Murray says officials called false starts because claps were 'too abrupt'
Kyler Murray's inexperience was on display at times in Thursday's preseason game, as the Arizona Cardinals' rookie quarterback was twice penalized for false starts in the first quarter of a loss to the Oakland Raiders.
The Heisman Trophy winner signals for the snap by clapping his hands, but according to Murray, officials said he was flagged because his movement was "too abrupt" and "not smooth enough as far as bringing my hands together," as relayed by ESPN's Josh Weinfuss.
Despite the flags, Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury said he doesn't think Murray needs to switch to a verbal cadence.
"I think it's the first time for certain officials to see it, and we've been in contact with the league and had a great conversation on it," Kingsbury said. "We're going to work through that and make sure everybody's on the same page. We want to be on the same page as them and make sure we're doing things that they deem legal."
For context, only eight false-start penalties were called against quarterbacks during the 2018 season, and none were called during the same game, according to ESPN.
FOX Sports rules analyst and ex-NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said he thought the referees were being overly strict in their enforcement of the rule.
There is no prohibition against clapping. You just can’t do anything abrupt to try and draw the defense offside. The action has to be smooth and deliberate. They are calling it very tight on him. I didn’t think what he was doing was abrupt.
— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) August 16, 2019
Murray seemingly agreed, saying he thought his clap was "like any other hard count."
The No. 1 overall pick's struggles extended beyond snapping the ball, as he went 3-for-8 passing for 12 yards plus one run for 4 yards. The young quarterback was also flagged for a delay-of-game penalty and was sacked for a safety.
Murray was far more solid in his preseason debut against the Los Angeles Chargers last week, hitting on 6 of 7 attempts for 44 yards during his lone drive.
While the early returns on the much-hyped partnership between Murray and Kingsbury have been a relative disappointment, the rookie isn't sweating the growing pains.
"I mean, it's football," Murray said. "We didn't look as good as we would've liked to look, but it's the preseason. This is why it's the preseason. It's just tough because we're not playing a whole game, and it's ... I don't wanna say it's not real, but it's not the regular season.
"We're not doing everything we're gonna do. It gets frustrating, but at the same time, it's preseason."