Arians ‘very, very comfortable’ with Gabbert as future QB

TEMPE — Impressed by Blaine Gabbert in the quarterback’s first two starts, Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians was asked Monday how comfortable he would be with Gabbert at quarterback should Carson Palmer retire.

“The way he’s playing right now,” Arians said, “I’d be very, very comfortable.”

And Arians labeled that scenario “a possibility” for the coming season.

The players had the day off as “victory Monday” following the Cardinals’ 27-24 win over Jacksonville on Sunday. That left Arians to talk about Gabbert, who has bounced through seven offensive coordinators in his seven NFL seasons.

He was out of work and labeled a first-round bust when Arizona signed him as the No. 3 quarterback last offseason. Intrigued by Gabbert’s strong arm and athleticism, Arians decided it was worth keeping him around to develop.

Then Carson Palmer went down with a seasonending broken arm and backup Drew Stanton injured a knee. That cleared the way for Gabbert, who has played well enough that he’s keeping the job as Stanton gets healthy.

“I’m really proud of him,” Arians said of Gabbert’s performances. “These things don’t happen — you hope they don’t happen very often when your top two guys, but we’re very blessed to have him, and he is taking the bull by the horns and showing us, ‘I’m a player. I can play at this level and I can play very high.’”

Sunday’s victory was only Gabbert’s 10th in 42 starts, a statistic Arians blames on all those different offenses and bad teams.

Gabbert completed 22 of 38 passes for 241 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. He also fumbled the ball that exCardinal Calais Campbell returned 10 yards for what was then the go-ahead touchdown on Sunday.

Three throws that Gabbert made stand out. The first was a long one over the middle with a fierce rush in his face. Jaron Brown hauled in the pass for a 52yard touchdown.

It was a play, “only a few guys can make,” Arians said, “because Calais came fairly unblocked and he (Gabbert) knew. He had enough instinct not to draw back with the ball and still had enough strength to put it out there and not get it tipped. That was a fantastic play by him.”

Then, with the game tied and 16 seconds on the clock and Arizona at its own 39yard line, Gabbert threw a 10-yard sideline completion to the Cardinals 49. On the next play, Gabbert rolled right and drilled a pass to D.J. Foster, who made a spectacular grab at the sideline to put the ball at the Jacksonville 39 with six seconds to go.

Phil Dawson’s subsequent career-long 57-yard field goal won the game with one second to play.

Arians said Gabbert still has huge upside. He noted he’d like to see the quarterback have a better hold on the ball when he takes off scrambling. And the Cardinals need more practice blocking for a scrambling quarterback, something Arians hasn’t had in Arizona.

Arians praised the offensive and defensive lines for their play against the Jaguars, who had won four straight and fell into a firstplace tie with Tennessee atop the AFC South. It is the first team with a winning record that the Cardinals have beaten this season.

But there are injuries for Arizona (5-6) to contend with in preparation for Sunday’s home game against the NFC West-leading Los Angeles Rams (8-3).

Chief among them is an injury to inside linebacker Deone Bucannon’s ankle, the same one that was surgically repaired last offseason.

“It does not look like Deone’s injury is as severe as it once looked,” Arians said. “We’re still waiting on some images coming back. We sent everything off to the surgeon who did his repair because all his injury is to that part of the leg. It could be a day or two, it could be serious. So we don’t know yet.”

Gila Ridge Hawks 4A Southwest

Corey Semler (3rd season) Dec. 8 vs. Higley Gila Ridge (9-4-2 AIA, 4-0 region) dominated 4A Southwest opponents (+27 goal differential in region play) and won two state games before falling, 1-0, to No. 1 Coronado as the No. 4 seed in the 4A state tournament. Locally, the Hawks went just 2-3-2 a year after claiming the YUHSD title in 2015-16. The Hawks have made state both years under Semler, something they had not done once in their previous seven years of existence.

Yuma High Criminals 4A Southwest

Juan Lerma (2nd season) Today at Holtville (CA) Yuma High (2-9 AIA, 2-2 region) was far more competitive than it was the year before. In addition to beating Buckeye Union (6-1) and Youngker (5-2), the Criminals also had close losses to Estrella Foothills (4-3), Kofa (1-0) and Calexico (1-0). The Criminals are probably the most experienced YUHSD team, with eight returning starters. Lerma highlighted junior midfielder Lonardi Vallejo, senior forward Mario Ramos and senior defender Jose Luis Morales as the leaders of their respective positions. Though their schedule remains as tough as any in 4A, the Criminals have the pieces in place to possibly make a run at the postseason should they turn a few of last year’s narrow defeats into victories. “Last year I wanted them to start believing, because I think the morale wasn’t there previous years, and I think they started believing in themselves and I think that’s going to carry over to this season,” Lerma said. “Last year we competed and this year we need to do better than that.”

It’s been five seasons since the Criminals last finished .500 or better in AIA play and 10 since they last made state.