After losing to the Chargers on the road in Week One, the Raiders will host the Cardinals for their home opener on Sunday.
Though Arizona was not competitive against Kansas City last weekend, Las Vegas head coach Josh McDaniels is fully aware of the challenges Kyler Murray presents as a dual-threat quarterback.
“Every play is an opportunity for something bad to happen when Kyler is on the other side,” McDaniels said in his Wednesday press conference. “This guy is a special, special player, and there’s not many players in the league that are like him and certainly not many that I’ve coached against.
“First of all, I think the number one thing I would say about him is he’s a really good passer. He can read the defense, he can get the ball to all levels of the field, he can make every throw, he’s very accurate. So that in its own is a tough challenge. Then you combine that with his ability to either run the ball on designed runs or RPOs or zone read, and then every pass play could potentially be a loose play. So, he forces you to be absolutely on top of all your P’s and Q’s, and you can’t take plays off and can’t relax because if you do, generally he makes you pay for it.”
McDaniels faced Murray once as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator — a game New England won 20-17 over Arizona. Murray finished that game 23-of-34 passing for 170 yards with an interception. He also rushed five times for 31 yards.
“He’s an exceptional player,” McDaniels said. “This will be a huge challenge. Excited to have the opportunity to compete against him, but this guy is a really, really good football player.”
