2023-10-10 21:17:11
Even though they sport a 1-4 record, the Arizona Cardinals have impressed NFL fans this season with their determination and compete level — notably in a win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3. The Cardinals were leading AFC powerhouse Cincinnati for much of their Week 5 meeting at State Farm Stadiumbut the Bengals rallied for a 34-20 win that affected Arizona in more ways than one.
Cardinals running back James Connerone of the team’s stars, suffered a knee injury in the first half of Sunday’s contest. The team has placed Conner on injured reserve, meaning an offense that has been surprisingly-potent will be without one of its key cogs for at least the next four weeks.
A void in the backfield
Conner is a two-time Pro Bowl selection who scored a career-high 15 rushing touchdowns in 2021, his first season in Arizona. Although he’s never ripped off a 1,000-yard season, Conner has cultivated a reputation as a powerful runner, and he was averaging a career-high 5.4 yards per carry through five games.
With Conner shelved for the foreseeable future, the Cardinals are expected to turn to rookie Emari Demercado and hand him an expanded role. Demarket scored his first NFL touchdown on Sunday, carrying the ball 10 times for 45 yards in the defeat to Cincinnati.
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Without Conner for at least the next four weeks — and seeing as the Cardinals are already sitting in last place in the NFC West — this season is quickly becoming centered on player development as Arizona‘s new regime figures out its next winning core.
The potential return of star quarterback Kyler Murray will bring excitement back to the desert, and late-season wins may follow if Murray shows he is healthy once more. But the two-time Pro Bowl selection still has not been designated to return from his own knee injury amid rumors that the Cardinals may be eyeing another younger quarterback to take them into the future.
Even with a fit-and-firing Murray, Arizona‘s defense still ranks in the bottom 10 once morest the run and once morest the pass — and it doesn’t have a bye week until December. The possibility is growing that the Cardinals might have two top-10 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft — their own selection, as well as one that originally belonged to the Houston Texans.
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