Arizona Cardinals: Stanton needs to raise his game

The Arizona Cardinals will be starting Drew Stanton at quarterback on Thursday night

In the end, there is no Carson Palmer at quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night against the San Francisco 49ers. He had been ruled out and Drew Stanton has been named starter.

After leaving last Sunday’s game in the fourth quarter due to his head hitting the ground, he went into concussion protocol. There was no need to rush him back. He did not practice all week.

Can the Cardinals survive without Palmer on Thursday night? After all, the Cardinals are facing the 1-3 San Francisco 49ers. Certainly they can survive. The big question is will they?

It will be Stanton’s first start since December 2014 when he replaced Palmer at the end of the season due to a torn ACL. Now, all the Cardinals and their fans can do is hope that it is just a one-game absence.

By all accounts, it should be Palmer’s only missed game. If you had a small handful of games to choose from for Palmer to miss, this would be in the top five. However it is on the road at a divisional opponent.

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That being said, the Cardinals struggled in San Francisco last year as well, coming away with a late 19-13 victory. The hope here is Stanton can avoid the turnovers. So far through the preseason and his relief effort on Sunday against the Rams has left a lot to be desired.

The Cardinals will come up with a game plan for Stanton no doubt, one that likely includes a lot of running plays. Just manage the game and get out with the victory, one the Cardinals need in a big way.

Of course the Cardinals will need to throw to be successful as well. Stanton is going to need to limit the interceptions. He threw two in the closing minutes against the Rams. He actually threw a third but it was caught out of bounds.

It is time for Stanton to step up his game. The Cardinals are relying on him to lead the offense. They need touchdowns, not field goals. It doesn’t have to be Stanton being the hero but being the guy that can control the game and sustain drives.