers against the Chiefs will be newly-added Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and 34-year-old A.J. Green. That’s an advantageous scenario for a young and inexperienced Kansas City secondary.
Other Cardinals players that will miss the regular season opener are offensive lineman Cody Ford (ankle) and cornerback Trayvon Mullen (toe). Those listed as questionable for the game are tight end Zach Ertz (calf), cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. (illness), starting left guard Justin Pugh (neck), and defensive end J.J. Watt (calf).
Meanwhile, the Chiefs had no game status designations for Week 1.
We have no game status designations for Sunday’s game vs. Arizona.
The Chiefs and Cardinals kickoff on Sunday, September 11 at 3:25 p.m. CST.
Spags Speaks on Cardinals’ Kyler Murray
Speaking to the media on September 8, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo gave his assessment of Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray when asked if Murray has a unique style of play.
“In some ways. You know they’re all different,” Spags explained. “But he’s electric like Lamar (Jackson). Like Josh Allen’s different, right? But this guy gives you the same headaches that all those guys that are a threat to run, not just on designed quarterback runs, but when he decides to do it, especially on a pass play, and he’s got a unique feel for when he – especially if you’re in man (coverage) – (has) got a unique feel for finding that. And when he takes off and gets north and south – you guys have seen the film – that can be a problem.”
Spags also spoke about having to lean on younger players this season due to the youth of the defense.
“I think our young guys have done a real good job of picking it up” he said. “We’ve limited it for them. I think they’ve played fast in all these preseason games. Now we know that’s completely different than a regular season game and the things you’re going to see, but I’m excited to see them play in this game and see how we’ll function.
“I say this all the time, it takes the first quarter of the season to really figure out who you are. And you go into this first game – and we can look at loads of film like we have but that doesn’t mean the Cardinals aren’t going to change a little. To me, the first two games of an NFL season is what you do in the game adjusting more probably than you do before it in a lot of ways.”
Justin Reid Gives Assessment of Murray
Chiefs safety Justin Reid, who played against Murray and the Cardinals last season when he was with the Houston Texans, gave a “from experience” response when asked about Murray’s abilities.
“What I remember the most is the unscripted plays. By that I mean him extending plays, extending drives by just scrambling around and not only the difficulty of just tackling him but also some of the problems we ran into that game was since he is a little bit shorter,” Reid said. ”
“Our defensive lineman were tackling high and they were getting flags all over the place for it. It’s not just getting him down but making sure (we are) getting him down in a way that’s legal to the game so that way they just don’t get an automatic first down.”