Murray’s injury not only casts a pall over this season, but potentially impacts the futures of other players and coaches, too.
— The Arizona Cardinals had their worst fears confirmed on Tuesday: Quarterback Kyler Murray suffered a season-ending torn ACL in Monday night’s game against the New England Patriots, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
Murray was carted off the field with the noncontact injury to his left knee less than 90 seconds into the game, which the Cardinals lost 27-13 to fall to 4-9.
Murray went down after a 3-yard run on the third play of the game.
« Obviously, it didn’t look good, » coach Kliff Kingsbury said. « I’ve never seen him in that type of shape, so I assumed it wasn’t good. »
This was the icing on the cake for what has been a long, chaotic year — not season, year. It started in February, when Murray scrubbed his Instagram page of all Cardinals-related posts, and it ended Monday night on national TV, when he was lost for the season.
Murray’s injury changes the entire complexion of the offense and, in a lot of ways, the team.
Murray was just starting to come into his own as a team leader and the face of the franchise. Murray’s growth and maturity were evident. After receiving his massive $230 million extension in late July, Murray appeared humbled and embraced his role more than ever. How he approaches his rehab — and namely where he does it — could signal where he stands as the franchise leader.
But whatever air was left in this year’s Cardinals was let out. Having Murray on the field always gave the Cardinals hope, as they saw in a wild comeback in Las Vegas in Week 2. Losing him to injury leaves the Cardinals without arguably their top playmaker.
McCoy is a vastly different quarterback than Murray, both physically and in how he plays the game. McCoy is 3 inches taller and more of a traditional pocket passer than Murray.
