No decision yet from Cardinals coach on Kyler Murray or who will start at quarterback
Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon has until Saturday to make a decision as to whether to activate quarterback Kyler Murray. So his plan was to take Friday to watch his three quarterbacks put in one more practice before the team flew out to Cleveland, and make the call on Murray and a starting quarterback this week either on the flight to Ohio later in the day or Saturday morning.
That means neither a starter nor a backup has been named for Sunday against the Browns. It will be some combination of rookie Clayton Tune, Murray and current practice squad member Jeff Driskel, and a decision will come in the next 24 hours, Gannon said Friday morning.
"We've got to make sure we're doing the best thing for the team and the best thing for Kyler. So that's how he plays into that. But he'll have a big part of saying to me, and us, 'Hey, I'm ready to go, I want to play football.' And we're still working towards that," Gannon said. "He's told me he's ready. And I'm not even going to tell you when he told me he's ready. But he knows he needs to do certain things and keep stacking good days and keep getting reps and playing the position to be ready to play."
Murray appeared on Friday's injury report with a game status of questionable. He practiced all week and last week too, after which he was listed as doubtful.
"Fun finally seeing them out here and getting to practice and taking all those, you know, the meeting time, all those things studying and putting it to life out here on the field with the guys," Cardinals pass game specialist Spencer Whipple said of Murray. "So it's an exciting time. I know he's doing really well working hard on it."
If Tune is the choice for Sunday, Gannon said he has had a good week and been accurate with his passes in practice, and that Tune has built on some of the things he showed during his extensive playing time in the preseason.
"I forget how mobile he is. And you've seen him in the last couple days make plays outside of the pocket. So I'm excited, if it's him, to see him play," Gannon said.
Gannon might already have made up his mind, but still wants to evaluate Friday.
"I just want to see how we operate out there. And how we do (Friday) with the full week of practice," he said. "I like to use the full week of practice to make decisions on who's going to play. So that's how we've been doing it."
Stills the one
Cardinals defensive end Dante Stills is among several rookies who have seen extensive playing time this season. Since being inactive in Week 1, the sixth-round pick has started three games at defensive end, and he's been involved in 21 tackles this season.
Part of those tackles are 2 ½ sacks, one against Cincinnati Bengals star Joe Burrow earlier this season and 1 ½ last Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens Lamar Jackson, another top NFL quarterback.
Stills became the third rookie in the NFL this season with a multi-sack game, joining the Philadelphia Eagles' Jalen Carter and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon, both of whom were top-10 draft picks. He is the first Cardinals rookie since 2011 (Sam Acho with two in Week 12) to have multiple sacks in a single game and just the third Arizona rookie to do so in the last 20 seasons.
The NFL game has slowed down for Stills. He's making an impact, and with that comes the opportunity to run out of the team tunnel and announced as a starter and come up with a sack celebration, which he is still working on.
"Definitely something I've been dreaming of my whole life. It's something that, you know, I can't really put into words, and I'm kind of in the moment, I'm just trying to take it all in and just enjoy it, really," Stills said of being announced as a starter.
It's fun to see veteran teammates Dennis Gardeck break into his "Strobe" sack dance, or Zaven Collins pretend to twirl a lasso over his head. Stills has just run off, trying to come up with something of his own in celebration of a sack.
He pledged to have something ready to go for next time.
"I don't have a good celebration yet. That's not good enough yet. But you know, I'm working on it. I'm trying to figure out the right thing," Stills said. "I feel like across the league, everybody's kind of doing the same things and stuff like that. So I'm trying to figure out the different way to do that."
Guarding against Garrett
Whoever starts at quarterback for the Cardinals will be facing one of the NFL’s best pure pass rushers in Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, who ranks fourth in the league with 8½ sacks.
“He’s really hard. He’s one of those top-tier guys,” said Cardinals center Hjalte Froholdt, who went against Garrett in practice last season as a member of the Browns. “You can say, ‘Oh, watch for this move and this move and this move and this move.’ He has some things that are his signature stuff, but at the same time, you’ve got to be ready for anything with him.
“You’ve got to give respect to him, but we’ve got to be able to go out and execute our jobs.”
Gannon said Garrett is another “War Daddy” (as he described Rams sack specialist Aaron Donald) who can wreck a game, but he warns Arizona needs to be mindful of Cleveland’s entire defense.
“He’s a good player, a really good player, but it’s their whole defense,” Gannon said, adding Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is “one of the best ever to do it.”
“They’re fast, aggressive, they’ve got really good players on all three levels and they’re connected with how they play because it’s a little bit different style than ours. They’re one of the top defenses in the NFL. We’ve got a big challenge ahead.”
Injury report
The Cardinals have ruled out running back Emari Demercado (toe) and left guard Trystan Colon (calf) for Sunday’s game, opening the door for more work for Keontay Ingram at running back and Dennis Daley at left guard. Listed as questionable are Murray, receivers Michael Wilson (shoulder) and Greg Dortch (ankle), linebacker Krys Barnes (hamstring) and defensive lineman Kevin Strong (shoulder).
For the Browns, receiver David Bell (knee), cornerback Greg Newsome II (groin) and defensive end Alex Wright (knee) are out. Tackle Dawand Jones (shoulder) is questionable.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals yet to name starting QB for game at Cleveland Browns
