TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Veteran backup Jacoby Brissett was the fill-in for Cardinals franchise quarterback Kyler Murray against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday after Murray's ailing foot kept him out of action.
In an awkward development, Arizona's offense looked better than it has all season.
The Cardinals (2-4) still lost their fourth game in a row, falling to the Colts 31-27, but it was jarring how well the offense functioned with Brissett in the pocket. The 32-year-old completed 27 of 44 passes for 320 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, the best passing output for the Cardinals this year.
It's unclear if Murray will return this week against the Green Bay Packers. But third-year coach Jonathan Gannon was adamant on Monday that Murray remains the starter.
“When he's healthy and ready to play, he'll play,” Gannon said.
Murray was supposed to be the savior for the Cardinals when he was drafted with the No. 1 overall pick in 2019 after winning the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma.
And it's not like he's been a bust. He's a two-time Pro Bowl selection, he led the team to the playoffs in 2021, and he's produced plenty of highlights with his his ability to throw and run.
But in his seventh year with the franchise, frustration is mounting.
Whether it's Murray or Brissett under center against the Packers, the Cardinals are running out of time to turn their season around.
“We’re a good team,” Gannon said. "I know their record is what their record is, and ours is what we are, so I’m not discounting that because our record shows that we’re not a good football team. But I do think the battle is there and we’ll just keep sawing away. We’ll just keep sawing away.”
It was a good Sunday for some of the Cardinals' lesser-known pass catchers, including Zay Jones, Michael Wilson and tight end Elijah Higgins.
Jones had his most productive game for Arizona, catching five passes for 79 yards. He played a bigger role than normal once star receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. left the game in the second quarter after being placed in the concussion protocol.
The Cardinals' defensive front was quiet on Sunday, sacking the Colts' Daniel Jones just once.
That's not what Arizona had in mind during the offseason, when the team poured money into revamping the front seven, bringing in Josh Sweat, Dalvin Tomlinson and Calais Campbell.
Gannon said he thought the pass rushers played fairly well, but that there were breakdowns in the secondary that allowed Jones to make quick throws.
“They made some adjustments, so we've just got to make sure we keep making adjustments,” Gannon said. “You’ve got to affect the passer, that always has to be a core staple of us. We’ve got to make sure to put them in the right spots and winning, and it’s not just the front, it’s the back end as well.”
Brissett. The QB once again showed why he's considered one of the NFL's top backups. If Murray has to miss another game or two, it appears the offense is in good hands.
“The hunger is there, the enthusiasm is still there,” Brissett said. “There’s a lot of football left, and I think the guys understand that. We’re not as far off as it seems.”
Murray. It's hard to be critical of a guy who didn't even play, but Brissett's performance was an eye-opener. Through Murray's first five games this season, the Cardinals' passing offense ranked 30th in the NFL.
Gannon didn't have updates on Harrison (concussion), RB Emari Demercado (ankle) or TE Travis Vokolek (neck/concussion), all of whom were hurt against the Colts.
9 — The Cardinals have lost their last four games by a combined nine points.
The Cardinals host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) and wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (18) walk off the field after the team's loss in an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Arizona Cardinals' Jacoby Brissett throws during the first half of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his main political opponent, Péter Magyar, each called their supporters to the streets of Hungary's capital on Sunday for a show of strength before the two men face off in pivotal elections just four weeks away.
The rival rallies in Budapest, expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people in support of Orbán's nationalist Fidesz party and Magyar's center-right Tisza, are being viewed as a barometer for which side commands more support as the campaign enters its final month.
In power since 2010 and looking for his fifth consecutive election victory, Orbán, 62, faces a more competitive race than at any time in the past two decades as Magyar has shot to prominence and challenged what once seemed to be an unshakeable grip on power by the pro-Russian populist.
As crowds gathered on a bridge over the Danube ahead of the pro-government march that would end with a speech by the prime minister, Orbán supporter Anikó Menyhárt said his appeal could be summed up in three words: “God, homeland, family.”
“Only this government is able to secure these three things for the future,” she said.
In the days ahead of Sunday's events, held on the March 15 national holiday commemorating Hungary's 1848 revolution against the Habsburg Empire, both Orbán and Magyar stressed to their followers the importance of attending. Many observers were watching for which party was able to mobilize more people to its rally, a possible glimpse into how they might perform on April 12.
Magyar's supporters planned their own march through central Budapest later in the day. Tisza has predicted it will be Hungary's “biggest ever political event.”
Hungary's stagnating economy, deteriorating public services and a cost of living crisis — compounded by increasingly salient allegations of government corruption — have helped fuel growing dissatisfaction with Orbán and his autocratic style.
While the long-serving leader has centered his campaign around what he says are the dangers to Hungary posed by the European Union and neighboring Ukraine, Magyar, a 44-year-old lawyer and one-time Fidesz insider who broke with the party in 2024, has focused his message on improving conditions for ordinary Hungarians.
Through relentless campaigning across Hungary's rural countryside, traditionally an Orbán stronghold, Magyar has spread the message that he will restore Hungary's democratic institutions that have eroded under Orbán, and steer the country back toward its Western partners and off its drift toward Moscow.
In a video posted to social media early Sunday, Magyar said his party "would like to give back to every Hungarian what the outgoing government has taken away: our belief in our freedom, and the feeling that our homeland truly belongs to every Hungarian.”
Tisza holds a lead over Fidesz in most independent polling, and in a February survey by pollster Medián published by the news site HVG, Magyar's party was at a 20 percentage point advantage among decided voters.
But the outcome of the election remains far from certain as Fidesz has sought to engage its broad support in many rural areas and leverage its control over public broadcasters and a vast web of loyal media outlets to deliver its message.
Magyar, responding to numerous media reports that Russian intelligence services were seeking to use a disinformation campaign to tilt the election in Orbán's favor, has warned his supporters that manipulated recordings could be used to discredit him or his movement.
Orbán has relied increasingly on an aggressive anti-Ukraine campaign that alleges Kyiv, the EU and Tisza are part of a conspiracy to oust his government and install one that makes decisions more favorable to Ukraine.
The central message of Orbán’s pitch is that a new government would bankrupt Hungary by supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion — something he has refused to do — and send Hungary’s youth to their deaths on the front lines. The campaign has been replete with disinformation, and relied heavily on pictures and videos generated by artificial intelligence.
Further fueling the tension, Hungary's government this week said it will declassify a national security report that Orbán claims will prove Tisza received illegal financing from Ukraine — a claim Magyar has strongly denied.
A supporter of Prime Minister Viktor Orban holds a placard reading "Stop the War" during a march in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
President of the opposition Tisza Party Peter Magyar speaks during a campaign stop in Velence, Hungary, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Zoltan Mathe/MTI via AP)
Supporters of Prime Minister Viktor Orban take part in a march in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Supporters of Prime Minister Viktor Orban take part in a march in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
