The Arizona Cardinals take on the Washington Commanders at State Farm Stadium on Sunday, with kickoff set for 1:05 P.M. MST. Safety Budda Baker, outside linebacker Dennis Gardeck, and defensive lineman Dante Stills have been upgraded to full participants on Thursday. All three players were limited on Wednesday.
Here’s the full injury report for both teams.
Did Not Participate
Cardinals
- TE Trey McBride (concussion)
- DL Khyiris Tonga (knee)
No changes on the players who were out on Wednesday’s report. McBride remains out, as he’s under concussion protocol after a hard hit to the head in the Cardinals’ Week 3 loss to the Detroit Lions. It’s not looking good for the Cardinals’ top tight end to suit up on Sunday. Spenser Tilus goes into depth about that situation.
Tonga is a rotational defensive lineman who has played roughly 14-16 snaps per game. Combined with the injuries on the defensive front in Week 3, the unit has seen their depth tested. If he is unable to go, then the Cardinals have Bilal Nichols, Roy Lopez, LJ Collier, Naquan Jones, and Dante Stills on the defensive line.
Limited Participation
Cardinals
- OL Kelvin Beachum (hamstring)
- WR Marvin Harrison Jr. (quad)
Beachum is still limited by the hamstring injury that sidelined him in Week 3. The Cardinals elevated tackles Jackson Barton and Charlie Heck, who accounted for all 59 snaps at right tackle. Barton has twice been elevated from the practice squad this season, which means he can only be elevated one more time before they have to sign him to the 53-man roster.
Harrison remains limited with a quad injury. He leads all Cardinals receivers in snaps played at 153, slightly ahead of Michael Wilson’s 147. Greg Dortch is a distant third with 99, as Arizona’s offense has utilized multiple tight end sets. If Harrison can’t go, then Chris Moore and Zach Pascal could see a larger role.
Full Participation
Cardinals
- S Budda Baker (quad)
- LB Dennis Gardeck (finger)
- DL Dante Stills (shoulder)
It’s encouraging news for Baker and Gardeck to be full participants after being listed as limited on Wednesday. Baker is the starting strong safety and Gardeck has the second most snaps in the outside linebacker rotation behind Zaven Collins. Stills, who played in Week 3 after being a healthy scratch earlier in the season, should be available for their matchup.
Commanders
- S Quan Martin (elbow)
- CB Emmanuel Forbes Jr. (thumb)
- DL Jer’Zhan Newton (foot)
TE Zach Ertz was removed from the injury report after taking Wednesday off for rest.
This article first appeared on Burn City Sports and was syndicated with permission.
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It wasn’t pretty, but the Dallas Cowboys broke a two-game losing skid, defeating the New York Giants (1-3) for the seventh straight time in a 20-15 win on “Thursday Night Football.” Here are five takeaways from the action: Cowboys don’t look like a playoff team After coming out guns blazing in a Week 1, 33-17, victory over the Cleveland Browns, the Cowboys look mediocre at best through four games. On Thursday, Dallas ultimately came away with a much-needed win but didn’t instill much confidence while doing so. Quarterback Dak Prescott was efficient (22-of-27), but the offense lacked explosiveness, managing only 293 yards (5.7 yards per play). Likewise, the defense allowed five scoring drives and didn’t force a Giants offense devoid of weapons to punt for the first time until 3:04 left in the third quarter.
It’s still early, but the Cowboys don’t look like much of a threat in the NFC. Daniel Jones is what he is Jones wasn’t bad, finishing 29-of-40 for 281 yards and an interception thrown on the desperation heave late. But this was a game the six-year veteran had to find a way to win. While it’s true that Jones helped orchestrate five scoring drives, none of them ended in the end zone. The Giants QB took what the Cowboys gave him for the most part, but when push came to shove, he came up small, missing targets and underthrowing receivers far too often to be successful.
With WR Malik Nabers’ emergence there was hope that Jones’ career could still have some life. However, Thursday’s performance was more of the same from the former first-round pick. Cowboys need a change in the backfield The Cowboys’ lack of identity in the backfield continued to rear its ugly head on Thursday, and it’s quickly becoming a concern the team can no longer afford to ignore. Entering Week 4 ranked 30th in rushing yards, Dallas’ struggles in that department continued against the Giants. The group of Rico Dowdle (46 yards), Ezekiel Elliott (19 yards) and Hunter Luepke (8 yards) combined for 73 yards and averaged only 4.0 YPC in the loss.
No quick fix is coming unless calling up veteran Dalvin Cook from the practice squad is the answer, but whatever the Cowboys are doing isn’t working. Malik Nabers’ injury could derail Giants’ lackluster offense The breakout rookie left the game late in the fourth quarter and was later diagnosed with a concussion. Its severity is unclear, but the Giants can likely count on being without Nabers for the foreseeable future, which could spell doom for an already-struggling offense. On Thursday night, Nabers was the Giants offense, grabbing 12 of 15 targets for 115 yards (9.6 YPR). With Nabers, the Giants managed only 15 points against the Cowboys. It’s
hard to imagine what the offense will look like without him. Cowboys defense is on notice On the surface, keeping your opponent to 15 points looks pretty good. Furthermore, the bend-don’t-break approach worked for the Cowboys versus the Giants. However, against a team whose biggest threat offensively is a rookie wideout, the Cowboys were lucky to escape with a victory. Likewise, they made Jones look serviceable, and a more seasoned quarterback would have picked them apart — as Lamar Jackson and Derek Carr have already proved. Meanwhile, the unit could have rough times ahead if Micah Parsons misses time. The two-time All-Pro left the game on a cart after suffering a left foot injury late.
New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner generated headlines this past spring when he somewhat controversially said that the club’s payroll is “not sustainable” long term due to luxury-tax penalties. Since Steinbrenner offered those comments, All-Star outfielder and pending free agent Juan Soto has produced a career-best season that could allow the slugger to reset the market for position players this fall. On the latest edition of the “Pinstripe Territory” podcast, ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney suggested Steinbrenner may be hoping he receives some type of discount during negotiations with Soto’s camp once the 25-year-old hits the open market following the World Series. “I do think, in the end, the Yankees are going to be outbid by somebody,” Olney said about Soto’s upcoming free-agency experience, as shared by Jimmy Hascup of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com.
“I can’t see Hal going to nutty numbers and we don’t know if (New York Mets owner) Steve Cohen is going to do like he does with some of his art and just blow the competition out of the water.” By all accounts, Soto has loved featuring for the Yankees since joining them from the San Diego Padres via a December 2023 trade. Some have wondered if helping the Bronx Bombers win their first World Series since 2009 could convince Soto to accept less money from the Yankees than what he may receive from the Mets, but the only significant clues he has offered about his mindset point to the fact that he plans to test free agency.
As of Thursday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Yankees second among the betting favorites at +400 odds to win this year’s World Series. “We don’t know really what’s in Soto’s heart,” Olney explained. “Does he really want to stay with the Yankees, or, like a lot of players, and by the way, this is totally their prerogative, some players equate money for respect.” ESPN’s Jorge Castillo reported earlier this month that “the Mets loom as the Yankees’ strongest competition” for Soto’s services because “Cohen’s deep pockets and burning desire to win could upend the bidding war.”
It’s believed Cohen could be willing to give Soto a deal worth as much as $600M over 12 years. “I was told in spring training: That’s (the Mets’) guy,” Olney added about Soto. “Soto is the focus on what the Mets are going to try to do.” Perhaps Steinbrenner will change his mind and essentially offer Soto a blank check to stay with the Yankees if they fall short of at least making their first Fall Classic appearance since ’09.
postseason, but Thursday’s game against Baltimore was a huge opportunity to clinch the AL East division. Thanks to massive home runs from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in a 10-1 win over the Orioles, New York was crowned division champ for the first time since it shared the title with Boston in 2021.
Judge and Stanton’s homers were more significant than just contributing to the division-clinching win, however. It was the 14th time this season the duo homered in the same game, which ties the franchise record set by Yankees legend Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in 1961, according to YES Network research manager Jeff Quagliata. Stanton’s blast came in the bottom of the second inning off a 0-1 pitch. He smacked it into the left-field seats to put New York up 1-0 early.
It was Stanton’s 162nd homer as a Yankee and his 1,100th career RBI, per Quagliata. Judge sent a two-run moonshot to left-center field in the bottom of the seventh inning, extending New York’s lead to 9-0. Stanton and Judge have been teammates since 2018. If the duo hits home runs in the same game at least one more time over the team’s remaining three contests, it would break the 1961 mark set by Mantle and Maris. Additionally, if Judge and teammate Juan Soto do the same thing in at least one of their last three games, they could tie or break the Mantle-Maris mark as well, per Quagliata.
The Detroit Lions had a few injuries in Week 3 against the Arizona Cardinals, with one of them being to their tight end Sam LaPorta. LaPorta sprained his ankle on a touchdown against the Cardinals and was able to return to the game but in a limited fashion. Ahead of their Week 4 game against the Seattle Seahawks, LaPorta is still nursing the ankle injury, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “Lions TE Sam LaPorta did not practice today due to his ankle injury,” Schefter tweeted on X, formerly .
Lions tight ends coach Steve Heiden mentioned that LaPorta’s status was left up to the team doctors before practice. “Really, that’s up to the doctors,” Heiden said. “If he’s good to go, (it’s) ‘you’re out there. Let’s go.” Detroit has a bye the following week. So, it stands to reason that if the Pro Bowl tight end isn’t near healthy, that he sits Monday night. Lions dealing with several injuries to the team Besides Sam LaPorta, the Detroit Lions had to deal with other injuries to some of their key players. Safety Brian Branch left the Week 3 game against the Arizona Cardinals and was put in the concussion protocol.
He was recently seen at practice, but he is still in protocols and has to be cleared to come back and play. Alim McNeil left the Cardinals game with a shoulder injury, but he was back with the defensive line in practice. The Lions are already missing two defensive players in Derrick Barnes and Marcus Davenport. Barnes is expected to miss some time with a knee injury, while Davenport is expected to miss the season. If the Lions can get LaPorta back on offense, and it will be big for a group that looks like they’re still trying to get the footing right to start the season. At 2-1, the Lions will be facing a tough challenge with the undefeated Seattle Seahawks coming into Detroit, and it should be a competitive game if they can get healthy.