There’s a whistle coming from the kitchen. A percolating quarterback controversy is now on full boil.
It might even harken the end of an era in Arizona.
The Cardinals tell us that Kyler Murray isn’t healthy enough to play on Monday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys, in a stadium where the former Texas high school legend is unbeaten in nine games. Murray hasn’t played since that fateful, awful loss to Tennessee on Oct. 5, in which he suffered a foot injury that spectators never witnessed. We saw him take an unexpected snap against the facemask, rock back in shock, and then disappear into the medical tent on the sidelines. He returned that day to play 15 more snaps.
That’s not to say Murray didn’t suffer a sprained foot against the Titans. But he was listed as questionable entering the following weekend’s game against the Colts in Indianapolis, a decision that wasn’t announced until late Saturday. And now that the calendar has turned to November, along with all the cloak-and-dagger weirdness coming from the head coach, it’s fair to speculate about what we’re all witnessing in Arizona.
Here are the options:
Murray has been benched for the first time in his career, as he should be. From the moment he took the reins, Jacoby Brissett has lifted the offense, fed the wide receivers and nearly upset the Colts and Packers. He’s offering concrete proof that Drew Petzing’s passing concepts are working and that Murray is not recognizing or throwing to open targets.
But such a benching would run counter Gannon’s firm alliance with Murray, a relationship carefully nurtured over two-plus years. It would counter to how Gannon insisted that Murray was still his starting quarterback even after the strong outings from Brissett. It would suggest that Gannon is being overruled by the general manager and/or the owner.
It’s also possible that the organization’s top decision makers have realized the enormity of Monday Night Football, a stage that averages 17 million weekly viewers. The game will put Arizona in a white-hot spotlight for 48 hours, a franchise that rarely commands any kind of national attention. They are a football team with a five-game losing streak in Year 3 of a painstakingly slow rebuild. They cannot afford more bad publicity. They can’t afford to be embarrassed by a balky offense and a rusty Murray.
It’s also possible the team is attempting to trade Murray before Tuesday’s deadline, maybe at the player’s behest. Again, with this shallow assemblance of facts and extremely brief explanations, the Cardinals are courting such conjecture. It is certainly testing Gannon’s leadership behind closed doors, where hundreds of eyeballs are on him. And it’s tugging at his once-sparkling reputation among Cardinals fans.
Either way, the franchise has landed on the right decision. Brissett’s current level of play is enough to pummel a porous Cowboys defense, and the best chance to give this team and this town a victory we badly need.
Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.