Cardinals quarterback Drew Stanton sent out a tweet rooting on his Michigan State Spartans in their Cotton Bowl matchup with Baylor on Thursday afternoon and it looks like that’s just one of the postseason games he’ll be watching in the next few days.
Darren Urban of the Cardinals website reports that Stanton was the only member of the team not taking part in the portion of Thursday’s practice that was open to the media. With the Cardinals heading to Charlotte later on Thursday for their Saturday date with the Panthers, that leaves Stanton pretty much out of time to show the team his knee has recovered enough for him to play.
Despite reports of an infection in Stanton’s knee that required surgical intervention, the Cardinals expressed some optimism early this week about Stanton’s chances of returning against Carolina. Coach Bruce Arians said that Stanton would need to go through a full practice before that could happen, however, and they’ll only be doing a walkthrough on Friday.
That’s left all the first-team reps for Ryan Lindley, who will almost certainly be making his third straight start and first postseason appearance on Saturday. Stanton may have a chance of returning later in the playoffs, but Lindley will need to win for the second time as an NFL starter to make that happen.
