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Kyler Murray: 2023 Cardinals '1 of my favorite teams to be a part of'

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Kyler Murray: 2023 Cardinals '1 of my favorite teams to be a part of'


GLENDALE — There were quite a few firsts for the Arizona Cardinals throughout Sunday’s tilt against the Seattle Seahawks.

Running back James Conner reached the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his seven-year career.

Head coach Jonathan Gannon threw his first challenge flag of the season (and won).

Unfortunately for JG and Co., the big first the team was hoping to accomplish this week didn’t come to fruition as the Cardinals were unable to pick up their first divisional victory of the season in a 21-20 loss to the Seahawks.

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In six NFC West tilts, the Cardinals were on the wrong side of the scoreboard in all of them.

Sunday’s matchup especially stings given how close the Cardinals were to getting the W, only to end up on the losing side of things on a missed Matt Prater field goal as time expired.

But while the result handed Arizona its 13th defeat of the year, the feeling inside the interview room was anything but doom and gloom.

Instead, optimism was bursting at the seams, especially when franchise quarterback Kyler Murray was at the podium.

“Personally, the last two weeks I felt like there wasn’t really nothing that they could do to stop us,” Murray said postgame. “I don’t want to lose, nobody in there wants to lose. Felt like we should have won that game, but at the end of the day, there’s a lot to look forward to. I’m excited about it, I know the guys are excited about it. I trust and believe in Monti (Ossenfort) and JG and what they got going and what they’re building here. Complete 180 and I’m happy for the position that we’re in.”

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“It’s refreshing just to have guys upstairs believe in it, they really speak to it and hold everybody accountable,” the QB added. “It trickles down, it starts at the top. I think every great organization, business understands it starts at the top and the guys really believe in what they’re preaching. I’m very confident in what we got going.”

Murray’s abbreviated season off a torn ACL comes to a close with the QB sporting a 3-5 mark as Arizona’s starter. He took clear steps forward in coordinator Drew Petzing’s offense, throwing for 1,799 yards and 10 touchdowns to five interceptions on 65.6% passing. He also added 244 yards and three scores on 44 carries.

But above all else, he’s got leaders of the franchise he unequivocally trusts moving forward on top of seeing the clear path ahead to success, something that clearly wasn’t always the case with the previous regime.

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And while he’s been to the NFL playoffs and took the field in some of the biggest high school and college games there are, the 2023 Cardinals have a special place in his heart regardless of the .235 winning percentage.

“There was a lot of adversity, lot of ups and downs, but this team is one of my favorite teams to ever be a part of,” Murray said postgame. “Never any complaining, never any pointing fingers or anything like that, never turned on each other. Kept showing up to work every single day fighting for each other and going hard. Then on Sundays, we left it all out there.”

“They’re ready to come with me”

Gannon has remained “where his feet are” throughout Year 1 as the Cardinals’ head coach.

You’ll rarely catch him living in the past or looking ahead to the future.

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On Sunday, however, Gannon peeled back the curtain just a bit on what potentially lies ahead for the franchise.

“I’m proud of those guys,” Gannon said postgame. “They fought all year and went through a lot of adversity. Good things are on the horizon. I told them I’ve never been more enthused going into an offseason in my entire life. They’re ready to come with me.”

“I know what this team can be, a competitive, smart, tough team that’s playing meaningful games right now,” the head coach added. “We laid the standard out, the coaches coached it every day and they took to it. The record isn’t what we want it to be and that falls on me, but the team-first mentality never wavered and I feel really good about moving forward.”

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Ex-Utah running back Mike Mitchell commits to Arizona

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Ex-Utah running back Mike Mitchell commits to Arizona


In producing one of the top rushing offenses in the country this past season, Seth Doege relied on several ball carriers to churn out more than 200 yards per game at Marshall. That looks to be the plan at Arizona as well, as the Wildcats have added a second running back from the NCAA transfer porttal since hiring Doege as offensive coordinator last month.

The UA has earned a commitment from former Utah rusher Mike Mitchell, who will have three seasons of eligibility remaining. He joins ex-Texas State running back Ismail Mahdi in a backfield that also includes returners Kedrick Reescano and Kayden Luke and incoming freshman Wesley Yarbrough.

The 6-foot, 211-pound Mitchell played in 10 games this past season for the Utes, rushing for 158 yards and a touchdown on 47 carries as a redshirt freshman. He had three carries for two yards against Arizona in September.

Mitchell was a 3-star prospect from Florida in the 2023 recruiting class, picking Utah over Florida State, Louisville and Washington State, among others.

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He is Arizona’s 18th transfer pickup this offseason, 11th on offense and second running back. The Wildcats have also landed four offensive linemen, three receivers, a tight end and a quarterback.



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Corbin Burnes finds Arizona oasis: Contract details, fantasy impact on Cy Young candidate

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Corbin Burnes finds Arizona oasis: Contract details, fantasy impact on Cy Young candidate


Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

The Diamondbacks leap out of shadows on Friday evening to reportedly sign ace Corbin Burnes to a six-year, $210 million contract, which includes an opt out following the 2026 season, after the Giants and Blue Jays seemingly balked at his contractual demands. The 30-year-old right-hander fills an obvious need for Arizona’s reeling pitching staff following a half-decade run as one of the most durable aces in baseball, recording a sparkling 2.88 ERA (3.01 FIP), 1.02 WHIP and 29 percent strikeout rate across 816 2/3 innings (134 starts) between the Brewers and Orioles since the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. Let’s take a deeper dive into how Burnes impacts Arizona’s rotation mix and his immediate fantasy outlook at Chase Field.

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How does Corbin Burnes’ arrival impact Arizona’s starting rotation?

Burnes provides Arizona’s starting rotation mix with a certifiable front-of-the-rotation ace after the club’s pitching staff allowed the fifth-most runs (4.86 per-game) last season and got just 72 starts combined between their veteran quartet comprised of Zac Gallen, Jordan Montgomery, Eduardo Rodriguez and Merrill Kelly. According to multiple reports, the Diamondbacks are looking to move on from Montgomery, who struggled to a calamitous 6.23 ERA across 117 innings (25 appearances, 21 starts) last year in his Arizona debut, and seems like the most obvious trade candidate prior to spring training. The club also jettisoned some of its pitching depth earlier this month when it shipped former prospect Slade Cecconi to Cleveland as the centerpiece of the Josh Naylor trade. It goes without saying that Burnes’ arrival will make a significant impact for the Diamondbacks given his track record as a durable innings-eater to pair with former top prospect Brandon Pfaadt, who made a career-high 32 starts this past season.

Even with Montgomery potentially being subtracted from the picture, that doesn’t exactly leave a rotation spot for talented youngsters like Ryne Nelson, who posted a serviceable 4.24 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 126/34 K/BB ratio across 150 2/3 innings (28 appearances, 25 starts) last year during a mini-breakthrough season or Yilber Diaz, who showed some flashes in seven appearances (four starts) last year at the highest level. Nelson is most likely ticketed for a versatile swingman-type role but could still wind up making plenty of starts given the health question marks swirling around Gallen, Kelly and Rodriguez. He’s a name to monitor in deeper mixed leagues as he’s currently being selected just inside the top 400 picks (389th overall), on average, in early NFBC drafts.

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How much does Chase Field alter Corbin Burnes’ fantasy outlook?

Here’s a slight oversimplification: Burnes is unlikely to be significantly impacted by the move to Chase Field, which ranks sixth out of 30 ballparks in Baseball Savant’s park factors over the last three years. It’s undoubtedly a more hitter-friendly offensive environment than the “Walltimore” era of Camden Yards that Burnes operated in last year, but it’s not like Milwaukee’s American Family Field was a pitcher’s paradise earlier in his career. Burnes won’t be completely immune to the high-octane offensive settings that come with the move to the NL West, but he’s done an excellent job in limiting hard contact (including home runs) over the past half-decade, which mitigates some of the immediate risk. Burnes remains a certifiable fantasy ace heading into the 2025 campaign, even if we bake in some slight pullback from a run-prevention standpoint.

The bigger concern from a long-term standpoint is whether he’ll wind up reversing a linear four-year decline in the strikeout department with the move to Arizona. After topping out at a whopping 36.7 percent during the shortened 2020 campaign, Burnes’ strikeout rate continued dipping to a league-average 23 percent mark during his lone season in Baltimore. A quick peek under the hood reveals that he’s generating fewer whiffs these days on his cutter and curveball than previous years, but it’s not exactly a cause for alarm since his previously elite control remains firmly intact. There’s also the possibility that Burnes actually fixed his cutter during the late stages of last year by adding a couple inches of additional horizontal break to the offering, which led to a surge in whiffs. There isn’t a huge margin for error here with Burnes moving forward, especially if his control starts to move in the wrong direction and he starts giving up more hard contact, but his continually declining strikeout rate isn’t a cause for total alarm just yet. It’s possible last September’s results weren’t a late-season mirage and he actually fixed his cutter. We’ll see.

Volume matters, especially from a fantasy standpoint, which is why Burnes’ extensive track record as a durable fantasy ace keeps him as an early-round selection in all fantasy formats, even as he starts to show some early warning signs of decline. The veteran stalwart is currently being selected in the third round (35th overall), on average, in early NFBC drafts and he’ll most likely wind up going off the board next spring as a borderline top seven starting pitcher in all fantasy formats in the same range as Logan Gilbert, Garrett Crochet, Chris Sale, George Kirby and Jacob deGrom.

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Arizona Lottery Mega Millions, Pick 3 results for Dec. 27, 2024

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Arizona Lottery Mega Millions, Pick 3 results for Dec. 27, 2024


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The Arizona Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Arizona offers Powerball, Mega Millions, The Pick, Triple Twist, Fantasy 5 and Pick 3 as well as Scratchers, Quick Draw and Fast Play.

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Lottery players have seen enormous jackpots recently, with previous winners of both the Powerball and Mega Millions breaking into the top 10 largest jackpots in U.S. lottery history. Money raised from Arizona lottery games goes toward funding higher education, health and human services, environmental conservation and economic and business development in the state.

Mega Millions

03-07-37-49-55, Mega Ball: 06, Megaplier: 3

Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.

Pick 3

4-7-6

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

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Fantasy 5

11-14-28-38-41

Check Fantasy 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Triple Twist

06-08-15-24-33-37

Check Triple Twist payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news and results

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Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

All Arizona Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $100 and may redeem winnings up to $599. For prizes over $599, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at Arizona Lottery offices. By mail, send a winner claim form, winning lottery ticket and a copy of a government-issued ID to P.O. Box 2913, Phoenix, AZ 85062.

To submit in person, sign the back of your ticket, fill out a winner claim form and deliver the form, along with the ticket and government-issued ID to any of these locations:

Phoenix Arizona Lottery Office: 4740 E. University Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85034, 480-921-4400. Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, closed holidays. This office can cash prizes of any amount.

Tucson Arizona Lottery Office: 2955 E. Grant Road, Tucson, AZ 85716, 520-628-5107. Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, closed holidays. This office can cash prizes of any amount.

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Phoenix Sky Harbor Lottery Office: Terminal 4 Baggage Claim, 3400 E. Sky Harbor Blvd., Phoenix, AZ 85034, 480-921-4424. Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Sunday, closed holidays. This office can cash prizes up to $49,999.

Kingman Arizona Lottery Office: Inside Walmart, 3396 Stockton Hill Road, Kingman, AZ 86409, 928-753-8808. Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, closed holidays. This office can cash prizes up to $49,999.

Check previous winning numbers and payouts at https://www.arizonalottery.com/.

Winning lottery numbers are sponsored by Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network.

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Where can you buy Arizona lottery tickets?

Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets.

You can also order tickets online through Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network, in these U.S. states and territories: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Texas, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia. The Jackpocket app allows you to pick your lottery game and numbers, place your order, see your ticket and collect your winnings all using your phone or home computer.

Jackpocket is the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network. Gannett may earn revenue for audience referrals to Jackpocket services. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). 18+ (19+ in NE, 21+ in AZ). Physically present where Jackpocket operates. Jackpocket is not affiliated with any State Lottery. Eligibility Restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. Terms: jackpocket.com/tos.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by an Arizona Republic editor. You can send feedback using this form.



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