Cardinals OL Justin Pugh, Justin Murray suffer back injuries vs. Jaguars
Sep 26, 2021, 11:54 AM | Updated: 3:30 pm
Justin Pugh #67 of the Arizona Cardinals warms up before a game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium during week 3 of the preseason on August 26, 2018 in Arlington, Texas. The Cardinals defeated the Cowboys 27-3. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
(Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
Arizona Cardinals starting offensive linemen Justin Pugh and Justin Murray did not return due to back injuries suffered in the first half of their Week 3 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Pugh was hurt on the 109-yard touchdown return by Jacksonville’s Jamal Agnew after Cardinals kicker Matt Prater missed a 68-yard field goal attempt at the end of the first half.
Sean Harlow, who was elevated from the practice squad on Saturday, replaced Pugh at left guard.
Backup guard/center Max Garcia was in for Murray at right guard and with Harlow finished the 31-19 Arizona victory.
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Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury did not have an update on either starting guard after the game.
“Man, praying for our guys who went down but those two guys who came in, man, all of us know what they were going to do,” Arizona left tackle D.J. Humphries told Cardinals sideline reporter Paul Calvisi after the game. “We’ve been in this situation. We got hit with COVID in camp so we had a lot of guys miss, we had a lot of young guys — guys that were backups — get a lot of reps with the 1s.”
Murray, who had played right tackle previously, started at right guard with second-year man Josh Jones bumping outside to right tackle. Jones had started the first two games at right guard but swapped with Murray to begin Sunday’s Week 3 battle with regular starter Kelvin Beachum sitting out with a rib injury.
The hits to the starting guards comes after Arizona a day prior released veteran guard Brian Winters.
“Tremendous job by those guys,” head coach Kliff Kingsbury said of Harlow and Garcia. “When you look at how we played in the second half offensively to come out and do what they did, we didn’t skip a beat. So I was really proud of Max Garcia and Sean Harlow. Got asked to step in there and played at a high level.”
In addition to having their offensive line nicked up Sunday, the Cardinals lost safety and special teams leader Charles Washington in the first half.
He was ruled out from returning with a hamstring injury.
