Daryn Colledge: Cardinals offense took illegal hit on Palmer personally
Dec 16, 2013, 2:08 AM | Updated: 2:26 am
Already dealing with an ailing right elbow, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer wasn’t done any favors when Tennessee’s Kamerion Wimbley rolled into his legs on Arizona’s second possession.
Wimbley was called for roughing the passer — the penalty netted a devastating one yard for the Cardinals’ offense, which was at Tennessee’s 2-yard line after the play — but Palmer was obviously shaken up. He remained in the game after having his left ankle heavily taped, but Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians said the quarterback was limited as a result of the hit in Arizona’s 37-34 overtime win.
“He’ll be pretty sore tomorrow … that took a lot of our game plan, a lot of our play-action passes from us,” said Arians, calling Palmer’s injury a high-ankle sprain. “He’s a tough customer. He wasn’t coming out of there.”
Palmer threw for 231 yards and a score on 20-of-30 passing and didn’t throw an interception for the fourth time in five weeks. Arians said Palmer was “lights-out again this week,” and guard Daryn Colledge said the play gave a boost to Arizona’s offense.
The Cardinals ran for 145 yards and two scores while breaking off several runs of more than 10 yards and score more than 30 points for the third time in four games.
“He’s a tough guy and he took that shot personal,” Colledge said. “A lot of us took it personal. We had to win this game. If we had to run the ball over them every play, if we had to give him time for five-step drops, so be it.”
