The first ever bout between Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield ended in a 38-24 victory for the Arizona Cardinals.
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Final Score
Arizona Cardinals 38, Cleveland Browns 24
Arizona Cardinals
His four touchdowns aside, running back Kenyan Drake was great against Cleveland. He gained chunks of yardage throughout the game and was surgical in the fourth quarter as Arizona milked the clock down. Denzel Ward is likely still searching for his ankles after Drake crossed him up on the edge for a 21-yard gain in the fourth quarter.
Kyler Murray had a reasonably pedestrian game, but with the Cardinals' rushing attack churning the way it was, Arizona didn't need him to play the hero in Week 15. Murray put the ball in harm's way just once; he made some plays with his legs and made mostly good decisions while playing with the lead.
Patrick Peterson was targeted a few times and was able to prevent anything from getting over the top of him. On his interception, he was able to snag a high pass but he also dropped another interception where he jumped Jarvis Landry‘s route.
Chandler Jones was the only Cardinal to record a sack, and that reflects how unproductive the Cards' pass-rush was today. Mayfield had a clean pocket to throw from for most of the game, and they're lucky he wasn't able to do more in those situations.
Cleveland Browns
Baker Mayfield only gained 247 yards through the air vs. the Cardinals, and his best pass of the day was dropped by Odell Beckham Jr. along the sideline. Outside of that throw, the Browns' offense failed to find anything downfield. On his one interception, Baker overthrew Beckham, and Peterson was able to impressively haul in the high pass for the pick.
Nick Chubb was the one player who was able to get the Cleveland offense moving, and he left the game having gained over seven yards per carry. Most of his work came from plays where Chubb and Kareem Hunt were in the backfield together, and the Cardinals' defense was unable to key in on who would get the ball.
As a whole unit, the Browns struggled to generate pressure in the pass-rush. Kyler Murray was sacked just once today; Cleveland wasn't even able to get to him for a hit and most of their pressures were cleanup pressures and not instances of a defender beating a block.
Joe Schobert had a rough game in run defense this afternoon. Though he didn't miss any tackles, he was moved around at the second level and wasn't consistently able to fill his gaps.
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