Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury chalked up his sideline argument with quarterback Kyler Murray to a “Gen-Z thing.”
During Arizona’s 42-34 win against the Saints on “Thursday Night Football,” Murray was caught screaming at Kingsbury during a time out by the Amazon broadcast cameras. Kingsbury downplayed the situation after the game, while explaining why Murray “acted kind of fiery” before halftime.
“It was just one of those things on the field. We had a difference of opinion,” Kingsbury said. “Yeah, he said I didn’t look good on TV and acted kind of fiery. So, I don’t know. It’s the Gen-Z thing on TV ‘calm down,’ but I like showing emotion.”
Murray appeared to yell at Kingsbury as he speedily walked over to the sideline after using the team’s final timeout with less than three minutes to go in the first half.
Murray, without his helmet, appeared to tell his coach, “Calm the f–k down!” repeatedly.
“You know he’s over there, he’s sometimes real animated over on the sidelines sometimes,” Murray said postgame. “It’s never ‘calm down we’re good, we are going to make it right,’ and we ended up scoring so that was good.”
Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins — who returned from a six-game suspension for violation of the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy — attempted to play peacemaker during the incident.
“Both of those guys want to win,” said Hopkins, who finished with 10 catches for 103 yards in his return. “I love to see that. I mean honestly, I love being a part of two people who are dedicated and that focused on winning. Obviously, you are going to butt heads. I’m not married, but from what I hear, that’s like a marriage.”
The Cardinals moved past the Kingsbury-Murray spat to secure a win against the Saints, ending an eight-game victory drought at State Farm Stadium.
Following the altercation, Murray and the offense returned to the field and went on a scoring tear, which started with a 2-yard touchdown run by Keaontay Ingram with 2:28 to go in the first half. The Cardinals then got two consecutive pick-sixes off Saints quarterback Andy Dalton to take a 28-14 lead.
Murray completed 20 of 29 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown.
The Cardinals (3-4) visit the Vikings in Week 8.
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