#Cardinals’ Hail Mary play was in homage to Aaron Rodgers

The Cardinals’ desperation Hail Mary play with 11 seconds remaining in Sunday’s game against the Bills was actually an Aaron Rodgers-inspired play that went awry.

Head coach Kliff Kingsbury told NFL Network’s Peter Schrager that the intended play call — nicknamed, “Cowboy” after Rodgers’ brilliant pass to Jared Cook in the 2017 NFC divisional round — was for receiver Andy Isabella.

The famous Rodgers-Cook play earned the ESPYs Best Play of 2017.

Isabella was supposed to run out of bounds at 20 yards after making the catch, leaving enough time on the clock for a final play, but signal-caller Kyler Murray opted to throw it to star wideout DeAndre Hopkins instead.

“Kliff told Kyler, ‘Hey, you know what, if Hop[kins] is open, you’ve got the freedom and the green light to do it,” Schrager said Monday on “Good Morning Football.”

Hopkins wasn’t exactly open, but Murray must have had a prescient feeling about the play. The 28-year-old receiver was triple-covered in the end zone by All-Pro defensive backs Tre’Davious White and Micah Hyde, and veteran Jordan Poyer. Hopkins was able to pull down the improbable pass 43 yards away from the line of scrimmage and score the game-winning touchdown for the Cardinals.

“Just to get the pass off was incredible,” Kingsbury said. “[Murray is] running and dodging and ducking. I didn’t think he’d get it off. From my vantage point, I couldn’t see much, but I saw the crowd go crazy. I kept asking our guys, ‘Did he catch it?’”

The incredible catch garnered significant attention around social media and was praised by LeBron James, Eli Manning and Patrick Mahomes.

“Two plus two equals four. Go downfield, throw it up,” Hopkins told reporters. “It was on three people. They were in position. It was just a better catch by I.”

Hopkins added that this is his “number one” catch among his many great catches since entering the league as the Texans’ 2013 first-round pick. The Clemson product is a four-time Pro Bowler and three-time first-team All-Pro. He was shockingly traded to the Cardinals during the offseason after seven seasons in Houston. He has 67 catches on 88 targets for 861 yards and four touchdowns through nine games and is on a 16-game pace for 1,530 receiving yards.