Dallas Cowboys vs Green Bay Packers is live. Both teams have had very different tournaments so far. Dallas is at 1-2, and the Packers are at 2-1. However, things haven’t been good for the Cowboys this season. And the absence of Micah Parsons in their defense is palpable. If this wasn’t enough, here comes another shocker for the Cowboys. There is trouble in the Cowboys’ locker room as their safety, Malik Hooker, doesn’t look good.

The safety Malik Hooker got injured vs the Packers on Sunday. He injured his left toe; it was a non-contact injury, which is surely not a good sign, either for the Cowboys or for Malik. Because of this, he was forced to leave the field as well. Hooker went down following a third-down stop. He was visibly in pain and unable to put weight on his leg.

As reported by Jon Machota on X, ”Cowboys safety Malik Hooker in a lot of pain after that play. Couldn’t put any weight on his left leg.”

He hurt his toe in the second quarter while covering an incomplete deep pass by Packers quarterback Jordan Love. Hooker was initially checked in the locker room before the team formally announced later that he had been declared out for the remainder of the game with a toe injury. His loss leaves a large gaping hole in the Dallas secondary.

It will force the Cowboys to compensate for their coverage schemes and rely upon their depth at safety for the rest of the game. However, in his absence, Markquese Bell and Juanyeh Thomas will both have an increase in their workload.

Although he departed during the second quarter, Hooker still managed to make some contributions with three overall tackles and two solo stops. While Dallas’ defense did yield 172 yards passing and two touchdowns in quick succession to Jordan Love, they stifled the run game, limiting former Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs and the Packers’ rushing attack to 32 at halftime.

After the news, fans, teammates, and analysts all jumped into action with worry and well-wishes. Like Archer tweeted on social media platform X, previously Twitter, ”Something with his left leg. Non-contact. Being seen by doctors now.”

Jon Machota of The Athletic captured the way Hooker “limped over to the safety group and hugged some of his teammates.”

Malik Hooker’s injury concerns

Injuries have been an inevitable part of sports, especially one like football. But if you are Malik Hooker, then you have an exceptional relationship with injuries. Imagine a player in his rookie year who got trapped by injury. Well, that’s exactly what happened with Malik. After his selection in the 2017 NFL Draft, he suffered an ACL tear in Week 7, cutting short his rookie season. However, he bounced back from that and became a playmaker in the Colts’ secondary for the next few years.

Do you know, J.J.McCarthy is also an example of this; he also got out in his rookie year due to injury. The only difference is that J.J. had it worse.

In 2020, Hooker again endured a season-ending injury when he tore his Achilles tendon against the Minnesota Vikings. The injury took a lot of time to recover from and forced him out of action for the rest of the season. It makes it difficult for teams to rely on him as their safety.

This year, Hooker continued to battle health. He left the Cowboys’ game against the Packers with a left-leg injury and has been declared out, which is the latest setback in his playing time. Hooker’s history emphasizes the difficulty of sustaining durability despite superior talent and lofty expectations. However, the Cowboys squad would pray otherwise.