The Arizona Cardinals have had to deal with injuries and illness on their offensive line this season. They have used nine different starting lineups on the offensive line this season.
However, unless something changes in the next couple of days, the Cardinals will roll out their five offensive line starters for the first time since Week 9. D.J. Humphries will be back at left tackle, Justin Pugh at left guard, Rodney Hudson at center, Max Garcia at right guard and Kelvin Beachum at right tackle.
It is the first time that Murray will play behind the five starters. In Week 9, the last time this group of five started, Colt McCoy was at quarterback against the San Francisco 49ers.
“I just think it’s a credit to those guys, all of the hard work that they’ve put in and continue to put in,” Murray told reporters Wednesday. “To be able to rotate that many guys and still have the continuity, the relationships, the execution, it’s a credit to them, ‘Coach Kugs’ (Sean Kugler) and the job that they’ve done. No matter who’s in there, I have the utmost confidence in each one of those guys. To have all of them playing together now, including me, I’m looking forward to it. I don’t know what it feels like yet.”
This is not technically the first time all season Murray has played with the starting offensive line. It is the first time he is playing with this starting offensive line. Max Garcia, now the No. 1 right guard, was not the starter all season. He replaced Josh Jones around midseason.
Jones was the starting right guard to begin the season and it was not because of injury.
The original starting five of Humphries, Pugh, Hudson, Jones and Beachum were together for three of the first five games — Weeks 1, 2 and 5.
So Murray now will be playing with the five starters for the fourth time this season.
Arizona is 4-0 when they have their five designated starting linemen. They can push that to 5-0 this weekend against the Seahawks.
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