NFC Notes: Kyler Murray, Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks, Geno Smith

Cardinals

Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury spoke at length about his confidence in backup QB Colt McCoy, who will likely start for the remainder of the season now that QB Kyler Murray won’t be returning.

“[Monday] he had some tough breaks,” Kingsbury said in his press conference, via Pro Football Talk. “I think with a week of preparation [where] he gets the reps and he’s really confident that’s when he’s played at a high level. It’s not easy to come in on the third play of the game and then try to execute like that, but I thought he gave us a chance. We just weren’t able to make some plays there and in some critical situations.”

“Whether it’s DBs or linemen or linebackers, he can talk football as well with different position groups as anybody I’ve ever seen,” Kingsbury added. “The respect level they have for him is through the roof and he puts in the work. He’s a brilliant football mind, and then he is really good when he gets a chance to play. The ball goes to the right spot [and] it goes out on time. He’s earned that right to play in this league as long as he can really operate and stay healthy, but a lot of it I think has to do with just his understanding. He could be a coach if he wanted to right now. He’d probably take my job easily. He has that type of knowledge and that type of command in the locker room.”

• Kingsbury added that Murray will have surgery to repair his ACL after Christmas. (Darren Urban)

Rams

• Rams HC Sean McVay said it’d be “hard-pressed” for WR Cooper Kupp (ankle) to play again this season. (Sarah Barshop)
• McVay said QB John Wolford (neck) will likely miss Week 15. (Andrew Siciliano)

• Field Yates reports that new Rams DT Larrell Murchison also had waiver claims put in on him by the Lions and Seahawks.

Seahawks

Seahawks QB Geno Smith feels that he needs to scale things back following the team’s loss to the Carolina Panthers.

“I think I have been too aggressive as of late,” Smith said, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “So I have to get back to what I was doing early on, which was taking what they give me and allowing us to have a complementary football team where we all play together and not feel like we are just trying to push the envelope or trying to push our limits to see what we can do. We know what we can do, but we have to stay on schedule.”