The silence regarding the Arizona Cardinals failure to update quarterback Kyler Murray’s game status the day before they played the Indianapolis Colts in Week 6 is deafening, especially in light of the Baltimore Ravens‘ actions a week ago, two days before they were to play the Chicago Bears in Week 8.

To review, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was listed as limited on the Wednesday and Thursday injury reports that week with a hamstring injury that had caused him to miss the previous two games. He did not practice at all in the week before the Week 6 game against the Los Angeles Rams and was declared out on Friday.

Advertisement

The Ravens were on their bye in Week 7, so the subsequent limited designation resulted in some talk that he might be able to return against the Bears. That surely appeared to be the case when Jackson was listed as a full participant in their Friday practice, although his game status was questionable.

The you-know-what hit the fan, however, when the Ravens updated the injury report on Saturday by declaring Jackson out for the game and his practice status for Friday was changed to limited because his only work was with the scout team. Practice status is based on a player’s normal reps in practice.

Jackson did play in the Ravens’ 28-6 win Thursday night over the Miami Dolphins.

It is generally accepted that there is a certain level of gamesmanship during game weeks concerning player availability, especially as it pertains to quarterbacks.

Advertisement

However, within the current atmosphere of legal wagering and the persistent marketing of gambling entities on game broadcasts, the NFL has to be proactive when the injury reporting can affect betting by the public and uphold the integrity of the game.

The Ravens were mostly a 6.5-point favorite during the week of the Bears game and that plummeted to 1.5 points at some sportsbooks after Jackson was declared out.

Thursday night, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported that the league’s investigation of the injury report snafu was “ongoing” and that there was the possibility of a significant fine and/or loss of draft picks.

So much for that.

Advertisement

Friday morning, the Ravens received a proverbial slap on the wrist when they were fined $100,000, a figure that is 43 percent of $234,000 practice-squad salaries for non-veterans that are on the squad for all 18 weeks. The rookie minimum salary for players on the 53-man roster is $840,000.

A club statement said, “It is critical that the Baltimore Ravens always operate with integrity and in full accordance with NFL guidelines.

“We clearly made an error regarding player injury reporting and cooperated transparently with the league’s investigation.

“We accept the decision by the NFL that we violated the policy and have taken steps to ensure that we will be compliant moving forward.

Advertisement

“We will not appeal the ruling and are focused on our upcoming game versus the Vikings.”

The Cardinals’ handling of the Murray injury wasn’t as egregious as the Ravens, but it was still a violation of the policy. He was upgraded to limited on the Friday report before the Colts game after not practicing the previous two days and was listed as questionable. However, the Cardinals knew on Saturday he wouldn’t play, so his status should have been updated to out.

The injury report policy mandates that a status update after Friday must be announced. The Cardinals did upgrade punter Blake Gillikin to out from questionable and added defensive lineman Bilal Nichols to the report as out because of personal reasons on Saturday. However, there was no mention of Murray.

It’s possible for teams to skirt the issue, as the Cardinals did with Murray, because it might not be known when the game-status decision was made. However, we know the Cardinals’ plan because head coach Jonathan Gannon said after the game and during his weekly appearance on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM the day after the game that they knew on Saturday Murray wouldn’t play.

Advertisement

So, with stories swirling about the Ravens and Jackson and no subsequent talk about Murray, I asked the NFL earlier this week if the league was investigating the Cardinals.

A league source told me, “We would only confirm this if there was discipline to announce. We regularly communicate with the clubs – it happens every week – on injury report matters.”

I followed that up with this question, “So, is there no discipline or no decision yet?”

To that there has been no response. In other words, crickets. Which can often be the strategy in hopes the questions will stop and the problem will go away.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.

This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: What the Ravens’ injury reporting punishment means for Cardnals