Did scoreboard screw Cardinals over vs Eagles on final drive?

The Cardinals lost to the Eagles in Arizona on a missed last-second field goal, but did the scoreboard screw over Kyler Murray and the offense?

Only the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals were interested in providing any NFL drama in the late-afternoon slate of Week 5. With the Cowboys handling the Rams and 49ers blowing out the Panthers, Philly was trying to remain the league’s only undefeated team on the road in Arizona.

After Philadelphia kicked the go-ahead field goal, however, the Cards still had time to drive. Well into Eagles territory, quarterback Kyler Murray took off scrambling close to the line-to-gain and then slid. He was ultimately short of the marker, though, which made his decision to spike the ball on the ensuing down quite fateful.

The Cardinals thus had to settle for a field goal and, as we know by now, they missed the game-tying attempt and lost at home to an NFC foe. But they also might’ve been betrayed by their own stadium.

Eagles scoreboard might have screwed Cardinals over leading to missed FG

According to Eagles beat writer Jimmy Kempski, the scoreboard at State Farm Stadium read first-and-10 after Murray’s slide when it should’ve read third-and-1, thus potentially leading to the quarterback spiking it on the following play to stop the clock, thinking he and Arizona had a fresh set of downs.

For what it’s worth, though, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said after the game that Philadelphia was aware that it was third down on that play, despite the potential scoreboard mishap.

We don’t know for sure if that’s why the bizarre sequence of events leading to the missed field goal transpired, but it would make a lot of sense if that was the case.

At the same time, though, Murray sliding short of the marker was a boneheaded move in itself. He has to know where he needs to get to and coming up shy is inexcusable. And then not being aware of the markers on the field rather than just possibly looking at the scoreboard only makes that worse.

This was going to be a tough loss to swallow for Arizona regardless. But all of these factors only make it worse.