Despite Big Win, Bruce Arians' Cardinals Face Huge Challenge Minus Carson Palmer

Carson Palmer crumpled to the turf.

The Arizona Cardinals quarterback, in just his fifth game back from a nerve injury, ducked away from an attempted sack and then just folded. Gave way like the turf had been pulled out from underneath him.

Not long after, the cart came to carry a ballcap-clad Palmer to the locker room. His tight-lipped expression and wan acknowledgement of the supportive home crowd looked as foreboding as his collapse. It wasn't the 34-year-old's first major knee injury, not even to that knee:

Palmer left the Cardinals, the NFL's last one-loss team, trailing at home against the only losing squad in the NFC West. Tailback Andre Ellington hadn't been able to get anything going, and the vaunted defense hadn't been able to make a big play off unsung quarterback Austin Davis and his St. Louis Rams.

The Cardinals' hopes for the division title, let alone the conference title, seemed to roll out of University of Phoenix Stadium on that cart.

Enter Drew Stanton.

The backup quarterback, with whom the Cardinals had gone 2-1 during Palmer's first absence, came out firing. He hit rookie sensation John Brown on a 48-yard touchdown pass, immediately putting the Cardinals in the lead.

Then, Arizona's ball-hawking defense came up huge. All-Pro cornerback Patrick Peterson picked off Davis on back-to-back series and capped off the second interception with a 30-yard touchdown return:

On the very next drive, rookie defensive end Kareem Martin relieved Davis of the ball, and cornerback Antonio Cromartie scooped it up and ran it back into the end zone. The final score was 31-14; the nest had been protected.

The Cardinals' league-best record improved to 8-1, and for a moment all in the desert was well. As the Fox Sports broadcast showed in the locker room, head coach Bruce Arians didn't bother giving out any game balls. As he reminded his players, they were supposed to beat the Rams at home.

"You don't give out game balls for what you're supposed to do, right?" he rhetorically asked.

But as NFL Media's Albert Breer tweeted in the wake of the win, the Cardinals may have to overcome much more adversity from here on out:

Stanton or no, defense or no, Palmer's loss is enormous.

Yes, the Cardinals were able to muster two wins out of three in his prior absence. This team has greater aspirations than just playing winning football, though. After missing the 2013 postseason despite going 10-6 in the NFL's toughest division, the Cardinals are in playoffs-or-bust mode—and after an 8-1 start, just having a cup of coffee in the playoffs would be a crushing disappointment.

Stanton was under center when the Cardinals took on the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field; it was the closest thing to a playoff environment the Cardinals have faced in 2014. They got stomped 41-20.

	Cmp%	TD%	Int%	Y/A
Carson Palmer	62.9	4.9	1.3	7.26
Drew Stanton	49.5	3.2	0	6.60

Even worse, the Cardinals' schedule gets much harder from here. Besides the rematch against the Rams—who, despite being outgunned in the NFC West, haven't ceded anything to anyone all year—the Cardinals face a slew of likely playoff teams.

Stanton's path up the mountain starts against the team that drafted him, the Detroit Lions. After that, a two-game road trip against the Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons. Then they host the Kansas City Chiefs, face the Rams in St. Louis on Thursday Night Football, host the Seahawks and close the season in the San Francisco 49ers' new digs.

That's four division games, four road games and four games against teams in playoff position. That's two games against the Seahawks, the team they're trying to stave off, when the Cardinals hold just a two-game lead. That's a tough row to hoe.

Arians deserves all the credit in the world for the tremendous job he's done in Arizona. A franchise that's been chewing up and spitting out coaches for decades finally has a leader, not to mention an identity.

The Cardinals lost key players from last season's team, like inside linebacker Karlos Dansby, without missing a beat. They've managed to preserve balance on offense despite a collective rushing attack averaging a mere 3.4 yards per carry—and that was before running 22 times for just 28 yards against the Rams.

Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

Former All-Pro receiver Larry Fitzgerald hasn't been quite himself. Promising young wideout Michael Floyd's caught just 24 balls in nine games. The offensive line's been struggling in protection and run blocking, but 2013 No. 7 overall pick Jonathan Cooper can't even crack the starting lineup.

Somehow, throughout all this, Arians has kept the Cardinals' scoring a 12th-best average of 24.8 points per game.

For the Cardinals to keep that up against the defenses they have on their schedule, though, is an incredible challenge. How Stanton and the rest of the team will fare against many of those same defenses in the playoffs, should they qualify, is an even bigger one.

With new challenges, Arians has the perfect chance to build off his 2012 NFL AP Coach of the Year award—and earn another one.