ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Kyler Murray already has a place in Bills lore after the Cardinals quarterback’s one and only meeting against Buffalo resulted in a memorable last-second touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins.
With the two non-conference teams opening the season in Buffalo on Sunday, so much has changed in the four years since the play was dubbed the “Hail Murray.”
Hopkins and the three Bills defenders – safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde and cornerback Tre’Davious White – getting outleaped by the receiver in the end zone with 2 seconds left in Arizona’s 32-30 win have either changed teams or are out of football.
“It seems like a long time ago,” Murray said, reflecting on his 43-yard winning heave. “It was a good win.”
Though he led Arizona to a playoff berth in 2021, there haven’t been many wins - eight in total - in the desert over of the past two years, leaving Murray focused on the present. The top pick in the 2019 draft enters his sixth NFL season attempting to re-establish his place among the NFL’s elite and carry the Cardinals along with him after recovering from a torn ACL.
“First game of the year, but football’s been on my mind all offseason,” said Murray, who closed last season by going 3-5 after being sidelined for 11 months. “I’ve had this on my mind for a long time, not just this game, but what I want to accomplish and what I want this team to accomplish.”
There’s a look-ahead focus in Buffalo as well, after an offseason salary cap-forced purge led to the departure of six of eight captains, and leaves the Bills with just 11 holdovers from 2020.
“Yeah, I remember that game. Thanks,” coach Sean McDermott said with a wince.
Just don’t ask McDermott to mull it over too much, even though the loss was one of several to play a role in helping set what became Buffalo’s standard of resilience in being able to bounce back from adversity.
It was evident following the loss in Arizona, when Buffalo reeled off eight straight wins, including the playoffs, to clinch its first of four AFC East titles before losing to Kansas City in the conference championship. And it’s an approach that carried over through last year, during which the veteran-laden Bills dropped back-to-back games just three times, and are currently on an NFL record-tying 40-game run in which they’ve not lost by more than 6 points.
McDermott often credited his team’s resilience as signs of scar tissue developed through tough times.
With so many changes, there are few left carrying those scars or able to convey Buffalo’s standard to the newcomers.
“It’s by how we play on Sunday. How we’ve been practicing,” sixth-year cornerback Taron Johnson said. “We’re going to show that with our energy, our juice and how fast we play.”
Johnson doesn’t think it matters whether his new teammates are aware of the “Hail Murray” entering this weekend. He then broke into a smile in knowing one former teammate who might: Hyde.
“I could see him maybe texting me the night before the game,” Johnson said of Hyde, who is unsigned and contemplating retirement, but hasn’t ruled out a potential return to Buffalo. “That would be funny.”
Rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. will make his NFL debut after being selected fourth overall in the draft. Harrison played just a handful of snaps during the preseason, but the Cardinals expect him to make an immediate impact.
He should be one of many solid options for Murray in the passing game. Second-year player Michael Wilson returns after an encouraging rookie season, as does Trey McBride, who caught 81 passes last year - a franchise record among tight ends.
The Cardinals’ pass rush struggled last year, finishing with 33 sacks, which ranked 30th in the NFL. Arizona hopes for improvement this season, but the team’s defensive front has already taken a few injury hits.
Linebacker BJ Ojulari is out for the season after a knee injury in camp and first-round pick Darius Robinson will miss at least the first four games with a calf injury. The team will lean on veterans Dennis Gardeck and Zaven Collins to make plays.
The Bills unveil a new-look receiver group featuring just one member - Khalil Shakir - who has ever caught a pass from Josh Allen.
The newcomers are veteran free agent additions Curtis Samuel, Mack Hollins and Marquez Valdes-Scantling and rookie Keon Coleman.
“Everybody eats,” has become the mantra in how the team plans to spread around the receiving production lost after Stefon Diggs was traded to Houston and Gabe Davis left in free agency.
“You can’t speed it up,” Allen said of developing an instant rapport. “But you can still put some blind faith in some things and figure it out as you go.”
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