Audio By Carbonatix
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:
Whisenhunt
said it wasn’t a procedure “where you’re down X amount of weeks. It was
a day-to-day thing. It was something he had done in college that he
played a week later. It wasn’t ever anything we thought was serious or
that would keep him from playing on a week-to-week basis.”
According
to the team, Wells will play on Sunday against the Oakland Raiders.
Whether quarterback Derek Anderson will complete a pass is another
story.
