Cardinals Will Be One-and-Done in Playoffs If Drew Stanton Can't Go

Earlier this week, head coach Bruce Arians claimed there was an 85 percent chance quarterback Drew Stanton (sprained MCL and ACL) would be back for the playoffs. Two days later, he underwent arthroscopic surgery to clear an infection from his left knee, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport:

The latest developments are a major hit for the Cardinals, given that they are likely to play in a road playoff game next weekend, and the availability of Stanton is a bigger question today than it was two days ago.

The 11-4 Cardinals still have an outside shot at the NFC’s No. 1 seed, but it would take a myriad of upsets for that to happen: Arizona, a 7-point underdog at San Francisco, according to Odds Shark, needs to win, while Seattle (13.5-point favorites) and Green Bay (7.5-point favorites) would have to lose at home to St. Louis and Detroit, respectively.

The Cardinals, aside from obtaining home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, would benefit from a bye more than any other team in the league, as they would be out of action until the weekend of January 10-11, and it would give Stanton another week to recover from his latest procedure.

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Kent Somers of The Arizona Republic outlines seeding possibilities for the Cardinals and writes that the No. 5 seed is by far the most likely scenario. This means Arizona would play NFC South champion Atlanta or Carolina on the road during Wild Card Weekend.

In that scenario, the Cardinals would need to avoid losing to a seven-win divisional champion to advance—and they could very well enter that game as underdogs without Stanton—given that the Falcons beat Arizona 29-18 in Week 13 at the Georgia Dome or the Panthers would enter on a season-high four-game winning streak.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter was told by a Cardinals official that Stanton has a realistic chance to return this season, and Arians is optimistic he could play as soon as Wild Card Weekend. According to Bob McManaman of The Arizona Republic, “He's at home and will stay there and rehab over the weekend and be ready to go next week, hopefully. …I have no idea about infections and all that. You talk to doctors about that stuff. He's on schedule for next week.”

Stanton, of course, entered the season as the Cardinals’ backup quarterback before helping them to five wins in eight starts following starter Carson Palmer's multiple injuries (sleeping nerve in shoulder, torn ACL).

So, while Stanton has not been overly impressive statistically—completing 55 percent of passes, seven touchdowns and five interceptions—it speaks volumes to what the Cardinals have behind him, given that their playoff chances are tied so heavily to his availability.

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That would be Ryan Lindley, who is 1-4 in his career as a starter (1-3 in 2012) and has completed 40.7 percent of his passes this season and 49.3 percent for his career. His first start this season was a disaster, going 18-of-44 with an interception against the Seahawks on Sunday Night Football.

Of course the Seahawks have made a handful of offenses look silly of late, having allowed 193.6 yards per game and 6.6 points per game over their current five-game winning streak—which started in Week 12 with a 19-3 win over the then Drew Stanton-led Arizona Cardinals.

Lindley, however, is setting NFL records for futility, having gone an NFL-most 225 career passing attempts without a touchdown, according to ESPN Stats & Info:

Hey, at least Lindley can take solace in the fact his eight career interceptions without a touchdown is nowhere near an NFL record. Running back Jim Musick threw 15 picks (on 40 pass attempts!) in his four-year career with the franchise now known as the Washington Redskins, when he played for the Boston Braves (1932) and Boston Redskins (1933, 1935-36).

And since the AFL–NFL merger, Wayne Clark combined for no touchdowns and 14 interceptions over five seasons (1970, 1972-75) with three franchises.

The problem here is that Lindley is a misfit in Arians’ offense—which is heavily based on the deep pass and manipulating secondaries into committing in one direction or the other, according to Bleacher Report’s Sean Tomlinson.

Per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Lindley is 2-of-29 (6.9 percent) in his career with three interceptions on passes at least 20 yards downfield. This season, Palmer was 11-of-31 (35.4 percent) with three touchdowns and no picks on such throws, and Stanton was 16-of-42 (38.1 percent) with four TD and no picks.

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The only other option for the Cardinals, however, is rookie Logan Thomas, who had accuracy issues in college but was drafted as a developmental project with tremendous physical tools. He was actually named the starter for this week on Monday, but he was thought all along to be on a short leash and looked “seriously shaky” at practice, according to Darren Urban of azcardinals.com. This form prompted Arians to turn back to Lindley.

Bleacher Report’s Ian Kenyon holds a similar view, noting in a follow-up tweet that the Cardinals decided to “give the keys” back to Lindley—without first seeing how their rookie fared in game action:

What has been made abundantly clear is the Cardinals' current group of healthy quarterbacks is completely underwhelming—so much so that they are touchdown underdogs against a 49ers team that has lost four straight and is out of playoff contention.

And if that’s the case now, how can they expect to sustain any type of run in the postseason?

The Cardinals currently look—both on paper and on the field—as a one-and-down team in the playoffs. While a healthy Drew Stanton obviously would not guarantee playoff success, he would at least gives them a fighting chance—to not only win a game, but also to potentially help the Cardinals play in the Super Bowl in their own stadium.