Who’s Playing For The Cardinals Anyway?
The Arizona Cardinals have a number of players listed as questionable on the injury report heading into Week Four against the Carolina Panthers.
As the Arizona Cardinals look to take on the Carolina Panthers, they find themselves once again wondering if a number of players will or will not be able to play in the game. A couple of the usual suspects are on the injury report—J.J. Watt and Rondale Moore—but Marquise Brown has found his way on the report as well with a nagging foot issue. After coming off a huge game in Week Three against the Los Angeles Rams, the team has come to welcome Brown’s big arrival in the structure of the offense.
Marquise Brown / Rondale Moore
Brown had 140 receiving yards last week for the Cardinals and was a major reason why the team was able to stay in the game despite not being able to get into the end zone at all. Kyler Murray was able to find his own college teammate 14 times, spelling positive things to come for this offense. There’s a growing level of trust among these two now on the professional level that figures to benefit the creativity of the offense once all its pieces come back.
Brown’s place on the injury report comes in the wake of news that A.J. Green won’t be available for the Cardinals against the Panthers, after suffering a knee injury last week. But Moore has been trending in the right direction for the Cardinals, having played throughout practice this week. If he can go for the game, this would be extremely welcome news for a team that hasn’t had a lot of good news in terms of injury so far this season.
J.J. Watt
Watt seems to be trending in the right direction as well, having made an appearance in practice on Friday after continuing to deal with his nagging calf issues. His playing in the game for the Cardinals doesn’t seem to be a major concern right now. He’s had a sack in both games he played in for the team in the young season, so having him out on the field has been big for the defensive, which struggled mightily early on.
Watt had just one sack in seven games he played in last season for the Cardinals, so if he’s on the verge of a resurgence that would bode well for the defense as the season grows older. The much-maligned defense came up big in the second half of the game Week Two against the Raiders and his presence had a lot to do with that, drawing a lot of attention from the opposing offensive line. The team is simply better as a whole when he plays.
Trayvon Mullen / Zaven Collins
Trayvon Mullen is expected to get some playing time for the Cardinals against the Panthers as well. It has taken him a good amount of time to become accustomed to his new environment well enough for the coaching staff to give him a full go. He should provide some extra versatility to a defensive secondary that has had a difficult start to the season. In three seasons with the Raiders, he had four interceptions and 28 defended passes in 38 games.
Zaven Collins is also listed as questionable for the Cardinals this week with a shoulder injury. He left last week’s game against the Rams early because of the injury, but it didn’t appear at the time to be overly serious. The question regarding his status this week will come down to whether the team feels it’s worth it to bring him into the game and risking further injury. But it could be that the injury is minor enough that he himself decides he isn’t going to miss any real time from it.