TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins continued his torrid pace to start the 2020 season Sunday against the New York Jets.
Hopkins had 131 yards and a touchdown on six catches for his third game with at least 130 yards among his first five with the Cardinals. The three-time All-Pro didn't have any 130-yard games last season with the Houston Texans.
After Arizona's 30-10 win over the Jets on Sunday, Hopkins credited the playcalling of coach Kliff Kingsbury and the decision-making of quarterback Kyler Murray for his outstanding performances this season.
"Those guys trust me to get me the ball downfield," Hopkins said. "A lot of people look at me as just a possession receiver, I guess. And my abilities and my talent, obviously, today's and other games, show that I'm not just a possession receiver but I'm a downfield threat."
Hopkins has six plays of 20 yards or more this season though five games, compared to 16 in 2019 and 23 in 2018. Against the Jets, Hopkins had plays of 45 and 37, in addition to plays of 15, 13, 11 and 10. His 45-yard catch was along the left sideline on a play in which he had to come back to grab an underthrown pass. And his 37-yard catch was a one-handed touchdown, also down the left sideline.
"I didn't even know if he was going to catch it," Murray said of the 45-yard throw. "He shows you time and time again why he's the best shooter in the league."
Hopkins also became the fourth-youngest receiver (28 years, 127 days) in NFL history to reach 9,000 receiving yards for his career, behind Randy Moss, Calvin Johnson and teammate Larry Fitzgerald.
Hopkins registered 151 yards in his Cardinals debut against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1. He followed that up with 137 yards in a Week 3 loss to the Detroit Lions. His previous game with 130 or more yards was in Week 17 of the 2018 season. He had five games with more than 100 yards last season, but his season-high was 120.
Hopkins leads the NFL with 528 yards on 45 catches. He's the only player with more than 500 yards and more than 40 catches.
"We just hit some throws we didn't hit the week before," Kingsbury said. "I don't think we ever got in a rhythm. Like I said, I did a poor job of getting us started with playcalls and we never got in a rhythm and it was real disjointed and we didn't hit the shots that we did take down the field, and we hit him today.
"Thought guys were aggressive in the way they played on the perimeter and made some of those screens work, and so it was just a better overall effort."
Hopkins, who had 41 yards last week, said Sunday felt different because the Cardinals took more shots downfield.
"It felt a little bit more aggressive," Hopkins said. "Obviously, losing two games back-to-back, we had to come up with some things to get the playmakers the ball and be successful. And Kliff and the guys did a good job of obviously trusting me and Kyler to connect downfield."