Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who has missed two games with a groin injury, is confident he’ll be able to return to action Sunday.
“At the end of the day you’ll have to ask [coach Mike] Zimmer — I was confident [of playing] last week, so I guess we’ll see.”
The Arizona Cardinals placed quarterback Carson Palmer on injured reserve with a broken arm on Thursday, meaning he will miss at least eight weeks.
The earliest Palmer would be able to return is Dec. 24 against the New York Giants, the second-to-last game of the regular season.
Palmer was injured in the second quarter of the Cardinals’ 33-0 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in London. He had surgery on his broken left arm on Wednesday.
The original timeline of his recovery was projected at eight weeks, but Palmer had hoped to return sooner.
“It depends on what the surgeon says,” Arians said Monday. “He is a fast healer. He’s had it broken before and basically said he was back in five.”
Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said he’s aware of the complaints and quickly told the players it’s always better to handle objections within the team instead of making them public.
“When you lose games you probably should have won, everybody is frustrated,” Koetter said. “It’s just human nature. The majority of our issues are self-inflicted. We’re the only ones who can fix them.”
A victory on Sunday would be the best problem-solver. That goes for the Panthers, too.
“The only thing you can do right now is you’ve got to get one game,” Koetter said. “It is a factor (that) we have not played division games and those games can move you up fast. You’ve got to get one. You’ve just got to get one win.
Cam Newton, Panthers: In the very small sample size of Cam Newton after a 2017 news conference issue, he’s elite that weekend. Maybe he’s extra motivated, maybe he’s just a really good quarterback or maybe, just maybe, it’s one game we are cherry-picking.