So yes, Larry Fitzgerald not scoring a touchdown tends to get the attention of fans and media. That finally trickled down to Kyler Murray, who when he says he's not really looking at the stats, I tend to believe him.
"Last week I was talking to Chase (Edmonds) and he told me that Larry didn't have a touchdown and I was kind of like 'What? Are you serious?' " Murray said.
That Fitz got TD No. 1 for 2020 against the Eagles maybe shouldn't be a surprise. It was his ninth all-time against Philly (not including the three he had in the 2008 NFC Championship, because again, postseason numbers are treated differently), the most touchdowns he's had against any team that does not reside in the NFC West.
Fitz will have the fewest receiving yards of his career this season. He might have the fewest catches (although he is 10 shy of the 58 he made as a rookie in 2004.) His low for touchdowns is two, in 2014, so he could still at least match that (or who knows, surpass it.) In the meantime, on the updated QB-to-Fitz TD leaderboard, Murray jumped into esteemed company of Kevin Kolb and Matt Leinart with five TD tosses to the future Hall of Famer.
Quarterback | TD Receptions |
---|---|
Kurt Warner | 39 |
Carson Palmer | 28 |
Josh McCown | 12 |
John Skelton | 7 |
Josh Rosen | 6 |
Kevin Kolb | 5 |
Matt Leinart | 5 |
Kyler Murray | 5 |
Derek Anderson | 4 |
Drew Stanton | 3 |
Blaine Gabbert | 2 |
Rich Bartel | 1 |
Max Hall | 1 |
John Navarre | 1 |
Shaun King | 1 |
Brian St. Pierre | 1 |
Fitz is now 17-for-17 in scoring touchdowns in his career. Only Jerry Rice, who had touchdowns in each of his 20 seasons, has had more seasons where he scored at least one TD.
The best part about the touchdown? It was classic Fitz. Murray was excellent himself, flushed left and then, against his body on the move, throwing it in the perfect spot. But the Fitz hands, the body control to make sure his backside was in bounds, the completion of the catch -- we saw later the crazy hands of DeAndre Hopkins, but the Cardinals' original master of the Canton hands was still working his magic.
"Obviously, I wasn't trying to force him the ball today or anything like that," Murray said, "but seeing him one-on-one I just gave him a chance and he made obviously an incredible catch."