 |
| Stanton is probable to return. Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports |
The Cardinals breathed a big sigh of relief today as Stanton's knee injury is not as bad as those had feared last night.
By: Michael Hanley
Drew Stanton went down in the game last night against the Rams with what looked at first to be a very severe knee injury, one that people had speculated could be a season ending one. Their was not allot of contact when Stanton went down, so it was not obvious how he had injured that knee. He was carted off the field after being examined by the medical staff of the Cardinals.
The MRI he took revealed had no ligament damage to that knee and will not need surgery to repair it. Needless to say that was a big load off of the shoulders of the Cardinals organization who have dealt with enough bad news when it comes to serious injuries to key players on both sides of the ball.
It will be a day to day thing with Stanton in terms of the amount of pain he feels and how long it takes for him to fully get that knee back to being 100% ready and fit to go. There is no timetable on his return and is not in the front of the Cardinals minds right now.
Head coach Bruce Arians has and continues to be about the next man up on the roster and will now look to either Ryan Lindley or Logan Thomas to turnover the reins of the offense to. Both hare very inexperienced in terms of playing in actual NFL games and have not worked with the starters of the Cardinals offense on a consistent basis.
That chemistry and timing will need to take place and will be something that cannot be rushed. That is something that happens organically and will take shape once one of these quarterbacks is selected to lead the offense moving forward.
The second year head coach did not commit to a quarterback when asked about it by the media today. Arians was quoted as saying
"I'll sit down and think who I want to play."
No reason for him to rush into such an important decision like this. The good thing about playing last night is that Arizona does get what amounts to be a mini bye now so that will enable Arians and his staff to look over both Thomas and Lindley to see which one could be abetter fit at this present time in the season to help the team best be in position to win games.
Both quarterbacks will get a fair chance at winning the starting job during these 10 days off. Do not put it past Arians to come up with some new and creative packages of plays for both Thomas and Lindley to maximize their skill sets and throw something at opposing defenses that they have not seen yet this season out of the Arizona Cardinals offense.
That is one of the many great traits about Bruce Arians, opponents can never get his offensive plan down without having to deal with allot of new wrinkles to account for and adjust in game.
Though this is a down moment for Drew Stanton, he is still probable to comeback at some point this season and still have his chance to make what has been a terrific run so far by the Cardinals in the regular season a special one once the postseason starts.
Follow me on Twitter: @Magic20099
