Honey Badger Done for Season with Torn ACL, But Why Was He in the Game with 3 Minutes Left?

Tyrann Mathieu, the Honey Badger, suffered a torn ACL on an interception with less than three minutes left in a blowout win over the Eagles Sunday. It’s a devastating loss for the Cardinals, who had legitimate Super Bowl aspirations. Mathieu is one of the best safeties in the NFL, a tremendous ball-hawking playmaker. He might be the best pure playmaking safety since Ed Reed in his prime with the Ravens.

Why was Mathieu in the game with three minutes left? Up 40-17, there’s no reason for that at all. On the first play of the 4th quarter, a pick-six by the Cardinals made it 37-10. One play later, a 73-yard touchdown by Jordan Matthews cut the deficit to 37-17. At that point, the Eagles needed touchdowns on the rest of their possessions – and stops, which they weren’t getting all night – to make it interesting.

Sure, wacky things can happen in the NFL – see Pittsburgh’s 2nd half rally against the Broncos Sunday, or the Redskins rally from down 24-0 at home against Tampa earlier this season.

But the Eagles turned the ball over on downs five minutes later, and at that point, all the defensive starters should have been pulled.

This one’s on Bruce Arians. This late in the season, if you can pull your players with a comfortable lead, you’ve got to do it.