The Cardinals know they aren’t guaranteed anything more than an 11-win season if they beat the 49ers this weekend, but they also know that a loss ends any hope of making the playoffs.
That makes it an all hands on deck situation for Arizona and it will be a few days before they know if one of their key hands is available. Darren Urban of the team’s website reports that linebacker John Abraham will be a game-time decision because of the groin injury that has sidelined him at practice this week.
Abraham has put together a strong season for the Cardinals after signing with them in the offseason. He leads the team with 11.5 sacks and has played the second-most snaps on defense among the team’s linebackers this season. Those 11.5 sacks give him 133.5 over the course of his career, good for ninth-best in league history and first among active players.
Given the magnitude of the game, it’s a good bet that Abraham and the Cardinals will be doing everything in their power to make sure he ends up on the right side of that decision on Sunday.