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Kyler Murray: Cardinals 'kept shooting ourselves in the foot' in loss to Seahawks – NFL.com

Published

4 years ago

November 20, 2020

Kyler Murray got crushed on the second drive of Thursday night’s game, getting squished by L.J. Collier and Carlos Dunlap into the turf, with the latter falling directly on his throwing shoulder. Murray was never the same in the 28-21 loss to Seattle.

The Arizona Cardinals quarterback never exited the game, but repeated sideline shots showed Murray wincing in pain and trying to keep the sore shoulder loose, particularly in the first half.

The Seahawks didn’t register a QB hit in the first meeting between the division rivals. Thursday night, Seattle ensured things would be different from the start.

“They definitely played for me in certain situations but like I said, we put up 21, had a chance to win the game at the end, but throughout the game, we started slow and kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” Murray said, via the Associated Press.

Led by Dunlap, who sealed the game with his second sack of the night, Seattle compiled seven QB hits and three sacks.

Murray insisted after the game that his shoulder felt fine, saying, “I’m good.”

More than just battering the 5-foot-10 QB, Seattle didn’t allow Murray to do damage with his legs. Leading all signal-callers in rushing yards entering the game, the QB scampered just five times for 15 yards. Whether the shoulder injury adjusted Kliff Kingsbury’s play-calling, Murray was more hesitant to run, or the Seahawks D never allowed the opportunity, it’s the first time this season the speedy QB didn’t get loose on the ground. Murray snapped a streak of five straight games with a rushing score.

The Cardinals entered the game leading the league in rushing. Seattle’s defense held the ground game in check, with Murray, Kenyan Drake and Chase Edmonds combining for 57 yards on 18 carries and one touchdown with a long run of 12 yards.

“I think it was just flow of game,” Murray said. “I don’t think we had a lot of rushing yards anyway — that’s just the way they were playing it. We had what we had and like I said, we had our chances, we just didn’t play well enough to win the game.”

Part of how the Cardinals shot themselves in the foot, as Murray said, was penalties. Kingsbury’s crew compiled 10 flags for 115 yards. It’s the most penalty yards by an Arizona team since Week 16, 2016 versus Green Bay (119). The Cards lead the NFL with 79 penalties entering Sunday’s games.

“You’re not going to win in this league doing that, especially against a quality team against Seattle,” Kingsbury said of the penalties. “That’s unacceptable to have that many and we got to clean that up. Just got to refocus and be better moving forward. The guys, when that occurs, they’re always feeling bad about the situation and so you just try to make sure we get past it and not allow it to happen against and not allow it to affect us moving forward.”

The biggest penalties of the night were a J.R. Sweezy holding in the end zone that caused a safety; a taunting penalty on Dre Kirkpatrick that gave the Seahawks a first down on fourth down; and a 46-yard pass interference flag on veteran corner Patrick Peterson.

In a close game, the flags were enough to wipe out the chance of a comeback bid, and now Arizona faces an uphill climb to reclaim the top spot in the NFC West.

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Canada’s Marina Stakusic falls in Guadalajara Open quarterfinals

Published

2 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.

The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.

Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.

In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.

The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Kirk’s walk-off single in 11th inning lifts Blue Jays past Cardinals 4-3

Published

2 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.

Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.

Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.

He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.

The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.

Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.

He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.

George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.

Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.

In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.

St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

ON DECK

Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.

The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Canada’s Sarah Mitton captures shot put gold at Diamond League in Brussels

Published

8 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

BRUSSELS – Canadian shot putter Sarah Mitton rebounded from a disappointing performance at the Paris Olympics by capturing Diamond League gold on Friday.

Mitton, of Brooklyn, N.S., won the competition, the final Diamond League event of the season, with a heave of 20.25 metres on her third throw.

Chase Jackson of the U.S. placed second with a throw of 19.90, while German’s Yemisi Ogunleye, the Olympic gold medallist, claimed bronze with a toss of 19.72.

Mitton, the runner-up of last year’s world championship, failed to qualify for the top eight in Paris.

Edmonton runner Marco Arop, who won silver for Canada in the men’s 800 metres at the Paris Games, was scheduled to race in the 800 on Saturday.

Olympic bronze-medallist Alysha Newman, of London, Ont., also competes Saturday in the women’s pole vault.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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