Arizona's Jacoby Brissett earns another start at QB after stellar play; Murray's status unclear

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Jacoby Brissett's excellent quarterback play has given the Arizona Cardinals' season new life.

The veteran backup will get at least one more week to keep it going.

Coach Jonathan Gannon said Tuesday that Brissett will start against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday while franchise quarterback Kyler Murray continues to recover from a foot injury. Gannon didn't rule Murray out for the Seahawks game, but said announcing a starter gives the team some clarity during preparation.

“Jacoby will start and Kyler will keep working on his health,” Gannon said. “I do like what the offense is doing right now. We've operated well.”

Brissett had a third straight good performance in Murray's place on Monday night against the Dallas Cowboys, throwing for 261 yards and two touchdowns in an impressive 27-17 win that snapped a five-game losing streak.

Brissett's excellence under center — combined with Murray's lackluster play over the first five games — has created a bit of a quarterback controversy in the desert.

The Cardinals (3-5) are still harboring hopes for a run to the playoffs, and it sure looks as if Brissett would give them the best chance to make it happen.

Brissett brushed aside a question on Monday night asking if he should be the full-time starter, saying he doesn't “get into that stuff" and just wants to perform well when called upon.

“The good teams in this league find ways to continue to get better," Brissett added. "That is what we are doing at this point in the season, just trying to find ways to get better. You tweak things, you go back to your drawing board.”

The 32-year-old has completed 65.2% of his passes for 860 yards, six touchdowns and one interception over three games. He's rapidly gaining chemistry with the team's top receivers: Marvin Harrison Jr. caught a career-high seven passes for 96 yards and a touchdown against the Cowboys.

The Brissett-to-Harrison success helped blunt some sharp criticism levied by Harrison's dad, Marvin Harrison Sr.

The Pro Football Hall of Famer was critical of Arizona's offense in comments to ESPN in an article published on Monday before the game.

“Everyone has their own opinions,” Harrison Jr. said after his breakout performance. “That’s how he feels, not how I feel. I trust in all the guys. I know everyone works really hard.”

No matter what happens with the quarterback situation over the next few weeks, Murray's long-term future with the franchise appears tenuous. The two-time Pro Bowl selection — who hasn't spoken with reporters since his injury on Oct. 5 — is in the middle of a $230.5 million, five-year deal that runs through 2027 with a team option for 2028.

“He wants to be out there, he's a competitor,” Gannon said. “I've talked to him today. He's a good teammate and working to get healthy.”

The team's defense had a great all-around game against Dallas, signaling that the defense is improving during a vital part of the season. Veterans Josh Sweat and Calais Campbell have a combined 12 sacks through eight games while rookie Walter Nolen III added a sack in his NFL debut on Monday after missing the first seven games with a calf injury.

Arizona’s passing game was fairly lopsided through the first several games, with tight end Trey McBride and Harrison receiving almost all of the targets. That's changed a little in recent weeks with Brissett under center. Zay Jones, Michael Wilson and Elijah Higgins are getting more looks.

RB Emari Demercado earned a bit of redemption on Monday night, running for 79 yards on 14 carries to lead the Cardinals' rushing offense. It's been roughly a month since Demercado had a costly blunder, dropping the football before crossing the goal line on a potential 72-yard touchdown run in a loss against the Titans. Demercado figures to be an important player moving forward with the team's top two running backs — James Conner (foot) and Trey Benson (knee) — out with injuries.

Murray's fall from franchise quarterback to potential backup has been stunning to watch over the past month. The No. 1 overall pick in 2019 threw for 962 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions over the first five games.

CB Max Melton is in concussion protocol and LB Mack Wilson Sr. (ribs) left the Cowboys game late. LB BJ Ojulari (knee) is getting closer to his return after missing more than one full season. Conner is out for the season but Benson could return in the coming weeks, which would help in the backfield.

15-27 — That's the record for Gannon midway through his third season with the Cardinals. Monday night's win against the Cowboys was a stabilizing moment after a frustrating five-game losing streak. A strong finish might be needed for this coaching staff to earn a fourth year in charge.

The Cardinals are on the road against the Seahawks on Sunday. After that, three of the next four games are at home, including two games against NFC West opponents.

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Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon responds to a question during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Jessica Tobias)

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray walks on the field during warmups before an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Jessica Tobias)

Arizona Cardinals' Jacoby Brissett (7) greets fans as he walks off the field following an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard Rodriguez)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up one of the term's most consequential cases, President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens. Trump plans to be in attendance.

In arguments Wednesday, the justices will hear Trump’s appeal of a lower-court ruling from New Hampshire that struck down the citizenship restrictions, one of several courts that have blocked them. They have not taken effect anywhere in the country.

A definitive ruling is expected by early summer.

Trump will be the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the nation’s highest court.

The case frames another test of his assertions of executive power that defy long-standing precedent for a court that has largely ruled in the president's favor, but with some notable exceptions that Trump has responded to with starkly personal criticisms of the justices.

The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed the first day of his second term, is part of his Republican administration’s broad immigration crackdown.

Birthright citizenship is the first Trump immigration-related policy to reach the court for a final ruling. The justices previously struck down global tariffs Trump had imposed under an emergency powers law that had never been used that way.

Trump reacted furiously to the late February tariffs' decision, saying he was ashamed of the justices who ruled against him and calling them unpatriotic.

He issued a preemptive broadside against the court on Sunday on his Truth Social. “Birthright Citizenship is not about rich people from China, and the rest of the World, who want their children, and hundreds of thousands more, FOR PAY, to ridiculously become citizens of the United States of America. It is about the BABIES OF SLAVES!,” the president wrote. “Dumb Judges and Justices will not a great Country make!”

Trump's order would upend the longstanding view that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, and federal law since 1940 confer citizenship on everyone born on American soil, with narrow exceptions for the children of foreign diplomats and those born to a foreign occupying force.

The 14th Amendment was intended to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had citizenship, though the Citizenship Clause is written more broadly. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” it reads.

In a series of decisions, lower courts have struck down the executive order as illegal, or likely so, under the Constitution and federal law. The decisions have invoked the high court's 1898 ruling in Wong Kim Ark, which held that the U.S.-born child of Chinese nationals was a citizen.

The administration argues that the common view of citizenship is wrong, asserting that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore not entitled to citizenship.

The court should use the case to set straight “long-enduring misconceptions about the Constitution’s meaning,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote.

No court has accepted that argument, and lawyers for pregnant women whose children would be affected by the order said the Supreme Court should not be the first to do so.

“We have the president of the United States trying to radically reinterpret the definition of American citizenship,” said Cecillia Wang, the American Civil Liberties Union legal director who is facing off against Sauer at the Supreme Court.

More than one-quarter of a million babies born in the U.S. each year would be affected by the executive order, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University’s Population Research Institute.

While Trump has largely focused on illegal immigration in his rhetoric and actions, the birthright restrictions also would apply to people who are legally in the United States, including students and applicants for green cards, or permanent resident status.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen as the moon rises Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)