Cardinals must get injured players back to get past the Rams

The Arizona Cardinals will need to get some injured players back if they hope to defeat the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night.

Over the past several weeks, the Arizona Cardinals have had to deal with injuries to a handful of their key contributors.

Getting healthy is now a must due to the fact that the Cards are preparing to take on the Los Angeles Rams in a do-or-die playoff matchup on Monday night. Meeting the division champion will be a challenging task, to say the least, so having a full complement of players would greatly increase Arizona’s chances of defeating such a formidable Rams squad.

As the clash with Los Angeles quickly approaches, there is a contingent of Cardinals whose status for the game is still up in the air. Key members of the roster who have been vital to the success that the team has enjoyed thus far this season.

Arizona Cardinals hope to have several key components back by Monday night

Back in October, the Cards believed that they had lost J.J. Watt for the year. The defensive end tore his labrum, bicep and rotator cuff, and dislocated his shoulder as well. The club had no choice but to move forward without the heart and soul of their defense, knowing it would take nothing short of a miracle for Watt to return to the Redbirds before the season was over.

Apparently, miracles do occur. Watt was back on the practice field for the Cards on Thursday, weeks before even the most optimistic of doctors would’ve thought was possible. At the moment, the 6’5, 288 pounder is not a definite for the Rams contest, but it sure sounds like Watt is doing everything in his power to be out there with his teammates on Monday.

Both James Conner and Chase Edmonds have been a huge part of the Arizona offense in 2021, and each of the running backs are banged-up at the present time. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury has indicated that both will be game-time decisions, but Edmonds believes that he and his running mate will play.

“I’ll be out there Monday night. ‘No. 2’ will be suited up. To me, with this playoff game, I find it very hard to believe that J.C. (Conner) is going to miss this game. Just knowing the competitor that he is, it’s going to be hard not to see No. 6 out there.”

Another part of the scoring attack that the Cardinals are hoping to have back for the showdown with Los Angeles is wide receiver, Rondale Moore. The rookie speedster has missed the last three matchups with a bum ankle.

The Cards are also hopeful that Marco Wilson, a rookie cornerback who’s been out since Christmas night, will return from the shoulder ailment that has kept him sidelined. Defensive end Jordan Phillips could also return from the knee sprain that has kept him out of action since the Detroit Lions loss on December 19th.

Arizona is going to have its hands full with a Rams team that is full of talent on both sides of the ball. With a little luck, “Big Red” will have their walking wounded back for the franchise’s most important matchup in six years.