Drew Stanton: Is He Capable of Leading Arizona?

Is Drew Stanton capable of leading the Arizona Cardinals for the rest of the NFL season?

Needless to say, the torn ACL that Arizona Cardinals’ starting quarterback Carson Palmer suffered last week was a major blow for the NFC’s best team. Palmer had been playing extremely good football this year, and was an excellent veteran leader for a hungry young football team. Now, the job will be passed to backup quarterback Drew Stanton who showed flashes earlier in the season when filling in for another Palmer injury.

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Is Stanton capable of leading the Cardinals forward for the rest of the NFL season and into the playoffs?

Earlier this season in four games with the Cardinals that he was put in, Stanton threw for 614 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. Those numbers are very solid for a backup quarterback, but they simply aren’t quite the production that the Cardinals were getting from Palmer when he was on the field. Taking care of the football will be a must for Stanton, but he’ll need to figure out how to get more points on the board as well.

Stanton will have quality targets to throw to in Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown, and Michael Floyd, and running back Andre Ellington might also see an increased workload. No matter what the Cardinals do with their gameplan, they have the talent to keep things clicking on all cylinders even with Palmer being out for the remainder of the season.

At 34 years of age, Stanton will bring plenty of NFL experience and leadership to the table as well. He did an excellent job of staying poised earlier this season when on the field, and it was obvious that his teammates followed him and were playing hard for him.

Sometimes injuries like this can completely change a teams season for the worse, but other times the team will rally around the injured player and have extra motivation. It’s very clear that this Cardinals’ team believes in Stanton’s ability to step in for Palmer, and the offense shouldn’t take too much of a hit without Palmer in there. Stanton may not lead as high-powered of an offensive attack and the team might not make as many big plays, but they will continue being very solid and they will take care of the football as well.

Arizona is currently leading the NFC West and NFC as a whole with an 8-1 record and have plenty of confidence moving forward. Stanton will face the Detroit Lions in his first week since Palmer’s knee injury, which will be a very difficult game for him to step in and win. That being said, he was 2-1 earlier this season and the Lions have some question marks surrounding their secondary.

If the Cardinals want to get Stanton confidence early on in the game and get him confidence in his ability to lead this team, they need to make some plays to get him involved right off the bat. There is absolutely no question that Stanton has the ability to lead this Cardinals team forward, and they still have the chance to win a Super Bowl if they continue playing the all-around brand of football that they have been so far.

There is definitely a lot of pressure facing Stanton as he takes over for Palmer, but he is grateful for the opportunity and has come through in big games for the Cardinals already this year. Expect to see Arizona continue playing at a high level despite the loss of their starting quarterback.

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