GLENDALE, Ariz. — Even though Carson Palmer’s right shoulder had only gradually given him the strength he needed to throw the ball over the past week, the quarterback didn’t need to be completely healthy to keep the Arizona Cardinals’ offense in a game with the Washington Redskins.
“I mean, shoot — if I was a quarterback playing the Washington Redskins, I’d rush back to play, too, you know?” said Redskins free safety Ryan Clark. “A 1-5 football team, a team that hasn’t been stopping anyone — I guess Carson was like, ’I guess this is as good a week as any.’”
Palmer, out since the first week of the season with a pinched nerve in his throwing shoulder, completed 28 of 44 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns in the Cardinals’ 30-20 victory.
It appeared to be a relatively easy performance for Palmer, who encountered a Redskins pass defense that was already ailing and continued to sustain losses on Sunday. With cornerback DeAngelo Hall out for the season, inside linebacker Perry Riley inactive because of a sprained MCL in his left knee and Clark spraining each of his ankles last Monday, Washington’s secondary took a deeper hit with cornerback David Amerson sustaining a concussion in the first quarter.
Palmer threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Michael Floyd in the first quarter, then threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald shortly before halftime. At the break, he had completed 14 of 22 passes for 138 yards, helping the Cardinals hold the 14-13 advantage.
He also kept alive the Cardinals’ interception-free streak alive by declining to turn the ball over, though he nearly did so with 11:22 left in the fourth quarter when outside linebacker Brian Orakpo dropped a pass intended for tight end Rob Housler that hit him in the hands.
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“I feel like I cost us the game for us, man,” Orakpo said. “I should have made that play. Just couldn’t grasp the ball, haven’t been able to make the catch with my hands.”
While Palmer had tried to return to the field over the last several weeks, he couldn’t regenerate enough feeling in the shoulder to throw the ball with adequate strength.
Complicating matters was that quarterback Drew Stanton left the Cardinals’ loss at Denver on Oct. 5 with a concussion and was not cleared to play until Saturday. Rookie Logan Thomas, out of Virginia Tech, finished that game and took a good number of snaps with the starters in practice over the past week.
Palmer, in his 12th season and second with the Cardinals, said he was able to take a quarter of the snaps in practice on Friday, including full team drills and 7-on-7 work. He has been periodically making trips to Denver to visit a nerve specialist to help with his recovery, and despite the return Sunday, he couldn’t predict whether he’d be able to play at Oakland next Sunday.
“I’m not out of the clear,” Palmer said. “I need to continue to do treatment for I don’t know how long. From the get-go, this has been very unpredictable. It’s still that way. I’m just hoping to be able to throw and improve my arm strength and get my arm back to not being fatigued and tired.”
Palmer regained rapport with his receivers quickly, made few mistakes, and was helped greatly by running back Andre Ellington, who caught six passes for 26 yards in addition to rushing for 67 yards on 19 carries.
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Ellington was used on screen passes and as a hot read, with a 9-yard catch, his longest of the game, occurring on a checkdown over the middle midway through the third quarter.
Palmer’s first touchdown pass was on a well-placed throw to Floyd, who caught it with 3:14 left in the first quarter. Floyd ran a quick post and was in the middle of the end zone when he caught the pass from Palmer, evading a double-team that had cornerback Bashaud Breeland in man coverage and Clark awaiting over the top.
Fitzgerald, who has averaged nearly seven receptions for more than 113 yards in each of his three previous games against the Redskins, was also frequently able to take advantage of matchup problems against the beleaguered secondary.
His touchdown reception came with 38 seconds left in the second quarter, when he caught a pass from Palmer at the Redskins’ 16-yard line. There, he encountered cornerback E.J. Biggers, who attempted to strip Fitzgerald of the ball rather than bring him down and was instead dragged for eight yards past the goal line.
“We didn’t get enough pressure on him, and he was able to make a lot of throws,” said outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan. “When you’ve got receivers that can get open the way Fitzgerald, Floyd and [John] Brown can, and you’re not getting pressure on Palmer, it’s a recipe for disaster for us.”
Palmer’s biggest test on the shoulder may have been on the final play of the third quarter, when, while being sacked by Orakpo and defensive end Jason Hatcher, he mustered a throw to running back Robert Hughes on third-and-2 that gained seven yards.
“He didn’t put his team in situations that were really bad,” Clark said. “He didn’t throw balls into really bad spots to allow us easy plays. Carson’s a good football player, but I don’t think it really mattered who played quarterback today. We needed to do better. We needed to do more, and we didn’t.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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