By the Numbers: Cardinals hope Hopkins' return will help snap home losing streak
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The Arizona Cardinals will have DeAndre Hopkins in the lineup for the first time this season as they host the New Orleans Saints on Thursday Night Football. The team will be hoping the presence of its star wide receiver will help snap an eight-game home losing streak.
Watch the Cardinals face the Saints on Thursday Night Football LIVE at 8:15 p.m. ET/5:15 p.m. PT on TSN1 and streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App.
This is the franchise’s second-longest home streak since 1940 and they currently sit last in the NFC West at 2-4.
Hopkins missed the first six games of the 2022 campaign due to a PED suspension and he missed the final five games of 2021, including the playoffs, with a torn MCL. The Cardinals are 3-8 in the last 11 games without the five-time Pro Bowler.
Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray’s numbers have taken a hit without his top receiver. Arizona ranks 28th in the NFL in red zone touchdown percentage during Hopkins’ 11-game absence. At -18.2 per cent, Murray has the second-worst completion percentage above expected in the red zone in that span.
Murray has struggled targeting his wide receivers this season, averaging the second fewest yards per attempt in the NFL. Murray’s QB rating jumps 20 points and he averages nearly two yards more per attempt (5.8 to 7.7) when Hopkins is in the lineup. The Cardinals also added reinforcements this week at the wide receiver position, acquiring Robbie Anderson from the Carolina Panthers.
Murray will also be looking for his first win on a Thursday night, as he is 0-3 in his career with each loss coming by seven or fewer points. The Cardinals’ last appearance on Thursday Night Football came in Week 8 in 2021, a 24-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
If he records a second consecutive 100-yard rush game, Murray will join Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen as the only QBs to do that in the past 20 seasons.
Tonight’s matchup features two of the highest-scoring teams in the fourth quarter. The Saints have scored 60 points in the fourth quarter this season, second most in the NFL, while the Cardinals have the third-best mark in the league with 56 in the final quarter.
Historically, the Saints are 3-1 against the Cardinals the past 10 seasons, with New Orleans winning by an average of 10.3 points. Their lone loss came in Arizona in 2015.
Saints running back Alvin Kamara has gone five straight games without a TD, the second-longest streak of his career. New Orleans is 2-4, third place in the NFC South, and coming off a 30-26 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.