This Byron Murphy interception is absolutely worth a second look

Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.

Troy Aikman has seen a lot of football.

So when the Hall-of-Fame quarterback and “Monday Night Football” analyst calls an interception “one of the best plays I’ve ever seen,” it is worth another look.

This interception from Minnesota Vikings quarterback Byron Murphy is exactly what prompted such a reaction from Aikman during Monday night’s game between the Vikings and the visiting Buffalo Bills. With Josh Allen and the Bills facing a 3rd-and-long situation early in the game, Allen lofted a deep throw in the direction of DJ Moore.

But Murphy had another idea:

To truly appreciate this play, watch this graphic, highlighting the ground Murphy covers just to get the interception. He aligns on the other side of the field, over Keon Coleman, but peels off Coleman when he sees the ball in the air, and steps in front of Moore for the interception:

Then instead of settling for the touchback, he instead returns the interception almost to midfield. According to the “Monday Night Football” broadcast, Murphy traveled 119 yards on this one snap.

Here is another look at the ground Murphy covered on this interception:

So, you can understand why Aikman loved this play.

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