Arizona Cardinals

Carson Palmer being evaluated for a concussion

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer is not having a great start to his 2016 NFL season. He is being evaluated for a concussion in Week 4.

The Arizona Cardinals are struggling in the early part of 2016. They have fallen to 1-3 on the year after losing to the NFC West rival Los Angeles Rams, 17-13 on Sunday. Now they might be without quarterback Carson Palmer.

Palmer had to leave the Week 4 home game against the Rams to be evaluated for a concussion. With the game on the line, his backup Drew Stanton couldn’t deliver the Cardinals to victory.

Stanton threw a costly pick late inside of two minutes. Palmer hasn’t played well in 2016, but he doesn’t make poor mistakes in Bruce Arians’ offense like Stanton repeatedly does. Should Palmer miss time due to a possible concussion, this is awful news for the Cardinals.

Arizona has a strong starting quarterback in Palmer, but he does have an injury-riddled past. The Cardinals don’t have enough firepower to offset an injury to Palmer at the quarterback position.

With both the Rams and the Seattle Seahawks playing well in the 2016 NFL season, might the Cardinals fall out of the NFC Playoffs picture all together if Palmer misses any more time?

Arizona usually leans on its stellar defense, but even that unit has had its inefficiencies this fall. The Cardinals are trying to sure up its secondary on the fly and it’s proving costly.

Entering Week 5, the Cardinals will be a full two games back of both the Rams and the Seahawks in the NFC West standings. They will have lost the temporary head-to-head tiebreaker with the Rams. Maybe it’s time to start panicking in the Valley of the Sun?