Cardinals backup quarterback Drew Stanton wasn’t able to get his team to the playoffs, but he may have made himself a legend.
Teammate Larry Fitzgerald let the cat out of the bag with a tweet after last night’s game, saying Stanton has been playing with a torn ACL the last two weeks.
That’s interesting for a number of reasons, including the fact Stanton hasn’t been on the official injury report submitted to the league (including the one posted on their own website). So while Fitzgerald isn’t a doctor, he may have gotten his team in as much trouble as the league cares to enforce (which may or may not be that much, based on precedent).
The larger point remains that Stanton is a boss, leading the team to two straight wins on what may have been a bad knee, which helped coach Bruce Arians win his 50th game and become the franchise’s winningest coach.
“God bless Drew Stanton,” Arians said, via Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic. “He’s just a winner.”
One other point to consider here is how bad Blaine Gabbert must have been to put an injured guy back on the field. After Stanton was forced out of the lineup with a knee injury (one they actually reported), the Cardinals went 10 quarters without a touchdown in Weeks 13-15. That was enough to put Stanton back out there, in whatever condition he happened to be in.