‘A pretty good quarterback’ Drew Stanton now leading Cardinals

TEMPE, Ariz. – Around the NFL, it’s common practice for the team’s starting quarterback to speak to the media once a week.

For the Arizona Cardinals that day is Wednesday, and for the first time this season, and only the second time since 2014, it was not Carson Palmer who stood in front of the podium to address reporters. It was Drew Stanton.

With Palmer hurt, and likely to miss the remainder of the season after arm surgery, the Cardinals are turning to Stanton, Palmer’s backup.

Replacing the starting quarterback is not unfamiliar to Stanton. Nine times previously he’s been asked to fill-in for Palmer, most recently Week 5 last season at San Francisco. And as luck would have it, Stanton is once again preparing to face the 49ers as he and the Cardinals visit San Francisco on Sunday, exactly one year and one month since Stanton’s last start.

Stanton beat the 49ers last season, one of the six he’s had during his time in Arizona and the eighth of his career.

“He makes plays to win games, and he doesn’t beat you. Some people call that a game-manager. I call it a pretty good quarterback,” head coach Bruce Arians said.

What would Stanton call it?

“As a backup, you have a pretty defined role. You want to go in there and try and have success and put points on the board. When your number is called to be the starter, I think that ultimately you’re just trying to win football games,” he said. “I’m not worried about what that it’s labeled as, as long as I can go in there and have success and try and win a football game. Ultimately, that’s how we’re measured at this position.”

It’s why a long time ago Stanton stopped paying attention to his individual numbers, though he did admit Wednesday to knowing he has “a lot more interceptions (20) than I do touchdowns (14) which is not good.”

Only once in 13 career starts has Stanton passed for 300 yards and just three times has he thrown multiple touchdowns in a game; both achievements, it should be noted, have come while wearing a Cardinals uniform.

Yet, here is Stanton, 33, a former second-round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, still in the league 11 years later.

“One thing I know about Drew is that he’s extremely tough. He will hand in that pocket just like Carson will. He’s not scared to let that ball rip. He can make some plays with his legs, and he’s one of the better competitors, I feel like, in this league, and I’ve felt that way about him since he came out of Michigan State,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I know he’s a guy that gives his team a chance to win.”

No one has had more belief in Stanton than Arians. Remember, it was Arians who, five years ago, brought Stanton with him from Indianapolis to Arizona to be his starting quarterback, at least until Palmer was acquired a short time later.

Through it all, Arians has never hesitated to turn to Stanton, even on short notice.

“The guy really doesn’t need anything but a few reps. He’s like a coach on the field, that’s why you love to have those type of backup quarterbacks,” Arians said. “Guys that have been in your system so long that they know why it was put in in the first place when we put it in in Indianapolis and why the changes were made. He understands all that. He can go out and play fast because he knows what he’s doing.”

Six years Stanton has spent in the same offensive system.

And it’s not just Arians who believes in Stanton. The players do, too. It began in training camp, when Stanton stepped in to run the first-team offense on those days Palmer was given off.

“That means everything,” Stanton said. “That is what you want as a backup quarterback when you step into that role. Having the confidence of the guys in that locker room, seeing the work and the time and effort that you put in behind the scenes—a lot of people don’t see that and that doesn’t bother me. Within the locker room, to hear those kinds of things, that’s why I do what I do, that’s why I put the time and effort in to trying to gain the respect to step into this role and have people feel confident that we can go out there and be successful.

“Yes, it’s going to look different than what Carson does. Like I’ve said before, I can’t be Carson Palmer. I’ve learned a lot from him and taken away some of that stuff but at the same time, just being able to go out there and try and have success is my main focus.”

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