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Happy New Year everyone! All week long, most people here have talked the injury situation for the Seahawks coming in to this game, focusing on all the bumps and bruises and which players to sit or not. That seems to be all the media and fans of our team are talking about this week.
Well, for what it’s worth that seems to be a lot of same kind of conversation going on with the Cardinals as well. No one has really focused on the Cardinals and their injury situation coming in to Sunday, so I thought -- Let's Flip the Table and look at things from the other side of the coin.
Though Arizona’s injury report isn’t as long and distinguished as that of the Seahawks, there are a few notable names on it …
Markus Golden reportedly has a bone bruise and is the most serious of the injuries listed above … and he is a significant piece to that defense. Golden leads the Cardinals in both QB Pressures (16) and QB Hits (14) this season. Arians is admitting that it might be difficult for him to perform this Sunday, so it’s likely he’s going to miss the game. Somewhere Russell Wilson is smiling a smile of relief.
Dwight Freeney – it sounds like he’s receiving a bit of the Marshawn Lynch treatment, but chronic knee issues are fairly common for 14 year veteran defensive linemen. I’m not saying that’s what’s going on with him, but when you get this part of the season with a 35 year old – you start thinking about ways to reduce his workload. He was the only one of those who were listed as DNP on Wednesday to return to practice on Thursday in a limited capacity.
Patrick Peterson --suffered a low ankle sprain back in Week 11 against the Bengals. He’s been playing on it and though you think he’d be healed up by now, it’s interesting to see the Cardinals limiting his practice reps because of it.
Rashad Johnson – the Cardinals starting SS has missed the last 2 games with an ankle injury. He hasn’t practiced yet this week and even if he does end up playing, I’m thinking Arizona is probably going to look to limit his work against Seattle.
You combine all of that with the loss of Tyrann Mathieu (who was lost for the season with an ACL injury 2 weeks ago against the Eagles) … there is a chance that Russell Wilson (and/or Tavaris Jackson) could find that Cardinals defense a bit less imposing this Sunday than the first time the Hawks faced them back in Week 10.
Michael Floyd has a pull behind his knee. Arians said they were hoping to get him some work in before the week was over, but that’s something they’re obviously going to watch.
Larry Fitzgerald – sounds like he’s just receiving a veteran reduced workload treatment you’d expect for a 32 year old future Hall of Fame receiver.
And then there is the whole QB rest vs. rust conversation. As far as this Sunday is concerned, that conversation we’ve been having about whether or not to sit Russell Wilson … should be (I would think) about double in intensity when it comes to Carson Palmer.
Palmer himself has made no bones about it – he intends to play.
Should he though? The facts are that unlike Russell Wilson, Carson Palmer isn’t 27 years old and seemingly bulletproof. He’s 36 years old and has undergone 2 major reconstructive knee surgeries in his career.
The odds against Carolina losing to the Bucs (and even giving the Cards a shot at the #1 Seed) aren’t high.
Not to mention the unconfirmed reports floating out there that Palmer may be a bit more banged up at this point in the season than he is letting on.
Against this Seahawk Defense, all it would take is one good hit on Palmer to shelve the Cardinals playoff hopes. The Seahawks Defense sacked him 3 times and had 13 QB Hits on Palmer during their first meeting of the year.
Admittedly, a lot of this is moot, as Arians (just like Carroll) said that he plans on playing to win this Sunday. I brought this topic up though because most of us have focused on the Seahawks side of things all week long. I just thought it would be interesting to flip the tables for a second and look at this upcoming game on Sunday from the other point of view.
Well, for what it’s worth that seems to be a lot of same kind of conversation going on with the Cardinals as well. No one has really focused on the Cardinals and their injury situation coming in to Sunday, so I thought -- Let's Flip the Table and look at things from the other side of the coin.
Though Arizona’s injury report isn’t as long and distinguished as that of the Seahawks, there are a few notable names on it …
Markus Golden reportedly has a bone bruise and is the most serious of the injuries listed above … and he is a significant piece to that defense. Golden leads the Cardinals in both QB Pressures (16) and QB Hits (14) this season. Arians is admitting that it might be difficult for him to perform this Sunday, so it’s likely he’s going to miss the game. Somewhere Russell Wilson is smiling a smile of relief.
Dwight Freeney – it sounds like he’s receiving a bit of the Marshawn Lynch treatment, but chronic knee issues are fairly common for 14 year veteran defensive linemen. I’m not saying that’s what’s going on with him, but when you get this part of the season with a 35 year old – you start thinking about ways to reduce his workload. He was the only one of those who were listed as DNP on Wednesday to return to practice on Thursday in a limited capacity.
Patrick Peterson --suffered a low ankle sprain back in Week 11 against the Bengals. He’s been playing on it and though you think he’d be healed up by now, it’s interesting to see the Cardinals limiting his practice reps because of it.
Rashad Johnson – the Cardinals starting SS has missed the last 2 games with an ankle injury. He hasn’t practiced yet this week and even if he does end up playing, I’m thinking Arizona is probably going to look to limit his work against Seattle.
You combine all of that with the loss of Tyrann Mathieu (who was lost for the season with an ACL injury 2 weeks ago against the Eagles) … there is a chance that Russell Wilson (and/or Tavaris Jackson) could find that Cardinals defense a bit less imposing this Sunday than the first time the Hawks faced them back in Week 10.
Michael Floyd has a pull behind his knee. Arians said they were hoping to get him some work in before the week was over, but that’s something they’re obviously going to watch.
Larry Fitzgerald – sounds like he’s just receiving a veteran reduced workload treatment you’d expect for a 32 year old future Hall of Fame receiver.
And then there is the whole QB rest vs. rust conversation. As far as this Sunday is concerned, that conversation we’ve been having about whether or not to sit Russell Wilson … should be (I would think) about double in intensity when it comes to Carson Palmer.
Palmer himself has made no bones about it – he intends to play.
Should he though? The facts are that unlike Russell Wilson, Carson Palmer isn’t 27 years old and seemingly bulletproof. He’s 36 years old and has undergone 2 major reconstructive knee surgeries in his career.
The odds against Carolina losing to the Bucs (and even giving the Cards a shot at the #1 Seed) aren’t high.
Not to mention the unconfirmed reports floating out there that Palmer may be a bit more banged up at this point in the season than he is letting on.
Against this Seahawk Defense, all it would take is one good hit on Palmer to shelve the Cardinals playoff hopes. The Seahawks Defense sacked him 3 times and had 13 QB Hits on Palmer during their first meeting of the year.
Admittedly, a lot of this is moot, as Arians (just like Carroll) said that he plans on playing to win this Sunday. I brought this topic up though because most of us have focused on the Seahawks side of things all week long. I just thought it would be interesting to flip the tables for a second and look at this upcoming game on Sunday from the other point of view.
