“The way it has gone this season for us, with different guys, I’m not going to say anything like that today,” Whisenhunt said. “We’ll see how it is tomorrow. I said it Sunday after the game; we are a lot more optimistic that he will have a chance to play this week.”

Kolb went through a limited workout last Wednesday and was optimistic for a return then, but the foot did not respond well and he sat out Sunday’s 23-20 victory over St. Louis.

“I don’t think that we were all confident enough that we knew for sure I would be able to play,” Kolb said. “Then you start holding back the other guy, so they just made a decision to go ahead and give John (Skelton) the start. That was probably the smartest thing to do.”

Kolb has missed four games with a right turf toe and a bruise on the side of the same foot.

Wednesday was Kolb’s first full practice since he was hurt in the team’s 30-27 loss at Baltimore on Oct. 30.

“Yeah, I feel really good,” Kolb said. “Obviously we will see tomorrow how it feels after a full day like that, but I have full intention of playing.”

Arizona, with Skelton at quarterback, has gone 3-1 in Kolb’s absence. But Skelton has struggled, especially in the last two games. He completed 12 of 23 for 114 yards against the Rams. Skelton was intercepted twice, although one came when his arm was hit as he threw. Two weeks ago in the Cardinals’ punchless 23-7 loss at San Francisco, Skelton was 6 of 19 for 99 yards and was intercepted three times before being benched in favor of Rich Bartel.

Still, the Cardinals were just 1-6 with Kolb. The Ravens game marked Arizona’s sixth straight defeat. The team’s recent success can be tied to the improved defense, special teams play and, at least in Sunday’s win, the running game.

Beanie Wells, who rushed for a franchise-record 228 yards last Sunday despite a lingering soreness in his right knee, was able to practice on a limited basis. He had the knee wrapped in a massive bag of ice in the locker room afterward.

“He’s sore, after everything he went through Sunday,” Whisenhunt said. “It was getting that many carries and then having his knee bent back on that one play, but it’s good to see him out here today. I think he’s in the mindset that he’s going to push through it, and that’s what we needed him to do. I have a lot of respect for him doing that.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

After five weeks of answering questions about his big right toe, Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb is ready for people to ask him about his performance in a game.

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Cardinals-Cowboys injury report

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That might come this week against the Cowboys at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Kolb took every snap with the starters in practice on Wednesday, he said, and expects to play for the first time since suffering the injury in Baltimore on Oct. 30.

“I feel really good,” Kolb said. “Obviously, we’ll see tomorrow how it feels after a full day like that, but I have full intention of playing.”

Kolb has missed four games with a right foot injury that included turf toe, a ligament sprain and a bone bruise. He practiced on a limited basis last week but experienced soreness afterward.

“We didn’t know for sure if I could play, then you start holding back the other guy,” Kolb said. “They just made a decision to go ahead and give John (Skelton) the start, and that was probably the smartest thing to do.”

Coach Ken Whisenhunt was conservative when asked on Wednesday if he was confident Kolb would play on Sunday: “The way it’s gone this season for us with different guys, I’m not going to say anything like that today. We’ll see how it is tomorrow.”

Rounding out his game

With four punt returns for touchdowns, Patrick Peterson has proved his worth on special teams. The rookie is still developing as a cornerback, however, and especially as an offensive threat.

Peterson has participated in three offensive plays this season. On the first, the Cardinals called a timeout because of an alignment problem. On the second, Peterson didn’t get the ball.

And last week, Peterson took a snap in the Wildcat formation, only to fumble it before he ran. He recovered for no gain.

“Right when I was securing the ball into my right hand, my knee hit the tail end of the ball and that kind of popped it out,” he said. “But, man, if I had the opportunity to hang on to that ball, I believe I was going the distance.”

Coaches tried to show him evidence that the play would have been big.

“I was like ‘Trust me. I know. I know what could have happened.’ “

Peterson was named the NFC’s Special Teams Player of the Month. He had two punt returns for touchdowns in November.

Injury update

Overall, the Cardinals injury report was shorter than it has been in some time.

In addition to Kolb, tight end Rob Housler (groin) practiced fully after missing the past four games. Running back Beanie Wells (knee), cornerback Michael Adams (hamstring) and tight end Todd Heap (hamstring) were limited.

Outside linebacker Joey Porter (knee) and free safety Kerry Rhodes (foot) were out.

For the Cowboys, receiver Miles Austin (hamstring) was one of six players who did not practice.

Read More: Kevin Kolb (QB – ARI), John Skelton (QB – ARI), Arizona Cardinals

Kevin Kolb is back. After missing four weeks due to a bad case of turf toe complicated by a bone bruise in his foot, the Arizona Cardinals will have their prize quarterback taking snaps Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys. At least that’s plan barring any set backs and none are expected (which is why they are called “set backs”).

“Yeah, I feel really good,” Kolb said Wednesday after taking all the reps in practice for the first time since the injury. “Obviously, we’ll see tomorrow how it feels after a full day, but I have full intention of playing.”

Kolb was nearing ready to go last week, but the team had enough doubt about Kolb’s foot they decided early on that John Skelton would get the start so he could get the full benefit of practicing with the first team.  

As to be expected, Coach Ken Whisenhunt was his normally evasive self on such matters.

“The way it’s gone this season for us with different guys, I’m not going to say anything like that today. We’ll see how it is tomorrow,” Whiz said, adding with about as much of a definitive answer as you will get from him, “But I said Sunday after the (Rams) game that we’re a lot more optimistic that he’ll have a chance to play this week.”

Kolb is anxious to get back out on the field and understands how important it is for him and the entire offense to play well in these final five games of the season. 

“We still don’t feel like offensively we’ve played an entire game yet as a complete unit. That’s a big goal of ours,” Kolb said, adding the offense needs to figure out ”who we are”.

He did seem to indicate that with the way the defense and special teams are playing, the role of the Cardinals’ quarterback is to not screw up.

“I think if you look back on a lot of games, if us as quarterbacks just did our part and just took care of the ball and played a good, solid game then we would have won quite a few of them. That’s my mentality and that needs to be our mentality every time we hit the field. Just do your job (then) we’ll take care of business.”

It will be interesting to see if that becomes the new norm in Arizona. That model has certainly worked in San Francisco and Baltimore, but under Ken Whisenhunt the Cardinals have followed the “Kurt Warner Plan” of letting the QB make big plays to the star receiver. 

That plan didn’t work last year with the Derek Anderson Max Hall John Skelton monster and as the team has found out this year, it’s not likely to work with Kevin Kolb any time soon. Fortunately, the defense is getting better and Beanie Wells has stepped up his game. That allows Whisenhunt to be more conservative on offense and let’s the QB “manage the game”, to use that infamous NFL phrase.

We’ll see how that plays out, if at all. When you have No. 11 on your team, there’s a lot of pressure to throw him the ball and a lot of comes from Larry Fitzgerald himself lobbying for targets. He does make a pretty compelling case. 

Other Injury News

In other Cardinals injury news, TE Rob Housler (groin) was back practicing in full while TE Todd Heap remains limited. As expected Joey Porter (knee) and Kerry Rhodes (foot) are still out with no time table for return.

Beanie Well was limited in practice as has been the norm for him on Wednesday as he gives his knee more time to recover from the last game and prepare for the next one.

It’s one thing to be old and good. That’s considered “vintage.” It’s another to be old and bad.

The Cardinals have one of the older rosters in the NFL based on average age, a fact that wouldn’t be so troublesome if the team had a history of success and was making a last, valiant quest for a Super Bowl title.

But the Cardinals are coming off a 5-11 record in 2010, now are 4-7 and destined to finish out of the playoffs for a second consecutive season.

There is more hope for the future, however, than the average age of the roster (27.4 years) suggests.

First, that number is inflated a bit by the age of the three specialists: kicker Jay Feely (35), punter Dave Zastudil (33) and long snapper Mike Leach (35).

Every regular starter on offense is under 30. The problem, at least at the beginning of the season, was on defense. Five starters were 30 or older, as were the three backup defensive linemen.

The Cardinals needed their young players to develop, and many of them have.

Rookie Sam Acho has played well since taking over for the injured Joey Porter, 34, at right outside linebacker five games ago. Acho already has as many sacks, five, as Porter had in 16 games last season.

Outside linebacker O’Brien Schofield, in his second year, is working into the rotation at outside linebacker as the playing time of Clark Haggans, 34, decreases.

The starting defensive line will be young, and good, if nose tackle Dan Williams ever gets in shape and if end Calais Campbell is re-signed.

Neither is a given.

The Cardinals are especially excited about this year’s draft class. Of the seven picks, four have made significant contributions this season. Only running back Ryan Williams, tight end Rob Housler and receiver DeMarco Sampson haven’t.

The young players’ impact was evident in Sunday’s victory against the Rams. Patrick Peterson returned a punt for a touchdown for the fourth time this season. Acho had two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Fullback Anthony Sherman blocked for Beanie Wells, who rushed for 228 yards, a franchise record.

Williams, the second-rounder, was dynamic in training camp before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Housler, the third-round pick, has unique receiving skills but has been hampered by a groin injury.

Acho, the fourth-rounder, is the type of player the Steelers find all the time. Generously listed at 6 feet 3, he is not the ideal size for an outside linebacker, but he’s made a great impact. And he’s smart.

Sherman, the fifth-rounder, has been a steady blocker and plays on special teams. The sixth-rounder, nose tackle David Carter, has contributed far more than expected. And seventh-rounder Sampson has a chance to develop into a rotational receiver.

A strong case can be made that a couple of the rookies should have been playing earlier. Porter made no impact when he was healthy enough to contribute yet played considerably more than Acho and Schofield.

Defensive coordinator Ray Horton was installing a new system, and Porter started because Horton needed players who knew how to run it.

But Porter started mainly because it’s not coach Ken Whisenhunt’s style to hand starting jobs to rookies.

“The natural tendency is to put them in there and just let them play, grow with them,” Whisenhunt said, “but you can’t always do that. It’s not fair to the other guys on your team who have been here and worked hard.

“Sometimes you don’t have a choice because of injuries or because of depth at positions. I guess other people or other teams have different philosophies, but being raised in the system that I was raised in and believing in that, the way you do it is what’s fair to everybody. I think it creates a sense of team that’s important, because when guys have success, you know that they’ve earned it and everybody is excited about that.”

Though the performances of young players provide rays of optimism in a dismal season, they also foreshadow depth problems.

There are no young outside linebackers behind Schofield and Acho. There are no young offensive linemen in the developmental stages. The backup defensive linemen are in their 30s.

It’s early, but the Cardinals’ 2011 draft appears to be among their best in years.

It’s also clear the organization desperately needs another one just like it.

Notes

Peterson was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance Sunday at St. Louis.

It was the second time he has been honored with that award this season (Week 9, also vs. St. Louis). Peterson, now with four punt-return touchdowns, tied the NFL’s single-season record but he is the only one whose four returns have covered 80 yards or more (89, 82, 99 and 80).

- The team elevated wide receiver Jaymar Johnson from the practice squad to the 53-man active roster and released fullback Reagan Maui’a. Johnson has been on the Cardinals’ practice squad since Sept. 20.

Coach’s corner

“In doing the evaluations of the rookie quarterbacks, we were looking at somebody that we thought could come in here and play. If you get a rookie, you know you’re going to have to develop them. Who knows with the way the season’s gone. You never know how a season’s going to go or what’s going to unfold from that direction or what other quarterbacks you have at that spot. So, really, I can’t answer that question. Before I would have put him in there and made him the starter, he would have had to earn it. Ben Roethlisberger got in there his first year in Pittsburgh because our starter got hurt, and he never looked back after that.”

- Ken Whisenhunt, on whether he would play a rookie quarterback this season had the Cardinals drafted one

Stat pack

- Running back Beanie Wells has 849 yards rushing this season, a career high. He gained 793 yards in 2009, his rookie season.

- Wells’ eight rushing touchdowns also are a career high. The 849 yards is the most a Cardinals back has gained through 11 games since the franchise moved to Arizona in 1988.

- Highest rushing total through 11 games (1960-present):

Yards - Player (Year)

1,105 – Ottis Anderson (1979)

910 – Ottis Anderson (1981)

868 – John David Crow (1960)

864 – MacArthur Lane (1970)

849 – Beanie Wells (2011)

- Before this season, the Cardinals had two punt returns for touchdowns in their 23-year history in Arizona. That was a span of 368 games. Johnny Bailey had one in 1993, and Steve Breaston had one in 2007. Patrick Peterson has four in 11 games this season.

Patrick Peterson(notes) has been an absolute stud for the Arizona Cardinals in his rookie season. The former LSU cornerback has made a few big plays on defense, but nothing has overshadowed what he is doing as a punt returner. It’s still a little early to call him the best punt returner in the NFL, but the statistics he has put up through just the first 11 games of the season certainly put him in that argument.

In 11 games for Arizona this year, Peterson has returned 31 punts for an amazing 558 yards. That’s an average of 18 yards per return, and he has had one that was 99 yards long this season. Peterson has taken back 4 punt returns for touchdowns this season, breaking all kinds of marks for rookie returners. There have been only 16 total punt return touchdowns this year, and one player has 25 percent of them. The only player with more than one is Deven Hester of the Chicago Bears, who has taken back 2 punt returns and a kick return for touchdowns this year.

Peterson has provided a lot of value for fantasy football owners that count punt return yardage, but also for owners that get to count return touchdowns as part of their defensive statistics. Even though Arizona has struggled at times on defense, Peterson’s return statistics are making the defense more valuable to have than in the past. If Arizona eventually decides to use Peterson on kick returns as well, his value could go even higher.

Through 11 games, Peterson has 47 total tackles, 2 interceptions, 8 pass deflections and 4 return touchdowns. He is definitely the standout rookie on defense this year, but his play on special teams is also getting more notice than usual for a cornerback. It is clear that Arizona made a good decision to take him with the No. 5 pick of the 2011 NFL Draft, but his success is overshadowed at times by the struggling offense of his team. He may have to also play as a wide receiver if the current roster is going to win many games.

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