–The Cardinals placed rookie tackle Korey Cunningham on injured reserve after he suffered a foot injury during Sunday’s 31-9 loss to the Rams.
Cunningham, who had started the last six games at left tackle following a season-ending knee injury to regular starter D.J. Humphries, becomes the seventh Cardinals’ offensive lineman to land on injured reserve this season. Head coach Steve Wilks said Will Holden, Joe Barksdale and rookie Zack Golditch will rotate at left tackle in practice this week before determining who will start there in Sunday’s season finale at Seattle.
–The Cardinals finished 1-7 at State Farm Stadium, their worst home record since moving to Arizona in 1988.
“It’s been really difficult and really frustrating,” wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald said. “This is a place that we’ve always played well in historically and to not play well here all season, it’s been disturbing.”
–A week after allowing a season-high 215 rushing yards to the Falcons during a 40-14 rout by Atlanta, the Cardinals allowed 269 rushing yards during a 31-9 blowout loss to the Rams, who got 167 yards from C.J. Anderson only days after he joined the team.
It marked the 12th time the Cardinals have allowed 100 or more rushing yards to an opponent and it was the eighth time they’ve been gashed for at least 147, something that continues to get under the skin of embattled first-year head coach Steve Wilks.
“Under the skin?” Wilks asked. “It’s like a virus right now.”
The Cardinals have the worst rush defense in the league, allowing 153.1 yards per game. They’ll be finishing the season against a Seahawks team that has the NFL’s best rushing offense, at 158.5 yards per game.
“It sucks. It’s embarrassing. It’s all those things,” defensive tackle Corey Peters said. “It’s just a complete failure from a defensive standpoint. I mean, they rushed for way too many yards to think we were going to win the game. We’ve just got to get this s–t fixed.”
–“I think Korey has improved. I think he’s done some great things and I think he’s working in that direction. I just don’t want to give him the label right now as being a sure starter, but he has the potential.” – Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks when asked if can see rookie Korey Cunningham as the team’s possible starting right tackle next season.
–The Cardinals have 17 players on injured reserve, and with seven of them offensive linemen, it’s forced rookie quarterback Josh Rosen to have to scramble for his life at times.
“I just never foresaw the injury bug going from a bug to a full-blown influenza, but that’s part of the game,” Rosen said. “It’s not so much that we’ve got different guys in there; it’s that guys haven’t really had much time to mesh. We’ve got receivers and linemen that weren’t here a couple weeks ago, and that’s always tough.
“That was something that was new to me. I didn’t expect, coming into the league, how fluid a roster can be. But, I hang loose and adjust. I’ve done the best with what we can do so far.”
–“He wants to win. I want guys who want to win. He’s very passionate about that, but he’s got to understand that communication has to be dealt with inside. But he’s still a young guy, he loves the game and I think really when you go through the process – and I’m not trying to get ahead of things here – but when you look at these guys coming out of the draft, you know what they can do on tape. But we’ve got to make sure we get guys that love football, just love the freaking game. And I think D.J. is one of those guys.” – Head coach Steve Wilks on the addition of veteran safety D.J. Swearinger.
BY THE NUMBERS: 234 – Career games wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald will have played for the Cardinals following Sunday’s season finale against the Seahawks, which will tie the franchise record (kicker Jim Bakken, 1962-78) for most career games played for the organization.
