Even With New Baby, Stanton Focused On Starting Job, Staying Healthy
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - For Arizona Cardinals quarterback Drew Stanton, this week includes both personal and professional high points: his wife gave birth to their second child, daughter Emeric East, Monday night, and just hours earlier Stanton had received a sudden promotion as the Cardinals revealed starting quarterback Carson Palmer had torn his ACL and would be out for the season.
As Stanton juggles his responsibilities to football and to family, the Cardinals (8-1) prepare to host the Detroit Lions (7-2) this weekend.
"It is a little bit surreal right now," Stanton said Wednesday. "You almost have to compartmentalize everything. When I was at the hospital last night and laying there with my daughter on my chest, that puts everything in perspective because that's much more important than playing this game, but at the same time, when I'm here, my focus is solely on this and doing everything I possibly can to try and be the best football player for my team.
"This is my job," Stanton added. "I can't cut any corners in doing that job to the best of my ability."
Stanton began his career with the Lions, who selected him with a second-round pick before taking quarterback Matthew Stafford in the first round two years later. After Stanton departed for the Indianapolis Colts, he had a chance to log many more repetitions in practices and made considerable progress, so much that Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians - then the offensive coordinator and the later interim head coach for the Colts - brought Stanton with him when he took the job with Arizona prior to last season.
"I actually brought him in as the starter," Arians said. "I was very confident with him being our quarterback, but Steve Keim does a great job, our general manager, of continuing to press situations, and we were able to swing the trade for Carson, which really solidified our room tremendously, which had been a problem in the past."
Thanks to an injury Palmer suffered earlier in the season, Stanton has already started three games this year, and the Cardinals have a 2-1 record in those games.
"It's not like his first time out," Arians said. "We won two, but then he got knocked out and we lost the one, so we're very, very confident. I think our entire locker room is confident in Drew. We're all very sorry for Carson, but they're not going to cancel the games, so we've got to make a plan to let Drew help us win the game."
When Palmer tore his ACL in Sunday's game, Stanton - aided by the formidable Arizona defense - led the team to a come-from-behind victory. Over the four games in which Stanton has played, he has completed 49.5 percent of his passes for 614 yards and three touchdowns.
Lions head coach Jim Caldwell said Detroit will also be on the lookout for Stanton using his feet.
"Mobile quarterbacks, they all give you a problem in that sense because of the fact that they just don't sit in the pocket," Caldwell said. "They can move their feet very, very well, not only just stepping up in the pocket to buy time but then also, once he escapes the pocket, particularly if you're playing coverages like man-under where you turn your back on the offense, that this guy can get through the gap and give you some problems, and he has a real good feel for what they do offensively, so he knows when those opportunities are going to come about, and those are the kind of guys that are really dangerous."
Arians and the Cardinals want Stanton to refrain from using his feet too often, however. With Stanton now the starter, Arizona needs him to be a bit more conservative.
"Don't go out and do too much," Arians said. "He knows he needs to stay upright. For us to get to where we want to go, he's got to finish games. He might have to tuck a little of his macho-ism in and throw some balls away and slide."
Stanton laughed as he confirmed that, indeed, he has received that message.
"It's been passed along," Stanton said. "He talked about it to me on game day, and then it was passed along a couple different ways from a couple different people, but yeah, I think that's something, too, that I've had to learn in this league of playing and being smarter about. In college, when you're younger, too, you can kind of get away with that a little bit more, taking off, but we pay guys to run with the football in their hands, so it's a matter of me finding my checkdowns and being smarter and, if I do get an opportunity to run, make sure I slide and get down."
Stafford and Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson had only positive sentiments to share about their former teammate.
"He's tough as they get," Stafford said. "He played through some injuries when he was here, I know that. Was always willing to stand in there and take a hit, throw the ball downfield. He's done that this year as well. He's a smart guy, knows football. He wouldn't be in this league for this long if he didn't. He understands what he's doing, and he's playing at a pretty high level, so I'm happy for him."
