Teammate comments on ‘weird’ video showing fan hitting Kyler Murray
Cardinals defensive back Byron Murphy Jr. said Tuesday he’s glad he didn’t witness teammate Kyler Murray get struck in the face during the postgame celebration Sunday at Allegiant Stadium because the situation might have escalated.
“I’m glad I wasn’t right there because I don’t know what I would have done,” said Murphy, who clinched Arizona’s 29-23 overtime win over the Raiders by returning Hunter Renfrow’s fumble 59 yards for a touchdown. “That’s my quarterback, and I’m going to protect anybody on my team.”
The comments were made during an appearance on “The Jim Rome Show.”
Las Vegas police are investigating an incident in which a fan struck a player, though Metropolitan Police Department policy doesn’t allow it to identify specific victims of such alleged attacks.
Video shows Murray celebrating with fans who were standing inside the Wynn Field Club, which is just beyond the back of the north end zone. Only a 4-foot wall separates the club area from the field of play.
As Murray, the Cardinals’ star quarterback, exuberantly celebrated with the fans, an open hand can be seen coming straight down on his face.
Murray quickly turned and tried to confront whom he thought was responsible, but he appeared to be targeting his anger at a different spectator.
Teammates quickly restrained him, and the situation de-escalated.
Looking at the video, it kind of was weird,” Murphy said Tuesday. “I don’t know why he would do something like that. We obviously don’t know the reasoning behind it. I don’t know if he was trying to hit his shoulder pads or what he was trying to do, but obviously he hit him right in the face. So to that guy, it wasn’t a good look for him. But that’s the type of thing we can’t really control. We’re definitely looking at the video still to this day.”
Metro said a report was filed and is being investigated, though it doesn’t know the identity of the suspect.
Murray has not publicly commented on the incident, and a request for comment from the Cardinals has not been answered.
A Raiders official said the organization is aware of the situation and has been cooperating with the investigation.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.
