The Arizona Cardinals came out of Sunday's game with the San Francisco 49ers with more than their pride injured. Starting nose tackle Dan Williams will likely miss the rest of the season with a broken arm suffered in the fourth quarter of the game and right tackle Brandon Keith left the game with a concussion and will be evaluated as the week goes on. His status for next Sunday against the St. Louis Rams is currently unknown.
The Cardinals have depth on their defensive line to cover for Williams with Nick Eason or rookie David Carter able to fill in. The team will likely promote a player from the practice squad to the active roster so they have another body available for defensive line depth.
Whisenhunt said that the second-year play nose tackle have been making steady progress this season and reported that he talked to the young lineman about keeping his weight under control and making sure he reports to camp in shape next season.
Jeremy Bridges has covered for Keith a few times already this season on the offensive line and Keith shouldn't miss much time, if he misses any at all.
The bigger question come at the most important position: quarterback. John Skelton took a big step back on Sunday putting up a near-record low 0.9 QBR with three interceptions and just 6-19 completions. Unfortunately, there's no positive news on the progress of Kevin Kolb's recovery from a right foot injury.
Coach Ken Whisenhunt said Kold wasn't close to being able to play when he was evaluated Sunday morning.
Whisenhunt also let it be known for the first time publicly that running back Beanie Wells knee injury limits both the number of reps he can get in a game and how many reps he can get in a row. He wouldn't say if that was a situation that would improve or if Wells would have to finish the season with this issue.
The combination of losing Kolb along with both pass-catching tight ends, Todd Heap and Rob Housler, and dealing with Wells limited available has not helped the Cardinals offense.
The defense played well Sunday, especially in the first half but as Whisenhunt said, no team is likely to overcome five turnovers. The improvement is credited to more time with new system, better communication leading to fewer breakdowns in assignments, and individual progression from young players.
The defense will continue to be without starting safety Kerry Rhodes (foot). There's no timetable for his return but it's highly unlikely he would be available to play this week.