The preseason opener between the Arizona Cardinals and the Las Vegas Raiders could feature a rookie quarterback face-off between first-overall pick Fernando Mendoza and third-round pick Carson Beck. However, the Cardinals had to bench Beck against the Raiders, as the rookie signal-caller is still recovering from his rib injury. At the same time, however, first-year head coach Mike LaFleur is optimistic that Beck’s injury is not serious.
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“Tough dude. No concern level really,” LaFleur said in his postgame pressers. “If this would have been flag football or seven-on-seven, we would have trotted him out there, and he could have thrown. He just had discomfort, and it’s one of those things I was actually talking to [Matthew] Stafford about, and that sometimes a few days later, it feels a little bit worse.
“Being the preseason, I just didn’t want to risk it. I know it was kind of a bummer for our fan base, and you guys, and me, and all of us, because we want to see these guys out there, but it was what it was. We thought that was in the best interest to make sure that we sat him back.”
While Beck wasn’t available against the Raiders, he impressed the coaching staff in his debut during last week’s Hall of Fame game. The rookie completed 15-of-19 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown. However, Beck went down with a rib injury in the same game. Against the Carolina Panthers, Beck suffered an injury after Carolina’s defensive end Jared Harrison-Hunte sacked him and then fell on top of him.
However, the quarterback managed to continue playing despite suffering the injury. While the rib issue didn’t immediately force him out of the Hall of Fame Game, the discomfort became more apparent afterward. During the week following the matchup, Carson Beck still practiced. However, Arizona decided not to play him in the preseason opener against the Raiders.
In his absence, veteran Gardner Minshew II started against the Raiders, completing 14-of-16 passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns before Kedon Slovis took over, who went 7-of-9 for 75 yards. Jacoby Brissett, meanwhile, completed 5-of-5 passes for 44 yards and added one more touchdown, as the Cardinals won 27-14.
That said, the Cardinals will now host the Dallas Cowboys next week for the Week 2 preseason matchup. Carson Beck now has a full week to recover, but whether he’d start against Dallas remains to be seen.