Kyler Murray has never lost at the home of the Cowboys, where his Cardinals visit on a 5-game skid

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kyler Murray is coming home for his expected return from a two-game injury absence as the Arizona Cardinals visit the Dallas Cowboys.

The venue is as close to a sure thing as possible, with the former Dallas-area high school and Oklahoma quarterback going into Monday night’s game trying to end his team’s five-game losing streak.

Murray is 9-0 at AT&T Stadium, which was first his schoolboy championship venue before it was the place he won a Big 12 title with the Sooners, and now has two victories as the 2019 No. 1 overall pick leading the Cardinals (2-5).

“Hopefully it means he’s due to lose one. Kyler, if you want to help,” said Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer, who tries to have fun by talking directly to people by looking at the camera. “But, no, obviously you can’t speak about Kyler Murray without talking about what an incredible player he was at Allen in high school. Maybe one of the greatest high school quarterbacks of all time. I’m sure he’ll be excited to come back here, very comfortable playing here.”

His counterpart is aware.

“I’ve heard that stat,” said Dak Prescott, who would love to start a winning streak for the Cowboys (3-4-1) in a season without consecutive victories or defeats. “I think that’s mad impressive. Not honestly surprised. Something that I’m sure he wants to continue and build off of, and I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen this Monday.”

Murray has some work to do to convince Arizona fans the switch back from Jacoby Brissett is a good thing, given that the 32-year-old veteran backup had 599 yards passing in the two games Murray missed with a foot injury, boosting a passing offense that was ranked 30th when Murray got hurt.

“I think we looked at a couple things that might help him out that he feels maybe a little more comfortable with in some things that we’ve been doing,” Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said. “But he’ll be his normal self when he gets out there.”

A chance to reset

The Cardinals lost all five games on their current skid by a combined 13 points, a shockingly low number. The first three came on last-play field goals. This leads Gannon to believe last week’s bye came at a good time.

“I do think it’s a good little time to reset here and really focus on some controllables moving forward as it relates to everybody playing a little bit better,” Gannon said.

Monday, Monday

The Cowboys are about to be just the second NFL team to play consecutive games on a Monday. Their bye is next week, and they visit the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 17.

The Raiders were the only other team to do it, in 1996 under the same circumstances. The then-Oakland franchise’s two Monday night games were separated by the open week.

Dallas has a Thanksgiving Day game every year, along with plenty of prime-time outings. So quirky schedules are nothing new.

“I think people love or hate the Cowboys, and that’s part of why we play, how we play, where we play and whatnot,” Schottenheimer said. “It really doesn’t matter. These guys are going to play anybody any time, anywhere. I can’t say that it’s not something that is definitely noticeable when you look at the schedule.”

Campbell’s milestone

Arizona defensive lineman Calais Campbell is set for his 250th start. The 39-year-old — a six-time Pro Bowl selection — has been productive in his 18th NFL season. He has three sacks, two behind team leader Josh Sweat, and 19 tackles.

The milestone will come in the Monday night spotlight for a player who spent his first nine seasons in Arizona as a second-round pick, was a 2017 All-Pro with Jacksonville in the first of eight seasons elsewhere and is now in his first year back with the team that drafted him.

“I don’t know if you guys can tell, but I love football,” Campbell said. “It started from being a kid and watching the big prime-time games. Back then there was only a few games on TV, but the Monday night game was always the biggest.”

Take those stats and shove them

The Cowboys are dealing with the frustration of an up-and-down season, including probably their best and worst games in consecutive weeks. A 44-22 victory over Washington was followed by a 44-24 loss at Denver.

All the talk is a team with one of the NFL’s best offenses and worst defenses. Schottenheimer is growing weary of the narrative.

“Our scorecard is what it is,” Schottenheimer said. “And that’s not just defensively. That’s offensively. We’re a football team that’s 3-4-1. You can take stats on offense and shove them as far as I’m concerned. It is what it is. We want to win.”

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