It seems that the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals matchup for MNF is “cursed” with injuries, as one Twitter user put it.
Looking at the halftime score between the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots, it’s impossible to know just how poorly this game is going for both sides.
After the first half, the Cardinals were leading 13-10 as the two teams kept it competitive through two quarters, but each squad did so without some of their most important players. Within minutes, Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray went down with a non-contact injury and was later ruled out of the game.
Sadly, Murray was only the first player to be sidelined with an injury. By the third quarter, five key players on the Patriots and Cardinals rosters were sidelined due to in-game injuries, with four of those players being downgraded to out for the game.
Marco Wilson is the only player who hasn’t been officially ruled out, and the Cardinals were able to regain James Conner after he was temporarily sidelined with an injury.
But clearly, the loss of these starting players has greatly impacted the outcome of the game, and NFL Twitter couldn’t believe how many were getting injured through the first half alone.
NFL Twitter in shock over the amount of injuries during Patriots-Cardinals MNF match
These injuries are painful enough for the players who’ve endured them and the concerned fans witnessing them, but they also hit the wallets of fantasy bettors who thought Murray, Parker and Stevenson would each have a big game on Monday night.
There was also the suggestion that the blue injury tent should be expanded to include all of the players injured during the game, meaning they’d need a much bigger tent.
Thankfully, the injury trend didn’t continue at the same rate in the second half, because if it did, the Patriots and Cardinals may have resorted to 5v5 football.
Or, they could have resorted to starting some of their lesser-known players.
All jokes aside, many NFL fans were shocked to see so many players go down in a single game. ESPN’s Adam Schefter noted during his halftime report that he didn’t remember another game in which both sides saw so many significant injuries so quickly in the game.
The concern for Murray is pouring in from across the league, with Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson being one of many to wish Murray well as he recovers from his injury.
Like any historic NFL game, the Patriots-Cardinals game already has a name and a theme song: “The Injury Bowl.”
Hopefully “The Injury Bowl” will be the last MNF match of its kind this season.