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By RAFAEL ALVAREZ
Cronkite News
TEMPE – The Arizona Cardinals are taking a closer look at their quarterback situation after losing Carson Palmer to a broken left arm.
Drew Stanton will step in for Palmer, coach Bruce Arians said Monday, with Blaine Gabbert serving as backup. The Cardinals plan to sign former Arizona State quarterback Mike Bercovici to the team’s practice squad as long as he clears a physical Tuesday, a source said.
Arians said the team is awaiting a second opinion to determine how long Palmer will be out after suffering the injury in Sunday’s 33-0 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in London. It was initially reported that Palmer would be out at least eight weeks and potentially the rest of the season. However, Arians said that Palmer told him it could be sooner than that.
“(Palmer) was saying four to six (weeks), and I said, ‘That’d be great,’ ” Arians said. “It depends what the surgeon says. He is a fast healer.”
The team will look to Stanton to fill Palmer’s absence. Stanton has been with the Cardinals since 2014, backing up Palmer every year since. He does have some experience starting for the Cardinals, due to past injuries Palmer sustained. Stanton has played in 22 games for the Cardinals, starting in nine of them. He has completed 167 of 327 passes for 2,069 yards along with nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Stanton came into Sunday’s game following Palmer’s injury and completed 5 of his 14 passes for 62 yards and an interception. While Stanton struggled against the Rams, Arians said he has confidence in Stanton correcting his mistakes and leading the team.
“I know Drew (Stanton) will bounce back and play a whole lot better when he gets all the practice time,” Arians said. “It’s nice to have an extra day’s work. (He) had literally no reps last week in our offense.”
The team, as a whole, struggled against the Rams on Sunday, and while injuries have not helped, Arians said that still is not an excuse.
“We’ll get that straightened out, and nobody’s gonna throw a pity party for us as far as who’s playing and who’s not,” Arians said. “We don’t have David Johnson, we don’t have Carson, and we still have to find a game plan to win. And my job is to get our players ready to win.”
With Stanton starting, Gabbert will move into the second-string role. Gabbert is in his first season with the Cardinals after spending time with the San Francisco 49ers and Jacksonville Jaguars. Despite losing Palmer, Arians said the team will not add another quarterback to the active roster.
“We’ve never had more than two on a roster since I’ve been here,” Arians said. “We like Blaine Gabbert so much that we kept him this year, so we’re really where we always are and not looking.”
Depending on the length of Palmer’s injury, the team will soon have to make a decision on which two players they will bring back off injured reserve, with rookie running back T.J. Logan potentially being cleared to play sometime soon. Logan dislocated his wrist during the team’s Hall of Fame game against the Dallas Cowboys on August 3 and was expected to return around Week 8.
“Yeah, (with) these injuries we got a tough decision, whether or not we bring (T.J. Logan) back, if David Johnson is near coming back and Carson’s near coming back, so those will be tough decisions,” Arians said.
Arizona will have a bye week to regroup and get ready for its Week 9 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. Part of that regrouping will be learning how to deal with adversity, which is something Arians said the team has had trouble dealing with as of late.
“I think our team right now doesn’t overcome bad things very well,” Arians said. “If there’s one thing I can say about our team is, and I hate to say it, we’re kind of frontrunners. When things are going, they’re going really good, and right now we have to be able to adjust on that sideline emotionally when something doesn’t go our way. And a lot of that is the youth in the football team.”
Although losing another key player is disheartening for the players, Arians said he does not expect anyone to feel sorry for them, as injuries are something every team must face. He said all the team can do now is fix its mistakes and get ready for San Francisco.
“Yeah it sucks, because you have a really good football team you’re excited about,” Arians said. “We went through a really tough camp, injury-free, and we had four broken arms, four left arms. It’s kind of crazy, but it is what it is. Nobody’s throwing a pity party for Green Bay, nobody’s gonna throw one for us. We have four practices to get ready to beat the (San Francisco) Niners and that’s all that matters right now. We did it with Drew last year.”
