Kyler Murray’s Right Shoulder Injury Too Much For The Arizona Cardinals To Play Through In Loss To Seattle

Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray refused to use his right shoulder injury as an excuse for the Cardinals’ 28-21 loss at the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night. That is the way a competitive athlete operates.

But it was obvious that Murray was compromised, and with that went the Cardinals’ chance to take sole possession of first place in the NFC West as they concluded their most rigorous four-game stretch of the season. 

The Cardinals have not identified Murray’s injury, but it was reported to be a sprained A/C joint. It occurred when Murray landed hard on his right side while being sacked on the Cardinals’ fifth offensive play. Murray was treated with a heat pack on his right shoulder between offensive series, and he winced at times while throwing during warmups. 

Murray was off target on several open throws, and he did not run much, which is the most disruptive part of his game. Murray rushed for 67 yards and a touchdown a 37-34 overtime victory over Seattle on Oct. 25, and Seattle geared its defensive plan his way in the rematch. Just as likely, however, Murray did not run as much because the Cardinals did not want to place him at more risk by exposing him in the open field.

The result: Seattle is back in control of the NFC West, with a 7-3 record and the easiest division schedule the rest of the way. The Seahawks’ next four games are against Philadelphia, both New York teams and Washington, a run that should at worst provide an easy path to the playoffs.

The Cardinals (6-4) do not have as much margin for error in a division that also includes the Los Angeles Rams (6-3), but the addition of a seventh playoff team in each conference helps. The Cardinals split with Seattle, beat Buffalo and lost to Miami in their most recent four, all likely playoff teams. They play next at New England and have two games remaining against the Rams.

Back to Thursday. It is a quarterback’s league, and not having a healthy one hurts. Murray had 427 yards total offense in the first game against Seattle. He had 284 yards Thursday. 

“You could tell he was hurting a bit, but he pushed through it,” Arizona coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “I thought he played tough, played physical. He gave us a chance to win at the end, which says a lot about his character and mental toughness.”

Murray was sacked on fourth-and-10 at the Seahawks’ 33-yards line with 34 seconds remaining on the Cardinals’ final possession and Seattle ran out the clock.

“I’m good,” Murray said after the game, deflecting questions about his shoulder.

The Cardinals were hurt in other ways, too. They committed 10 penalties for 115 yards, and two were particularly costly. Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick was a given a taunting penalty after the Cardinals held Seattle short of a first down on third-and-seven completion midway through the third quarter, enabling the Seahawks to extend a drive that led to Carlos Hyde’s touchdown and a 23-14 lead. 

After the Cardinals closed to 23-21, Murray was called for intentional grounding on a broken pass route from his own 12, and a holding penalty on guard J.R. Sweezy in the end zone on the next play gave Seattle a safety and a 25-21 edge with 9:12 left. Seattle ate up almost seven minutes after receiving the free kick before Jason Myers’ field goal with 2:19 left.

“It wasn’t a clean game by any means,” Murray said. “Easier said than done to play those, but … we have to be better. We say every week to give ourselves the best possible chance to win the game, and that doesn’t help you.” 

Seattle had possession for 35 minutes and seven seconds, including 11:33 in the fourth quarter.

“We were really disjointed the entire night,” Kingsbury said. “Offensively as a whole, the penalties and continuing to move backwards just threw us off our rhythm. We didn’t have a lot of snaps, didn’t have a lot of opportunities, more than anything.”

Without the full Murray, it was too much to get past.