Michael Wilson once tried not practicing. He was at Stanford, coincidentally dealing with broken ribs like with which the wide receiver is currently battling, and he took only a couple of reps during the week.
"Quite frankly, I had a terrible game," Wilson said. "Ever since then I'm like, 'I'm not doing that again.'"
So yes, the Cardinals wide receiver was going to be practicing this week with two broken ribs, sporting the yellow non-contact jersey like he did before the Cowboys game. Sure, the coaches have managed his reps but Wilson has long held (long before college) that he'd rather practice before a game than sit and perhaps feel a little bit better on game day.
That's what happened last week, of course. Wilson had his best game of the season with eight catches, 111 yards and one spectacular touchdown with six seconds left to send the game to overtime. The touchdown was a microcosm of his life right now. Went up, grabbed the ball, got his feet down, had a moment of exhilaration, only to hit the ground and feel every bit of a guy trying to play NFL football with two broken ribs.
That's the kind of thing that gets a guy a three-year contract extension that pays him $20 million-ish per year – which is why the Cardinals did that before the season.
"You want to reward guys that do things right all the time, not just on Sundays," coach Mike LaFleur said. "That's just the icing on the cake for the work that this guy puts in mentally, physically — all the above. He just shows up to work and goes. The more Michael Wilsons we can get in this club, the better we're going to be."
What that looks like Sunday in Seattle is TBD. The weather won't be great. The Seahawks held Wilson to two catches (on seven targets) in Week 2, and that was when Wilson was healthy. But Wilson said he is "feeling optimistic" about his status, feeling better this week than last. He's sleeping normal, in his bed (even if there is a moment pain catches him when he has to lay down initially.)
As if the stirring end and his connection with Gardner Minshew in Dallas wasn't enough, it should be reiterated that with Jacoby Brissett sitting out the offseason in a contract dispute, it was Minshew getting 500 to 600 reps with Wilson and the first-team offense. That, Wilson said, is why Minshew's entry into the lineup was so seamless.
The ribs do make a difference. Wilson called upon longtime buddy Simi Fehoko in overtime to swap positions with him on a couple of plays; Wilson normally is the "Z" and that's the point of attack for running plays. Blocking at the point of attack is no bueno for someone nursing busted ribs, especially in what was Wilson's fifth quarter of the game.
"I just felt like, with how much pain I was in, Simi would give the team a better chance," Wilson said. "Simi was a gangster and was like, 'Yeah I got it.' So it definitely worked out."
Wilson will have to block in Seattle. But he will be ready, after practicing all week. And there is no way he'd think of not playing. He would anyway, but after the contract he got, it's mandatory in his mind.
"The Cardinals have forever changed the Wilson family legacy, changed my daughter's life, changed my life," Wilson said. "I have a responsibility to give my best every single day, every single game to go out and earn that contract, prove to the organization how appreciative I am of them investing in me for the way that I play.
"This organization means everything to me, and I want to keep making meaningful plays and bringing wins to the organization and showing that I am a player that is grateful for that contract and to be a Cardinal."
-- The Gardner Minshew era, for whatever that is going to be, starts Sunday. GM Monti Ossenfort said on Friday that the Jacoby Brissett trade opens up more reps for rookie Carson Beck now that he's QB2, but Ossenfort wasn't making any grand proclamations about Beck playing. That makes sense. If Minshew helps pull out a win in Seattle this weekend, the Cardinals would be tied with the Seahawks, and the Rams would be right there either tied or only one game up.
That would make for some significant Minshew Mania.
-- Minshew had an epic 2018 season for the Washington State Cougars in college, and this will be his first game back in the state since then, which is kinda crazy. Minshew went nuts under coach Mike Leach (not the long snapper) at WSU, completing 468 of 662 passes (that's 70.7 percent) for 4,779 yards, 38 touchdowns and only 9 interceptions.
"I can't overstate what going to Washington State and playing for coach Leach did for me," Minshew said. "I was going to Alabama to be third-string and then to be a GA coach and I was fired up to do that — it's awesome.
"Then coach Leach asked, 'Do you want to go hold a clipboard or lead the country in passing?' That was a whole world that I didn't even know was available to me. To be here now, it's still hard to wrap my head around it. So grateful for it, so fired up to be headed back up there where so many people were so good to me."
-- Part II needed of Tyler Allgeier as Superman. No Jeremiyah Love, no Bam Knight at running back. Evan Hull will be active this week, and they will undoubtedly elevate a practice squad running back (probably Jerome Ford, since he has been around the longest.)
The Cardinals will also be on to their third left tackle with Jayden Williams down. Assuming Isaiah Adams is ready to come off IR, that would probably be Josh Fryar, but we will see.
-- However … the Seahawks have been hammered (at least for this game) with injuries as well. QB Sam Darnold was already out. All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson, just acquired in trade, needs knee surgery and will miss the game, as will defensive tackle Leonard Williams, who has been a problem for the Cardinals. They are also missing offensive tackle Charles Cross and linebacker Uchenna Nwosu, among others.
-- Allgeier had his career-high 147 yards rushing as well as 44 yards receiving last week, with a touchdown both ways. With 191 total yards, Allgeier became only the third Cardinal to have 190 yards plus two touchdowns in a game. Wide receiver Anquan Boldin did it in his first NFL game in 2003 at Detroit, and running back David Johnson also did it as a rookie, in Philadelphia in 2015.
-- Minshew isn't the only one going back to Seattle. There is safety Budda Baker, who grew up in the area and was a star at the University of Washington. And then there is defensive lineman L.J. Collier, a first-round pick of the Seahawks back in 2019. But Collier has now been in Arizona as many seasons – four – as he spent in Seattle, and frankly, he doesn't have a connection there any longer.
Collier is playing well for the Cardinals. That's the bigger thing, after suffering through injury-riddled years two of his first three seasons in Arizona. He had a bad penalty in the fourth quarter in Dallas, but rallied with a huge sack to force a field goal by the Cowboys and allowing the Cardinals the ball back in regulation, and also knocked down a pass by the Dak Prescott in overtime.
"Just feeding off the guys around me," Collier said. "I have a lot of young bulls around me and trying to feed off them. I do think I have played better than I have in years previous. When I do watch film, it's just 'How can I help this team?'"
-- The other guy who had to overcome in Dallas was kicker Chad Ryland, who missed the extra point at the end of regulation that would've given the Cardinals the win, but soon after drilled the 42-yard game-winning field goal, a play on which special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial said he had the "ultimate confidence."
"The resiliency he was able to demonstrate on that, guys have that trait or they don't," Ghobrial said. "The fact of the matter is Chad definitely does. He obviously wants to do right on the play before. At the end of the day it was next snap and clear. He approached that kick not that he had to do something abnormal."
-- Friday would've been the 50th birthday of Pat Tillman, and it is noteworthy that the weekly scout team player of the week award that Jonathan Gannon started when he arrived in 2023 has been carried on by LaFleur. On Fridays, the player dons a special practice jersey with the No. 40 on it.
"That was a no-brainer for me," LaFleur said.
-- Tight end Trey McBride, he of the hurdling and the trash talking and the really good playing of the football, leads the NFL with 66 receptions. Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is second with 64. McBride also has the most targets since the beginning of the 2025 season with 255; JSN is second with 252.
What the Cardinals can't have is JSN go off again, like his three-touchdown day in Week 2. And seeing McBride full-time with Minshew after he vibed so well with Brissett will also be something to watch.
-- So the Cardinals' trip to Seattle is supposed to be pretty rainy – at least for now, on Friday afternoon -- the forecast is that there is only a small chance of rain by kickoff Sunday (1:25 p.m. local, 2:25 p.m. Arizona time) and it should be done fairly early in the game.
That's all for now. See you Sunday.
