Beanie Wells Injury: Cardinals Won't Beat Ravens Even with Top RB in Lineup

Good news for the Arizona Cardinals: injured running back Beanie Wells participated in practice on Thursday and Friday and is a game-time decision for Sunday's game against the Baltimore Ravens.

Bad news: the Cards still stink.

Good news: the Ravens looked terrible in their 12-7 loss to the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Monday night.

Bad news: Baltimore will have plenty of anger left over from that loss to vent on the Redbirds, who—last I checked—are terrible.

The bottom line? Don't expect Arizona to come anywhere close to notching at "W" on the road against the Ravens this weekend.

The Cards (26th in total defense, 28th in scoring defense) are just what the doctor ordered for a Ravens offense that mustered only 146 yards against the Jags, 90 of which came on the lone touchdown drive of the game.

Chances are that Ray Rice will find just a bit more running room, and Joe Flacco and his receivers will get more leeway to operate against a Cards unit that's surrendered more than 30 points in each of its last three contests.

So, unless Beanie Wells can play defense, Arizona won't benefit significantly from his return. A deep throw by Flacco here, a bowling-ball scamper from Rice there, and the Cards will find themselves down, putting the onus on Kevin Kolb, not Wells, to keep them in the game.

Then again, Wells is still less than a sure thing to play on Sunday. He remains a game-time decision with a sore hamstring, an injury that figures to limit his effectiveness somewhat, even if he is healthy enough to go.

But that alone won't keep the Redbirds from playing a competitive game in Baltimore. Their whole team is atrocious (just ask the Vikings), Kolb included, and they're playing on the road against an angry Ravens team.

As if Ray Lewis and company weren't scary enough, it being the day before Halloween and all. If anything, the team might be better off letting Beanie Wells go trick-or-treating around the Beltway, because having the guy play on a bad hammy in a game in which they have no shot won't help the Cardinals any.

Not that anything or anyone really can—at this point.