Since taking over for the injured Kyler Murray, Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett has thrown just one interception in his 112 pass attempts this season. And in the process he has lowered his already low career interception percentage to a rate unprecedented in NFL history.
Through Monday night’s win over the Cowboys, Brissett has thrown 25 career interceptions in 1,873 pass attempts. That’s an interception rate of 1.3 percent, the NFL’s all-time record.
The second-lowest interception rate in NFL history belongs to Aaron Rodgers, who has thrown an interception on 1.4 percent of his passes.
Brissett’s ability to avoid interceptions is one of the reasons Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon has talked about how pleased he is with the way the offense has performed with Brissett — while tiptoeing around actually saying he thinks Brissett is playing better than Murray. The Cardinals have put Murray on injured reserve and are continuing to avoid explicitly saying who will start once Murray’s injured foot is fully healed. But if there’s any chance of Murray getting the starting job back, it’s safe to say that has more to do with Murray’s status as a first overall pick in the draft who has a contract guaranteeing him $39.8 million next year than with the Cardinals’ coaches actually thinking their offense runs better with Murray than with Brissett.
Brissett has not been a great quarterback during his 10-year NFL career, and has more often been a backup than a starter. But he’s been the kind of backup who can be relied upon not to throw the game away. And that’s a trait that sometimes earns a starting job for a quarterback who had been a backup.
The first major data point is in regarding the absence of ESPN and ABC from YouTube TV.
Monday night’s game between the Cardinals and the Cowboys drew an average audience of 16.2 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, and NFL+.
The release calls it ESPN’s “second-highest Week 9 audience since 2011.” In most years since 2011, however, the game was not also televised by ABC.
The impact of the YouTube TV blackout isn’t clear. Many who would have quickly and easily watched through YouTube TV may have found a workaround through rabbit ears, NFL+, or some other streaming app. And even though the numbers still count, those who had to spend time, effort, and/or money on a different way to watch the game surely weren’t happy with having to scramble.
The release makes no mention of the comparison to last year’s Week 9 audience. And for good reason. Even without the Nielsen Big Data + Panel bump, Bucs-Chiefs in Week 9 2024 averaged 20.6 million. That makes this year’s Week 9 audience a 21.4-percent reduction from Week 9 a year ago.
And then there’s the Cowboys factor. They always provide a rating boost. Last year, their Week 14 appearance on Monday night against the Bengals averaged 18.7 million viewers — even though Dallas entered that game with a 5-7 record and the Bengals were 4-8.
It would be interesting to see the full breakdown between ABC and the various cable channels. That would shed light on the number of people who relied on the free, over-the-air signal versus some form of pay-based TV.
Regardless, the number surely would have been higher if the game has been available quickly and easily to YouTube TV customers. Whether that prompts a concerted effort to end the impasse remains to be seen.
And the clock keeps ticking. In five days, the Packers host the Eagles on Monday Night Football.
Usually, ESPN announces the Monday Night Football ratings on Wednesday. This week, with YouTube TV customers prevented from watching Cardinals-Cowboys, ESPN may “forget” to post the numbers.
The outage blacked out the Week 9 prime-time game for millions. And it will be interesting to see what the audience ultimately was.
For now, Bryan Fischer of SI.com has some data regarding the impact of the dispute on ESPN/ABC college football programming.
College GameDay, per Fischer, fell from 2.5 million viewers the prior Saturday to 2 million. That’s a 20-percent drop.
As to the three ABC Saturday afternoon windows for games, the prior weekend had 6.6 million, 7.8 million, and 6.8 million viewers. A week later, those same windows averaged 4.5 million, 7.8 million, and 4.8 million.
The Cardinals-Cowboys game will be compared both to the prior weeks of 2025 MNF games and to last year’s Week 9 contest (Buccaneers at Chiefs). Both Week 9 games had a national brand in play (Chiefs, Cowboys), so it’s somewhat apples to apples.
Of course, this year’s game will benefit from the new Nielsen Big Data + Panel formula, which is the rising tide that has lifted all broadcast boats.
Whatever the number is, we’ll find out eventually and inevitably. And if ESPN can find a way to make the number look good, the information be released at the usual time, in the usual way.
Kyler Murray will now be out for at least the next four weeks.
Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon told reporters in his Wednesday press conference that Murray is going to be placed on injured reserve due to his foot injury.
“Feel like that’s the best thing for him and for us,” Gannon said. “He’s not fully healthy, ready to go yet, so that makes the most sense. Obviously, that’s a change. But we just felt, looking at it right now, that’s the best thing for him and us, like I just said. He’s fully committed. Right now, what he’s going to concentrate on is getting healthy.
“He’s not healthy enough to play,” Gannon continued. “He needs to get healthy so he can get back to playing football. So, that’s what we’re doing.”
Jacoby Brissett was already set to start in Week 10 against the Seahawks, which Gannon announced on Tuesday. Gannon said the team came to the decision to place Murray on IR between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
“[T]alking with him, talking with some other people — obviously, a collective decision there,” Gannon said. “Like I said, he’s working. He wants to be out there, but he’s not ready to go. So, it’s like, do we [do] what we’ve kind of been doing, keeping his arm ready to go and trying to progress through the foot? And he’s just not there. So, that’s kind of what we decided.”
Murray does have a chance to come back later in the season. But Gannon said the first priority is getting him healthy, particularly because a foot injury impacts him and his play so much.
“I think that you hear me say all the time, injuries are different for everybody, and what positions they play, how old they are, what we’re asking them to do,” Gannon said. “Obviously, for him, it prevents him from being fully healthy to go play. And him as the person that he is and the player that he is, yes, you can look at other things like this injury for other people might, might not [stop them from playing]. But he’s played through some things that other positions, if they have those, they can’t play with those because of what they’re asked to do.”
Murray, 28, has started five games this season, completing 68.3 percent of his passes for 962 yards with six touchdowns and three interceptions. Last year, Murray completed 68.8 percent of his throws for 3,851 yards with 21 touchdowns and 11 picks.
It’s currently unclear whether or not Murray will be able to play later this year. But there is an air surrounding Murray and the Cardinals that could potentially end up with the two parties going their separate ways in the 2026 offseason.
After Monday night’s win over the Cowboys, Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said that Kyler Murray remains the team’s starting quarterback, despite the performance of Jacoby Brissett. On Tuesday, Gannon said Brissett will start on Sunday in Seattle.
Gannon explained that the decision relates to Murray’s lingering foot injury — only three days after Gannon said Murray could have a role on Monday night against the Cowboys.
So why announce on Tuesday that Brissett will start?
“I think, you know, with the clarity that it provides, game-planning for our team, I think that’s important,” Gannon said.
But that clarity can be provided privately, without making it easier for the Seahawks to prepare for Murray and/or Brissett.
It’s also possible that, in the aftermath of the NBA’s gambling scandal and Baltimore’s “mistake” on its Week 8 injury report regarding quarterback Lamar Jackson, the league office is trying to minimize gamesmanship that creates an important piece of inside information. Last week, Gannon announced that Brissett would start when the injury report rules didn’t require it. This week, Gannon has issued the proclamation five full days before kickoff, with no obligation to do so.
It would be foolish to assume the NFL didn’t have a hand in Arizona’s sudden decision to overcomply with the rules.
Beyond the surprising willingness to be more transparent than required, the situation puts the team in a delicate spot. Murray is the starter, and he’s being paid accordingly. Brissett, however, is playing better than Murray did. With Murray injured (but, we’re told, healing), the Cardinals can kick the can by saying Brissett is healthy and Murray isn’t.
It remains to be seen how long that lasts. If the Cardinals eventually say Murray will play when he’s 100 percent, what happens when he is? The better approach is to take it one week at a time, and to see how things go under Brissett. If he regresses, Murray could suddenly be healthy.
Then there’s the question of whether Murray will even be on the team in 2026. It feels as if a divorce is coming, possibly in the form of a trade. If the Cardinals officially bench a healthy Murray, that will make it harder to maximize the return.
Murray’s contract pays him $39.8 million, fully guaranteed, in 2026. Another $19.5 million in 2027 base salary becomes fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the 2026 league year.
If the Cardinals send the message that they’re moving on from Murray, interested teams will try to squeeze the Cardinals into paying a sizable chunk of the money.
Then there’s the possibility that the Cardinals won’t find a suitor. If that’s the case, they may have to cut him. Which would give them a business incentive to ensure that Murray is healthy when the next $19.5 million becomes fully guaranteed in four months. Which would mean keeping him off the field for the rest of the season.
For now, the various factors are combining to prompt the Cardinals to continue to ride with Brissett. If the Cardinals are thinking about life without Murray in 2026, they may try to keep him in bubble wrap for the final nine weeks of the regular season.
