GLENDALE, Ariz. – When Carson Palmer went down early in the fourth quarter in Sunday’s 31-14 victory over the St. Louis Rams, the Cardinals didn’t have time to ponder the possibility of losing their quarterback.
They had a game to finish.
“In the game, you don’t have time to blink,” left tackle Jared Veldheer said. “I think coming in here [to the locker room] after the game, it sinks in a little more. Obviously, it’s a blow right when it happens, but the game moves so fast, you need to keep focused.
“It’s tough, as an offensive lineman it kinda makes you a little sick to your stomach when that stuff happens. Got a big win, but it doesn’t feel good when that kinda stuff happens. It’s like go to war, but you lose a brother.”
Coach Bruce Arians went to check on Palmer while he was on the turf, something Arians doesn’t do often. He said two weeks ago, after Patrick Peterson lay motionless for a few minutes after getting knocked out for a moment against Philadelphia, that it takes a serious injury for him to leave the sideline.
That’s when the potential impact of Palmer’s injury began to set in at University of Phoenix Stadium.
“Anytime your quarterback goes down and he gets hit like that, you think it’s going to be serious,” Arians said. “I wanted to go out and just see. It’s always different for your quarterback than it is for anybody else.
“It’s always next man up, but for me it’s a little bit different.”
Watching Palmer get helped off the field caused receiver Larry Fitzgerald to pause for a moment.
“Yeah, we’re human,” he said. “You see a guy, your captain on offense, one of your big leaders on the team, you see him lying down on the ground. We’re human. Long before Carson’s our quarterback, he’s our friend.
“You know his kids; you know his wife. Those types of things, you think about. You want him to be able to play and perform, to play with his kids every day. We understand the risks of playing football. Those things do come to mind, but then you look up there on the clock and you look at your teammates. You understand that we’re on a journey together and there’s going to be bumps on the road and you have to weather through those rough times.”
When Drew Stanton took over on Arizona’s next drive, he got in the huddle and told his charges what was next on their agenda: to score. Four plays later, they did.
“I got in there and said, ‘We need to go down there and get a touchdown. There’s no reason why we can’t,’” Stanton said.
Cornerback Patrick Peterson said the defense got angry after Palmer's injury.
“After Carson went down, obviously it was a non-contact injury, but after he went down, we just wanted to win this ballgame that much more and go out there and try to tee off on their quarterback as well,” Peterson said.
