From Punching Bag to Knockout Punch, Vikings Corner Responds at Perfect Time
For a little while, Byron Murphy Jr. was having a tough day at the office.
The Packers were very clearly targeting the Vikings corner. Shifty and versatile, Murphy can commonly hang with receivers but sometimes struggles to finish off the play. Indeed, he’s usually within the vicinity of his man but can sometimes struggle to impede the completion from occurring. While that ended up being true of Sunday’s game, Murphy bounced back with two major turnovers late in the game.
Vikings Corner Responded with Pair of Key Turnovers
Kevin O’Connell praised his versatile defensive back.
“Gave him a game ball,” O’Connell noted, “I’ve always looked at Murph as, he’s got that kind of closer’s mentality. He’s tough, physical, smart, loves football. Great scheme fit for us; plays a variety of different spots. The smarts come into play, knowing the call, knowing the possibility that that ball is going to come out one way or the other. Staying visual to be able to track it, finish it.”
O’Connell continued to praise the forced fumble: “You’re talking about the physicality of a punch out. We’ve worked a lot on ball security, we’ve worked a lot on our defense taking the football away.”
By that point in the game, Green Bay was essentially moving the ball at will. Brian Flores’ defense was struggling to keep explosive plays off of the field. Jordan Love did essentially nothing in the opening half, but he still finished his day having gone 32/54 for 389 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. The vast majority of that damage occurred in the second half.
Even worse, the Packers were completing passes to all kinds of players. Jayden Reed led the way, turning 8 targets into 7 receptions for 139 yards and a score. But, to be sure, he wasn’t alone. Seven other Packers caught passes, making it difficult to know who was going to get the ball on any given play in the second half.
Part of what made the comeback so notable rests in how regularly Green Bay opted to go after Mr. Murphy. Per PFF, the boundary/slot corner was targeted a whopping 15 times. In 12 instances, the Packers completed their pass into his coverage.
The same website suggests that Byron Murphy allowed 143 yards into his coverage — the next closest Viking was Camryn Bynum at 77 yards and then Harrison Smith at 58 yards — and a touchdown. Even worse, PFF suggests that the defender missed four tackles.
When it really mattered, though, the critical plays were there. His interception showed off some great athleticism:
And then the punch to knock the ball out of Tucker Kraft’s hands. Keep in mind that we’re talking about players with a huge size discrepancy. The GB TE stands at 6’5″ and weighs 259 pounds. Meanwhile, Byron Murphy is coming in at 5’11” and 190 pounds. So, the punch came against someone in a different weight class but Murphy still got the job done.
Brian Baldinger did a breakdown on Murphy. Baldinger says that Murphy gets Kraft “right in his periscope” before “bam, punches that ball out.” The short video clip finishes off by suggesting that the Flores defense has been taking turns producing stars and the Week 4 iteration of the defense owes a lot of its success to Murphy’s standout play at the end.
Currently, Byron Murphy is operating on the final year of his contract in Minnesota. He’s carrying a cap charge of $10,911,765 in the 2024 season. If there’s no extension — Murphy has commonly been found in the Vikings’ extension talks — then there will be a $4,200,000 dead money hit next season.
Across his four starts, Murphy is sitting on 24 tackles, 1 interception, 3 passes defended, and 1 forced fumble. There has also been a tackle for loss.
The corner will turn 27 on January 18th.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.