All-Access with Arians: Injuries mount but Carson Palmer is getting closer

Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians meets the media the day after every game, often times explaining injury situations as well as anything else he may have seen the day before.

Here in this space, we’ll highlight some of the most notable quotes.

“Injury-wise, Justin Bethel has an AC sprain but should be able to go this week. Patrick Peterson a low ankle but he should be fine. The next group, Calais (Campbell) has a medial collateral ligament strain. One to three weeks, possibly, we don’t know on that. But there is no damage, thank goodness. Drew Stanton is going to go through the (concussion) protocol; as soon as he’s symptom free then he’ll be able to take the neurological test and proceed through the protocol.

“Carson (Palmer) is feeling much better today, no residual effects from throwing, so he’s continued on the treatment he’s on and is on his way back and we’ll see how that goes. So he and Drew are basically possible for this ballgame.

“Dave Zastudil re-injured his groin. Matt Shaughnessy will go on I.R. with a designation to return. He had a knee injury, cartilage, and should be ready to go in six weeks and come back for the last four.

“Troy Niklas has a high-ankle sprain and we’ll just see how that is from day-to-day, he probably will not practice Wednesday. Other than that, everybody’s good to go and learn from a valuable lesson. When games are in the balance as this one was to start the fourth quarter, we had the football at the 50 yard line, I believe it was 27-20, your offense has to be able to win the ballgame and we were not able to do that. We were not able to get first downs and convert on third down. We dropped way, way too many balls in this game. But still in the fourth quarter it was theirs to take, and we didn’t do it. Defensively we were out there way too long, and we gave up too many big plays, that was obvious. Congratulations to Peyton on getting his record, and thank God he didn’t get nine so I could get on the plane and come home.”

How devastated is your front seven now without Matt and Calais?

“It’s obviously different. There’s no devastation; it’s just the next guy gets up and plays hard and plays better than he did in the fourth quarter of that ballgame because we gave up four yards rushing in the first half and about 90 in the fourth quarter, mostly from mental errors. Nothing physical — guys were in the wrong gaps and the wrong alignments, so we’ve got to get those young guys up to speed and a little more responsible when they have to get on the field and play.”

How do you approach the QB situation with the status of Drew and Carson being unknown? Can you wait, do you have to bring someone in?

“We’ll formulate a game plan to beat Washington then see what quarterback is available to be able to do what he does best. I’m comfortable with Logan (Thomas) when he gets all the snaps and all the reps that we’ll be able to put a plan out there for him to be successful. We feel like one of those other two will be back, if not obviously we have to move on to door number two and get somebody to back up Logan.”

The NFL released a statement saying the referees got the call right on the chop block that injured Calais Campbell.

“What’s happening? They put out a statement — our guy is out one to three weeks.”

What would be a satisfactory response?

“The guy that did it doesn’t play until the other guy comes back. But that’s not the way it is. You’ll never convince me it wasn’t premeditated. The one guy set him up. What’s worse, when you’re engaged you feel people around your legs. The lower chop block is the worst one. A guy sets you up and he grabs your attention and somebody else hits you in the knees — there’s no call for that in this game.”

You talked to Coach John Fox after the game, did that play come up?

“Yes. Foxy and I are good friends and I don’t even think he was aware of what happened at the time other than he got a penalty. Just basically wanted to know if he knew had it been coached.”

Is there a chance you might not get Palmer or Stanton back this week?

“Oh yeah, there’s a good chance neither one.”

Does that mean you have to bring in another QB in the next 24 hours?

“No, we do not have to. We’ll exhaust all our options to who is available, who is the right fit, at what cost.”

If you bring someone in do they need to have prior knowledge of your offense or can they come in blind?

“If they’re coming in blind they’re not going to help us, so it would be somebody that hopefully knows what our protections are and can possibly be a backup.”

Did you get a sense that your defense lost confidence as the game went on or did they just get exhausted?

“I think it was more tired. And again, lack of concentration. But the offense needed to keep them off the field in the fourth quarter and we couldn’t do it.”

Was there anything more Todd Bowles could have done to help stop Peyton Manning?

“Unless he could go out there and cover them, that’s about it.”

Compare the injury situation this year to what you dealt with injury-wise. Is this the same, worse?

“Oh it’s not that bad yet. I mean, I know everybody’s name.”

How did Bobby Massie do?

“Bobby had a very good day other than two glaring plays. That’s the way it is at tackle. Jared (Veldheer) had a really solid day — I think he handled DeMarcus as well as anybody has other than one play. Those were sacks, and that’s what happens at tackle. You block them 58 times, they get a sack, they go to the Pro Bowl and you stink.”

How much do you need to see from Carson to know he’s ready?

“I just need to see a full practice.”

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