Stanton Speaks: Gabbert is ‘extremely prepared’ to play Sunday

TEMPE, Ariz. – Quarterback Carson Palmer, now in his fifth year with the Arizona Cardinals, meets the media every Wednesday during the regular season.

With Palmer injured, however, that meeting now takes place with his backup Drew Stanton.

Here, in this space, with help from the Cardinals’ media relations staff, we’ll highlight many of the key topics and personnel conversations he has with reporters.

On how he’s feeling:

“I feel good. I feel really good. We’ve got a plan in place with our training staff and just trying to trend in the right direction, and that’s been the case the past couple of days.”

On how much he’s been able to do at practice the last couple days:

“A little bit more each day. I think just being smart with it and seeing how it responds, and both days have been successful thus far. I think that’s the goal each and every day. It’s one of these things that you don’t know when it’s going to start feeling better or whatnot, but I don’t want to push it too hard.”

On how hard it was to play with his injury on Thursday night:

“Adrenaline was obviously in full effect and wanting to be out there, realizing that I don’t take a single snap for granted. So, I wanted to be out there and do stuff, and if I ever felt like I was going to be a detriment to the team, then you also have to be wise in that sense.

“I wanted to continue to be out there and I really wanted to win that football game, because that could have been a huge springboard for us.”

On not taking snaps for granted and how not wanting to lose a chance to play impacts his decision to play through injury:

“Yeah, I don’t want to lose it, but I realize that I don’t have control over that. I have control over going out there and trying to execute each play. I think that, unfortunately, we didn’t have enough plays made to win the football game on Thursday night, but yeah, you relish those opportunities, because for me, they’ve only come a certain number of times.”

On how this injury compares to the others he’s had:

“It’s different. I’ve had bone bruises in the past and stuff, and you deal with it. The hard thing is you don’t know when it’ll heal.

“It’s just all of a sudden, you go one day, and it’s gone, because there’s such poor blood circulation and everything. You can’t really do anything to speed up the healing process, and it just becomes a thing of pain management.”

On if his injury is a sprain or a bone bruise:

“Whatever – a sprain.”

On he’s encouraged about playing on Sunday:

“I’m always encouraged. I’m not going to count myself out, and I think that with the help of this training staff and everybody around here, if that’s in the team’s best interest and I can go out there and help, then I want to do that. If it’s not, then Blaine (Gabbert) will go out there and do a great job.”

On where he’s at percentage-wise:

“I don’t have percentages. I don’t know. I’d be way off and I think inaccurate. Probably somewhere around my completion percentage would be off, too.”

On how close QB Blaine Gabbert is to being ready if he can’t play:

“I think he’s extremely prepared. It’s been impressive to watch him come in and work, to learn this system. He’s got a lot of starts under his belt and being able to have that, use that experience, but then also ask questions and learn. I feel like you can learn a lot just by watching Carson’s (Palmer) approach – how he plays, how he executes and how he does stuff. I know I’ve done that for the last five years of being here. So, Blaine’s extremely smart and absorbs all that stuff and sees everything that’s going on.”

On if he thinks he will be able to play Sunday:

“Me? Yeah, of course. That’s what I would say. I want to play, yes, like I said. But, I also need to remove myself from the situation and say, ‘Is this what’s best for the team?’ and trying to help us get back to .500, because at the end of the day, we all have to be short-sighted right now. We have to just win one football game against a really good defense that we’re going up against.”

On if he feels like he could keep himself out of harm’s way with his current ability to move:

“I don’t know. With what I’ve done thus far, I feel comfortable with it. Like I said, it’s a progression each and every day, but I don’t need to play today, luckily. I’ve got to be able to go and execute on Sunday, and I’ve got enough time to make those decisions. Ultimately, B.A. (Bruce Arians), the training staff and the coaches will say ‘yea’ or ‘nay.’”

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