A back-shoulder throw from Kyler Murray to A.J. Green was picked off by Rasul Douglas with 12 seconds left to play as the Green Bay Packers knocked off the NFL’s lone remaining unbeaten team 24-21 on Thursday night.
A 94-yard drive by the Cardinals had put a victory within reach for Arizona. But on second-and-goal from the Packers’ 5-yard line, Murray attempted a quick back-shoulder throw to Green that he never saw coming his way and never turned around to find. Douglas did see the incoming pass and picked it off in the end zone for a touchback to seal the Green Bay victory.
Douglas spent the first month of the season on the practice squad of the Cardinals before the Packers signed him to their active roster earlier this month.
Murray left the field limping after the play as well, as the Packers celebrated their victory.
Aaron Rodgers and the Packers were without their top three receivers for Thursday night’s game and still managed a road victory.
Rodgers tossed two touchdowns to Randall Cobb and Aaron Jones ran for a touchdown to carry the Green Bay offense. The Packers were without wide receivers Davante Adams and Allen Lazard, and defensive coordinator Joe Barry for COVID-19 reasons. Wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling was not activated off injured reserve prior to the game either leaving the Packers short-handed at receiver. Tight end Robert Tonyan would also leave in the third quarter due to a knee injury.
The Packers had appeared to have sealed the game away on a 1-yard touchdown run by Jones with 4:46 remaining. Instead, Jones was ruled short of the goal line on replay review and things then went awry for the Packers. Jones was stopped on second down before a delay of game penalty moved the Packers back to the 6-yard line. Rodgers attempted to scramble for the end zone only to again be stopped at the 1-yard line.
Rodgers completed 22 of 37 passes for 184 yards with two touchdowns for the Packers. A.J. Dillon and Jones combined for 137 yards and a touchdown on 31 carries.
Green Bay elected to go for it on fourth down but the attempt failed when Rodgers pass to Randall Cobb was batted down at the line of scrimmage by Devon Kennard.
A 23-yard strike from Murray to A.J. Green got Arizona off their own doorstep. A 29-yard completion to Christian Kirk moved the Cardinals into Green Bay territory. A high snap was corralled from Murray for a loss of eight only for Murray to bounce back with a 22-yard completion to Chase Edmonds to push inside the Green Bay red zone.
A pair of Murray runs and an Edmonds carry moved Arizona to the Green Bay 5-yard before they took their final timeout with 15 seconds remaining. Then Murray’s interception abruptly ended the night for Arizona. It was Murray’s first red zone interception of the season.
Murray completed 22 of 33 passes for 274 yards with two interceptions. It was the first time this season Murray failed to find the end zone either passing or running.