Brady Quinn: Cardinals’ Decision To Not Sign Veteran QB Could Haunt Them

It has been a revolving door of quarterbacks for the Arizona Cardinals this season.

The Cardinals got off to a hot start despite Carson Palmer going down with an injury to his shoulder in Week 1 and Drew Stanton, who filled in admirably under center, suffering a concussion in Week 5. Palmer returned only to sustain a season-ending torn ACL in week 10 while Stanton soon joined him on the shelf, suffering a sprained MCL in Week 15.

Stanton’s season might be over as well, as an infection to the same knee might keep him out the rest of the year. However, despite the carousel of quarterbacks, the Cardinals continued to find ways to win, and that credit goes to head coach Bruce Arians, Brady Quinn writes in his latest post for Football By Football.

But Arians did make one crucial mistake this year, Quinn says. The Cardinals will be entering the playoffs without a veteran quarterback, and that could doom this team’s chances in the postseason, according to Quinn.

“With all the credit Arians deserves this season, his biggest mistake was not signing a veteran quarterback once Palmer was placed on injured reserve,” Quinn writes. “Even though Arians has confidence in Stanton to ‘take the Cardinals to the Super Bowl’ there would be no harm in using that roster spot to bring in someone who has playoff experience like Rex Grossman, or maybe a long-shot like Kurt Warner.”

After initially announcing rookie Logan Thomas would get the call Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, Arians changed his mind, and it is Ryan Lindley who will instead get the start in the regular-season finale.