Arizona Cardinals losing Pugh not good timing

The Arizona Cardinals lost yet another offensive lineman on Sunday in their 26-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs

The last thing the Arizona Cardinals needed, especially from their offensive line, was to lose another player to injury.  On Sunday, when guard Justin Pugh left the game, it certainly did not seem like the outcome would be good news.

Confirmed by Arizona Sports on Monday afternoon, Pugh tore his MCL and is out for the rest of the season.  He is headed to injured reserve.

It is a tough blow to a line that is already low on depth.  Guard Mike Iupati has been nursing an injury and has missed the last couple of games.  They also placed tackle John Wetzel on injured reserve on November 3rd.

It’s bad enough to lose those lineman but it especially hurts when the healthy guys aren’t cutting it either.  Lineman Andre Smith played very poorly on Sunday, seemingly getting beat at every turn.

Smith also had his injury issues early in the season.  However now it appears his issues are all performance-based.  It looks to be a bad signing by the team in the offseason.

The only steady performer has been rookie center Mason Cole, who of course was only put into service because of a season-ending injury suffered by starting center A.Q. Shipley.

Pugh’s loss is tough though.  He brought a veteran presence to the line that was greatly needed without Iupati, Wetzel, or Shipley playing.

Hopefully Pugh will be able to return 100 percent next season but this is a line we talked about a couple of weeks ago needing help.  Now the need is even greater.

They gave up five sacks of quarterback Josh Rosen on Sunday, some of which were suffered after the loss of Pugh in the second half.  Rosen never had a chance to get a throw off several times late in the game as the Cardinals tried to comeback from 20-14 and 26-14 deficits.