Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals quarterback, returned to Sunday’s 18-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams early in the fourth quarter after missing almost 43 minutes of game time, according to ESPN.
Although Murray gave Arizona a spark, it quickly fizzled as the Cardinals’ missed the playoffs for the fifth straight season.
“I wish I could have come back earlier to try to make an impact quicker,” he said. “I wasn’t gonna go in if I could avoid anything or if I was hurting myself or hurting the team by going in because I couldn’t move, so I had to let some things kick in. And then once I did, that’s when I decided to go in.”
Murray suffered a “pretty significant” injury to his right ankle at the 12:14 mark of the first quarter on a sack by Rams defensive lineman Morgan Fox,” according to ESPN.
“Obviously, I mean, I wasn’t 100 percent but at that point in the game, it really didn’t matter,” Murray said.
He said he landed “in an awkward position” when he suffered the injury. However, replays showed Fox’s knee digging into Murray’s ankle.
“It’s unfortunate and the game, obviously, plays out a lot differently I feel like,” he said. “But it is what it is. That’s the hand we got dealt.”
Murray got up limping, heading back to the locker room. However, he returned to the field and tried to walk off the injury. He was evaluated in the blue injury tent but walked back to the locker room.
He returned to the sideline and had his left ankle retaped. He then tried to warm up but was not comfortable enough to take the field until the fourth quarter.
Murray had to spend time in and out of the locker room in the first half and early in the third quarter.
Cardinals’ coach Kliff Kingsbury described Murray’s injury as “pretty significant,” adding that the 23-year-old quarterback was not able to push off of it. The coach said Murray decided to go back on to the field.
Kingsbury said, “We made sure that he was in a place where we didn’t feel like he could injure himself further. It started feeling better and so he wanted to go and give it a try.”
The coach said Murray’s injury was not the same “lower leg” injury that Murray suffered in last week’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers. He said this week Murray was “feeling good.”
Kingsbury praised Murray for his toughness Sunday, stating, “You saw when he got back in, the spark he gave us and we were able to move the ball some.”
“Obviously, we weren’t able to finish like we needed to but I was really proud of him,” the coach added. “That’s gutty, especially a guy who uses his legs like he does.” The article originally appeared on ESPN.
