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Drew Stanton: "You Have To Be Yourself"

Like he did with Palmer, Arians will tailor gameplan to help new quarterback

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Cardinals coach Bruce Arians and quarterback Drew Stanton talk the last time Stanton started a game, last season at San Francisco.


It's Drew Stanton's team now, and that goes beyond just climbing a step up the depth chart.

From the locker room at London's Twickenham Stadium, the quarterback talked briefly about the offense being at least a little different now that he and not Carson Palmer is behind center. Asked a few days later to expand on that, Stanton simply said it would be a "natural" shift.

"I've learned so much from Carson, sitting back and watching him operate," Stanton said. "It won't be too far from that because that's what has been successful. There are some nuances where I'm just going to be myself. When those come about, I'm not going to try and fake it or so something that's out of character for me. That's the biggest thing I've learned in this business, that you have to be authentic, you have to be yourself."

Coach Bruce Arians has long worked with his quarterback before a game to discuss what plays should be run that Sunday – and which ones should not. Paring down the playbook for a specific gameplan is always the most crucial part of the week.

Stanton will go into his first start of the season this weekend against a familiar team – his lone 2016 start was also against the 49ers in San Francisco – and Stanton will get a large say in the playsheet in the team's final meetings Saturday night.

"That's the beauty of B.A., he lets you tailor it to what you want," Stanton said.

The concept is simple for Arians, because regardless of how good a play might be, if the quarterback isn't comfortable, "it's probably not going to work," the coach said back in 2015.

Last season, Stanton had only 11 completions in his start, but six of them went to Larry Fitzgerald, and two of those were for touchdowns.

The Cardinals rode David Johnson hard in that game (27 carries for a season-high 157 yards) and while Johnson is

sidelined, there is still Adrian Peterson available. Anxious to come back from his 21 yards rushing in London, Peterson said the offense has to try and stay balanced but "I'm still going to go into it with the same emphasis of doing my job and doing it to the max."

In nine starts as a Cardinal – eight in 2014, one last year – Stanton has only a 76.4 passer rating, with eight touchdowns, five interceptions and a .532 completion percentage. The Cardinals have won six of those games.

"That's the only (stat) that matters to me," Stanton said. "I know my career stats are probably horrible. I couldn't even tell you what they are. I think (wins) are the ultimate measure of a quarterback, especially a backup. That's something that I want to do, come in and win football games. That's why I was disappointed what happened from a personal standpoint (in London) because I wasn't able to do that."

ALBRIGHT PROMOTED TO ROSTER

The Cardinals, left with an open roster spot after putting Palmer on injured reserve last week, filled it Monday by promoting outside linebacker Bryson Albright from the practice squad. Albright, who played in one game with the Bills last season, was signed to the practice squad Sept. 4.

To fill Albright's spot on the practice squad, the Cardinals signed rookie tackle Javarius Leamon.

Images of the Cardinals' leading rushers after seven games



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