Loyalty, stubbornness will be Bruce Arians’ demise
With Carson Palmer’s season, and career, likely over with the Arizona Cardinals, Bruce Arians will leave his legacy in the hands of lifetime backup, Drew Stanton
After an embarrassing showing in front of a foreign crowd 5000 miles away, the Cardinals come back home from London a disheartened bunch after losing franchise quarterback Carson Palmer.
The Los Angeles Rams have yet again ended Carson Palmer’s season, this time, to a broken arm. The veteran QB will likely miss the next 8 weeks and possibly the rest of the season. But unsurprisingly, head coach Bruce Arians is sticking with Drew Stanton, who’s been with the coach since 2012.
With playoff aspirations still mathematically alive, now is not the time to show loyalty to a guy who has proven over and over again that he’s not a starting NFL quarterback.
Everyone knows what Stanton can (and can’t) do. He can manage an offense, but he cannot complete his passes. He’s 33 years old and has only played in 34 career games (13 starts). His career completion percentage is 52.7 and has 14 touchdowns to 20 interceptions. I’m no mathematician, but that is not a great ratio to have when you’re expected to lead an offense looking for a playoff run.
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So that begs the question: Why is Bruce Arians so committed to him?
Well, because that’s Bruce Arians — stubborn and loyal. The former, most have learned to deal with during his tenure. The latter, certainly an admirable trait for any person to have. But when that loyalty is a detriment to your football team — and possibly your career — it’s time to take more chances and see what your other options are.
So that brings up the next question: Why not go with Blaine Gabbert?
After signing with the Cardinals this off-season, former first-round pick Blaine Gabbert was already labeled by some as “a bust.” With a career record of 9-31, that is deservingly so…on the surface.
But when your franchise, veteran QB goes down with a devastating injury, logic says you go with the more capable, experienced player, not the guy you’ve known the longest.
Gabbert, 28, is five years younger than Stanton, yet has 27 more starts to his name. He has a higher completion percentage at 56, throwing for 7,351 yards. His touchdown-interception ratio: 38 to 37. Again, no degree in math, but my 8-year-old daughter can crunch those numbers and make the comparison.
The excitement of an explosive offense with newly arrived Adrian Peterson, and a confident offensive line, quickly evaporated in the London night sky. And with Bruce Arians already stating, “We’re going to stick with Drew,” all hopes of a division title went out the window as well.
Drew Stanton is a known quantity and has already shown he’ll be nothing more than a backup. Blaine Gabbert, on the other hand, has been a victim of inconsistency, terrible coaching and bad football teams. If you want to avoid another post-Kurt Warner quarterback debacle, play Gabbert. The Cardinals can ill-afford to not have an answer after Palmer’s career is done. Which, with this last injury, it’s likely that will be the last time we see him play in any uniform.
So leave the loyalty and stubbornness out of this one. What is there to lose with Gabbert? A few more games? Sure. But with Stanton, the losing is inevitable — we’ve all seen it already.
Start Gabbert, and see if the season can still be saved. Carson Palmer’s successor is right in front of us, but it’s likely he’ll never get his opportunity.