TEMPE, Ariz. -- The education of Kyler Murray continued Sunday, under the pouring rain, a train ride away from New York City.
The Arizona Cardinals' rookie quarterback took off to his right after a third-and-10 play with 2:20 left against the New York Giants. He scrambled wide and stepped out of bounds at the Giants 17, unwisely stopping the clock with 2:13 left. The Cardinals kicked a field goal to go up 27-21, but his decision to step out of bounds essentially gave the Giants an extra timeout.
Fortunately for Murray, the Giants couldn't muster a comeback.
"That was my fault," Murray said afterward. "That was terrible. That was bad by me but we'll be better next week."
Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury took the blame for Murray's mental lapse, however. Kingsbury said he should have told Murray not to step out and called the play a bad call on his part.
It was another lesson in a season full of them for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, even as he's recently shown maturity and advanced understanding of the game, especially for a rookie.
Sunday wasn't a setback for the 22-year-old. It was just a reminder that he is still figuring some things out, whether that's not running out of bounds when he needs to kill some clock or not taking a long sack when he can just throw it away.
Overall, Murray's growth is trending upward, especially when it comes to his ability to check plays at the line of scrimmage. His freedom to do so has become an integral part of the Cardinals' offense, which backup quarterback Brett Hundley described as open and free-flowing. Most plays have run and pass options for Murray but it usually comes down to him deciding which play to run, an unusual ability for a young quarterback.
"I would say it's rare for a rookie quarterback in the NFL, but coming from where he was at, Texas A&M and then Oklahoma, where they give him that freedom, there's a comfort level that he's had with that," Kingsbury said. "Coming from similar systems and having that attacking mindset, if you see a better play, get us into it. He's been comfortable from Day 1."
Murray isn't making wholesale changes. He's mostly opting for the run- or pass-option in the play -- the opposite of what was called. There are times when Murray doesn't even let the offensive line know he's not handing the ball off. He just pulls it back and passes while the line continues to block like it's a run.
"Most of our plays have some built-in flexibility, but if he saw something and wanted to take it to a completely different play, he could do that," Kingsbury said. "I just want a good reason and have it be something that we discussed during the week."
Murray doesn't walk up to the line of scrimmage thinking he's going to change the play or the option. If something the defense is doing -- how they're lining up, how they're shifting -- stands out to him, Murray can adjust. All it takes is a code word for the offensive line to know there's a change in protection and a hand signal for the receivers to know either the ball is coming to them or to change their route.
"If it needs to be done, it needs to be done," Murray said. "But I wouldn't say I'm up there check-happy or anything like that. For the most part, I trust what he's calling. If I see something, I'll attack it, but other than that, if he calls it, I'm pretty confident in it."
It doesn't always work, but Kingsbury said that's part of the growing pains of giving a rookie quarterback so much freedom at the line of scrimmage. He just wants Murray to learn from his mistakes.
"I'd rather him be aggressive in that way than be timid in trying to attack," Kingsbury said.
Murray's teammates have been impressed thus far. Veteran guard J.R. Sweezy, who's blocked for Seattle's Russell Wilson and Tampa Bay's Jameis Winston, called it "very rare" to see a quarterback doing what Murray is doing at this point in his career.
"He's really owning it all now and digging in deeper and you can tell by the way we're checking," Sweezy said. "He's putting us in the right spots and it's starting to click and he's doing a great job."
Center A.Q. Shipley can see Murray's growth weekly, especially in how he digests the playbook and installations.
"That's all on him from Monday through Sunday to kind of figure it out, and he's done a heck of a job with it," Shipley said.
As good as Murray has been so far at making quick decisions at the line of scrimmage, he's just going to get better in the second half of the season when the game will start to slow down and the offense will get through its early-season road bumps.
"He sees everything," Cardinals tight end Charles Clay said. "He's smart. You can watch him while everybody gets lined up surveying the defense. He's poised. He knows the playbook like the back of his hand so he can get us into those situations like that.
"He's calm no matter what the situation is, whether it's fourth down or first down, no matter what it is, he's real poised. It's calming for all the other guys in huddle to know that your quarterback, as a rookie, he doesn't act like a rookie. He's competitive as hell. You like to go out there and play with a guy like that."