Arizona Cardinals QB Drew Stanton inactive vs. Seahawks
Dec 22, 2014, 12:14 AM | Updated: 12:18 am
GLENDALE, Ariz. — By definition, being listed as doubtful means there’s a 75 percent chance that player won’t play in that week’s game.
Quarterback Drew Stanton has gone from doubtful to out for Sunday’s game against Seattle, meaning he will miss arguably the biggest regular-season game in Arizona Cardinals franchise history.
That Stanton is among the inactives is not a surprise, though he was limited in practice Thursday, only a week after he suffered a knee injury at St. Louis.
“He’s made good progress,” said head coach Bruce Arians, who had left the door open for Stanton to be available.
At the beginning of the week, Arians announced Ryan Lindley would get the start at quarterback, giving him a full week of reps with the first-team offense.
This will be Lindley’s fifth career start and the first since 2012.
“He’s a confident guy to begin with,” Arians said of Lindley, the Cardinals’ third different starting quarterback of the season. “The guys around him are very confident in him. That grew as the week went on and as he played well in practice; and I think the other guys get to see it and feel more comfortable.”
The remaining Cardinals’ inactives include receiver Brittan Golden, safety Chris Clemons, guard Jonathan Cooper, nose tackle Alameda Ta’amu, guard/center Anthony Steen and defensive end Kareem Martin.
Cooper was ruled out Friday after missing two straight days of practice with a wrist injury that he sustained against the Rams.
With Cooper inactive, Ted Larson will shift from right guard to left guard, while Paul Fanaika will start at right guard, returning to the position he manned until an ankle injury sidelined him the last two games.
The Cardinals also welcome the return of safety Tyrann Mathieu. He’ll play with a cast to protect a left thumb he broke at Atlanta.
Should the Cardinals beat the Seahawks at University of Phoenix Stadium, they will clinch the NFC West division and the NFC’s No. 1 seed, which carries with it a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
“It’s a big game and it’s fun to be in one,” Arians said. “We want to be undefeated at home. Obviously, this is the best way to do it, is to play for the NFC West here.
“No matter who steps out there, I have all the confidence in the world that our crowd will be excited and ready to go; and we’ll give them reason to get excited.”