TEMPE, Ariz. -- When the story of the Arizona Cardinals' three-game losing streak is written, a prominent chapter will be quarterback Kyler Murray's struggles against pressure.
There is not a singular reason for Arizona's slide, which in the last month has fallen from the top of the NFC West after two losses to the Seattle Seahawks and a loss to the Minnesota Vikings. But after being in another stratosphere against pressure in the first 10 weeks of the season, Murray's fall back to Earth has been one of the primary factors.
Since the start of Arizona's losing streak in Week 12, Murray's completion percentage, yards per attempt and touchdown-to-interception ratio all dropped against pressure significantly from the first 10 games.
Through Week 10, when Arizona was 6-4, Murray completed 61% of his passes, averaged 6.0 yards per attempt and threw four touchdowns to no interceptions while facing pressure, according to ESPN Research. After the team's bye in Week 11, however, Murray has completed just 39% of his passes, averaged 3.7 yards per attempt and thrown one touchdown to three interceptions against pressure in the past three games.
"I think it's inconsistency," Murray said. "I think in the Vikings game we moved the ball well. I thought I was playing really well. Obviously, the numbers said I got two picks and then this week [against the Seahawks], besides the two picks, I felt like we moved the ball well after that.
"I think we had two three-and-outs that were kind of timely and crucial. I don't really know the numbers. I'm just trying to go out there, execute and play better which has to be done. We want to win."
Murray's QBR under pressure was 85 through Week 10, which was the best in the NFL. By comparison, the league average QBR under pressure is 30, according to ESPN Research.
In contrast, Murray's QBR under pressure the past three weeks has been 10.
Murray said nothing has changed in his approach to facing pressure this season. However, offensive coordinator Drew Petzing called pressured snaps "high-variance reps." When Murray hits on them, Petzing said, it tends to lead to big, explosive plays. When he doesn't, the result can look like the past three weeks.
Murray has been pressured on 28.5% of his dropbacks this season, ranking 13th in the NFL. That number was slightly lower through Week 10 -- 26.8% -- but in the past three games, teams have pressured Murray on nearly one-third of his snaps (32.6%).
Even though the opportunity to make a big play against the pressure is there, Murray may not have his feet set right to make the throw because more players are around him than normal, Petzing said.
"You might be throwing with a little more anticipation than you necessarily want to," Petzing said. "I think probably some of it is, 'Hey, when you hit it, you're looking really good because the variance is really high, but when you don't, you're going to hit the average over time.'
"But I don't think it's anything necessarily systematic that he's doing, what we're doing is responsible for that difference."
The pressure, Petzing said, can look different on a play-to-play basis.
If a team goes Cover 0, the blitz will have more defenders than offensive players to block them. A team could rush four and if one defender wins his matchup, Murray would be under pressure again. And sometimes Petzing calls a play that requires Murray to hold onto the ball until defenders start closing in on him before he throws.
Coach Jonathan Gannon said the pressure on Murray looks different every week.
Three weeks ago, the Seahawks pressured Murray on 39.5% of his dropbacks. A week later, the Vikings followed suit, pressuring Murray 34% of the time. However, on Sunday, Seattle changed its plan, pressuring Murray on 23.8% of his dropbacks -- and still won 30-18.
After that game, Gannon said there'll be "a lot of corrections" on how Arizona handles pressure. However, this week, Gannon said he won't say what tweaks were made.
"When people pressure," Gannon said, "you have to make them pay."