The Arizona Cardinals will be without James Conner for the rest of the season.
Conner, after being carted off the field in their 16-15 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, will need surgery to repair his right ankle, head coach Jonathan Gannon confirmed on Monday. That will knock him out for the rest of the season.
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and was hit in the backfield hard by Marques Sigle. While Sigle brought him down, he drilled Conner directly in his legs. Conner’s right ankle bent back awkwardly as he went down, and he reached for it immediately after the play was blown dead.
He remained down for quite some time. He was eventually carted off the field, though the entire Cardinals sideline ran out to send him off before he left for the locker room. Several 49ers players did so, too.
The Cardinals then quickly ruled him out with an ankle injury.
Conner, now in his fifth season with the Cardinals, entered Sunday’s game with 73 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries so far this fall. He had 22 yards on nine carries when he went down on Sunday afternoon, and another 15 yards on three catches.
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The Cardinals entered halftime at Levi’s Stadium down 6-3. They capped that drive, their first in the second half, with a 28-yard field goal from Chad Ryland to tie the game back up.
Though Arizona took the lead late with a safety, Mac Jones led the 49ers down the field and expertly set up a game-winning field goal from Eddie Pineiro to seal the one-point win. That pushed them to a perfect 3-0 on the season, two wins of which have come without their starting quarterback. The Cardinals now sit at 2-1.