In the NFL, injuries are an unavoidable occurrence.
No matter how lucky a team gets on the injury front in a given year, they are bound to lose someone to injury at some point during the season.
The Arizona Cardinals lost defensive lineman Darnell Dockett to a torn ACL this week. Dockett has been a stalwart of Arizona’s defense for years and his loss will create a sizable void to be filled this season.
Receiver Larry Fitzgerald said it’s something the Cardinals still must be able to overcome.
“It’s something that happens far too often in our game and teams have to weather it,” Fitzgerald said, via “The Drive” on FOX Sports 910 in Phoenix. “Coach [Bruce] Arians talked about it yesterday in our night meeting that no team has even won a Super Bowl that starts the season with the same 11 or 22 guys that finish the season when they win the Super Bowl. Even when we made our Super Bowl run, there are guys that went down, there was guys that stepped up to the plate and we’re going to need guys to come in and perform and fill those big shoes that he’s leaving.”
The Cardinals defense was among the league’s best last season. Arizona ranked 6th in total defense and kept the Cardinals in every game they played over the final three months of the season.
If it was just the loss of Dockett, the Cardinals may have very well been able to overcome his injury. However, Arizona has also lost linebackers Karlos Dansby to the Cleveland Browns and Daryl Washington to suspension. Replacing that many pieces may be too much for the Cardinals to overcome.
