Jonathan Gannon and the Arizona Cardinals have waffled on the status of Kyler Murray for a few days now. Initially, Gannon said that Kyler Murray was going to be the team’s starter, despite Jacob Brissett’s success. After a change of heart, Gannon told reporters on Tuesday that Brissett would start, even if Murray were healthy.
The path to Brissett as the starter is clear now that Arizona placed Murray on the Injured Reserve with a foot injury. The earliest Murray can return is Week 14.
After this
week, the San Francisco 49ers travel to the desert to face the Cardinals, who will now be led by Brissett. Gannon had said that he liked the way the offense looked under Brissett. They’ve scored at least 23 points in each of the previous three games. Brissett has also connected on an explosive play in each start. The numbers look good on the surface. Brissett threw for 320, 279, and 261 in the previous three games.
However, if you were to ask any defensive coordinator who he’d rather face, the answer would overwhelmingly be Brissett. The big-play threat Murray brings with his scrambling ability is scary enough. Brissett has rushed for 51 yards all season. Murray had at least 32 rushing yards in four of his five starts. When you can add gains of 13, 30, 29, and 12 to the offense, it makes you more dangerous.
And we know how the Niners have fared historically against mobile quarterbacks.
With that said, Kyler has his faults. Some would say warts. He struggles to be accurate over the middle and bails on clean pockets because he’s vertically challenged. Brissett’s completion percentage is nearly three percentage points lower, but his average depth of target is nearly three yards further down the field, which has led to more first downs as well as completions over the intermediate portion of the field.
Based on where the 49ers currently stand in the NFC playoff picture, Week 11 was always going to be a game they needed to have, even if it’s a divisional road game.
