Arizona Cardinals facing later kickoff time if Seattle Mariners force ALDS Game 4
The Cardinals-Seahawks game at Seattle's Lumen Field on Sunday will take place in the afternoon. Only it could be about 90 minutes after its originally scheduled kickoff time.
The NFL and MLB came up with a plan to start the Cardinals-Seahawks game at 2:30 p.m. local time, if baseball's Seattle Mariners make it to Game 4 in the American League Division Series. That game would start at 12:07 p.m. at T-Mobile Park, which is a short walk away from the home of the Seahawks just south of downtown Seattle.
If the Mariners are swept in three games — Game 3 is Saturday afternoon in Seattle and the Mariners trail the Houston Astros 1-0 in the series — the football game will keep its 1:05 p.m. kickoff and be seen on FOX.
According to the Associated Press, the city of Seattle has stipulations that keep full-stadium events from starting simultaneously at Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park. With the Mariners being in the playoffs, they have scheduling priority over the Seahawks.
The Cardinals didn't seem to mind the change, although they will be on a short week after Sunday with their next game set for Thursday, Oct. 20 at home.
Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury was asked if the potential game time change affects his team in any way.
"Not really," Kingsbury said.
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Cardinals safety Budda Baker grew up in the Seattle area and starred in high school and at the University of Washington. He said his favorite Mariners player was the now retired Ichiro Suzuki, and he's enjoyed seeing that his hometown baseball team is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2001.
"Definitely cool for that city. And, you know, for us, it doesn't matter what time we play, we just want to play and that is going to be a great day on Sunday. 75 degrees," Baker said, citing the weather forecast. "I'm very excited about that because of what I grew up in. You know, it's definitely raining all the time."
Walkthrough only
Instead of a full practice on Wednesday, the Cardinals held a walk-through session at their facility. Kingsbury noted that the team plays two games over the next nine days.
"So felt like we could use just the mental reps having everybody out there, even the guys going through some nicks and things like that. So it was good to have everybody out and really detailed things up."
Quarterback Kyler Murray thought there was good energy and attention to detail from his teammates.
"If guys know what they're doing, I think guys would rather in a sense do a walkthrough rather than you know, go full speed not have a clue what's going on," Murray said. "So got to hone in on the details before we can go full speed."
Baker called the walkthrough "above the neck emphasis."
"The physical aspect is going to, you know, put a toll on players. So Kliff and the coaches are doing a great job of getting us recovered, rejuvenated and ready for this week and then ready for a short week next week," Baker said.
Running back depth arrives
The Cardinals will be without running back Jonathan Ward after he was placed on injured reserve Wednesday due to a hamstring injury. Facing the possibility of not having starter James Conner and backup Darrel Williams this week, the team signed running backs Corey Clement and Ty'Son Williams to the practice squad.
Clement has 63 games of NFL experience, mostly with the Philadelphia Eagles, with whom he won a Super Bowl. Williams played in 13 games including three starts with the Baltimore Ravens last season and had 185 rushing yards and one touchdown on 35 carries. He spent this preseason with Indianapolis prior to being released in the Colts' final roster cuts.
Wide receiver Laquon Treadwell, a former first round pick by the Minnesota Vikings in 2016, was also signed to the practice squad. He's been with four other NFL teams.
Kingsbury said Conner could play even with a small amount of practice time this week.
"We wanted to make sure we got our bases covered and brought in some guys who played and brought in some experience," Kingsbury said, noting that rookie Keaontay Ingram will be expected to play at a high level if active Sunday.
Quick outs
*Kingsbury said K Matt Prater remains out, and Matt Ammendola is set to handle the placekicking and kickoff duties again for the Cardinals this week. "We've seen him kick well in practice, and he's kicked well in games in this league," Kingsbury said. And so we're past it (Ammendola's miss from 43 yards last Sunday in the final seconds), on to this week."
*Conner, Williams, Prater, C Rodney Hudson and CB Trayvon Mullen were the five players listed as not participating in Wednesday's light session of practice.
Get in touch with Jose Romero at Jose.Romero@gannett.com. Find him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals face later start if ALDS goes to Game 4
