The Arizona Cardinals are just over an hour away from kicking off week two against the Seattle Seahawks in week two.
The Cardinals are seeking to exact revenge from a 44-22 Seattle win in November of last year, while the Seahawks are on a quest to defend their Super Bowl title.
A crucial piece of this matchup rests in injury statuses. While Seattle is sitting out QB Sam Darnold, Arizona came into Sunday needing to make crucial decisions.
Follow the Cardinals’ final inactives list ahead of kickoff below.
Arizona Rules Five Players Inactive
Arizona will be without five players on Sunday, as unveiled in the final inactive list 90 minutes prior to kickoff.
QB Carson Beck
CB Garrett Williams (Achilles)
OL Josh Fryar
Many of these don’t come as a surprise. Beck was ruled inactive in week one as well, but did suit up as an emergency third quarterback. The roster crunch due to many players being available pushes Beck back to the bench fully.
While Williams seems to be making major strides in injury recovery from a torn achilles, he needs more time before making a full-on return to action.
Virgil is a promising prospect for the Cardinals, but Semi Fehoko’s special teams brilliance keeps the rookie out for now.
The immediate fallout is that Arizona has much more to be positive about from these developments – read more on this below.
What This Means for Cardinals
Perhaps the most crucial development from the reveal is that both of Arizona’s starting guards are good to go after spending the entire week on the injury report.
First-year Cardinal Isaac Seumalo and third-year Isaiah Adams are both active. This is crucial for quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who is facing a physical and aggressive Seahawks front line. The entire starting offensive line assortment being active makes the starting QB’s job much more simple.
Beyond this, the Cardinals making starting DL Roy Lopez available is crucial as well. Lopez, in his first season back with Arizona, became a late addition to the injury report this week. The University of Arizona alum fortunately made a return to practice on Friday, and is now playing.
Linebackers Jack Gibbens and Cody Simon are active as well, after both spent the week battling similar injuries. Defensive coordinator Nick Rallis is grateful for this development, as Mack Wilson II wouldn’t have any reinforcements if either faced a different status.
In addition, TE Trey McBride, S Budda Baker, EDGE Josh Sweat, and RB Jeremiyah Love are full go’s for the game. The injection of star power into this matchup strengthens the Cardinals’ chance to pull-off a major upset win over Seattle. The paths to coming out victories aren’t plentiful, but they do exist on this specific day. Time will tell if Arizona has what is takes to defeat their bitter division rivals.
Arizona and Seattle are kicking off at 4:25 P.M. EST/1:25 AZT, with the game being broadcast on Fox.
Cardinals Make Inactives Official for Week 2 Rivalry Game vs. Seahawks