Remember that pesky "bruise" that's kept Arizona Cardinals running back Beanie Wells sidelined for the last three weeks? Well, that "bruise," it turns, out was a torn meniscus, on which Wells had some secret surgery that the team kept hush-hush for nearly a month.

Wells sustained the injury in the final game of the preseason and he's been listed as questionable for each of the Cardinals' two regular season games. The question was answered at kickoff time, though, as Wells didn't play in either game.

The super-secrecy surrounding Wells' surgery implies it was intentionally kept under wraps. When teams prepare to play each other they do so on the assumption -- or possibility -- that certain players will be in the game.

By keeping Wells' status as questionable, rather than saying "the guy's not playing," Cardinals' opponents were forced to prepare accordingly.

If that was the master plan, it didn't work out so well. The Cards played like garbage last week, getting blown out by the Atlanta Falcons, and barely eked out an ugly win against the St. Louis Rams in week one -- when Wells' stand in, Tim Hightower, lost two fumbles.

Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt tells the Arizona Republic that the secrecy behind Wells' surgery wasn't that sinister.

From the Republic:

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