Every week bones break and muscles rip around the NFL. We’ll take a look at the most significant injuries, and what happens next.
There was a whole lot of hurt this week, from Gerald McCoy’s season ending, to the 49ers nearly going through their entire running back depth chart (Frank Gore suffered a concussion and Carlos Hyde went down with an ankle injury).
But our focus here is on two injuries that could have a significant impact on playoff races. One directly, and one indirectly.
DeMarco Murray finally broke, and at the worst possible time
You knew this would happen eventually, and of course it came not long after Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray became the first player since 2009 to record over 40 touches in a game.
Murray broke a bone in his non-carrying hand during the Cowboys’ critical division win over the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday night. He underwent surgery today and could only miss one game. Try to be surprised by this injury, and don’t look at his 405 touches.
That absence even for a single game could be absolutely crushing. Even after beating the Eagles it’s likely Dallas will need to win each of its remaining two games to secure a playoff berth. The Cowboys now lead the NFC East, but Philly faces a cupcake schedule against two division disasters.
The Eagles finish against the Giants and Redskins, while Dallas faces the playoff-bound Indianapolis Colts in Week 15, another must-win game. So yes, having a healthy Murray would be nice. The chances of that happening less than a week after surgery? Not awful, apparently.
He injured the fourth metacarpal bone. In English, that’s the long bone that runs from the base of your wrist to the fourth finger. The problem would be far more severe if it was his carrying hand, which is why there’s some optimism Murray could return in at least a limited capacity. Back in 1999 Emmitt Smith suffered the same injury and missed only one week.
Some combination of Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar would step in to fill the void left by Murray. They’re both capable running backs, and Dunbar has often been effective as a pass catcher out of the backfield. But let’s be clear here: there’s no replacing Murray.
That’s certainly true because of his raw talent and status as the league’s leading rusher with a whopping 1,687 yards on the ground. But more imporantly, Murray is central to everything the Cowboys do offensively. He’s accounted for 38 percent of the team’s offense.
An injury to a player of that caliber in late December can quickly lead to the death of a seaosn.
The Texans are getting pretty low on quarterbacks
First Ryan Mallett’s season and time as an NFL starter ended cruelly. Now Ryan Fitzpatrick’s season is done too.
Fitzpatrick broke his leg during a loss to the Colts, ending what had been a pretty alright season considering he’s, well, Ryan Fitzpatrick. Only two weeks ago he joined a short list of quarterbacks who have thrown six touchdown passes in a game.
But the Texans’ quarterback combusting didn’t end there.
Rookie Tom Savage was forced into action far before he was ready. His day started with going right when Arian Foster went left, and then ended with a knee injury.
The resulting crater that’s now occupying the Texans’ quarterback depth chart has little effect their 2014 season, a year that was already set to end without playoff football regardless. But the presence of either Thad Lewis or Case Keenum as a starting quarterback in Week 16 (seriously) will still have playoff implications for Houston’s opponent, and by extension the AFC North.
The Texans host the Baltimore Ravens, a 9-5 team in a divisional dogfighting. They share that same record with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Cincinnati Bengals are only slightly ahead at 9-4-1. Currently all three teams hold a piece of AFC playoff real estate (seeded fourth through sixth).
If we rightfully assume the Ravens tee off on a quarterback who hasn’t taken a single meaningful snap this season (which is very true for both Keenum and Lewis), then the state of of the AFC North could be altered by the gift bestowed upon Baltimore.
