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TEMPE, Ariz. -- Even though Arizona Cardinals quarterback Blaine Gabbert takes more snaps each day, Drew Stanton isn't ready to concede Sunday's start to his backup. Stanton "progressed more" during Wednesday's practice, more than coach Bruce Arians thought he would. And for the second straight practice, Gabbert took "the majority of the snaps." Arians said he'll decide who'll start at quarterback against the Houston Texans after Friday's practice. However, Stanton said he feels "really good" and said he's been able to do more in practice each day. Stanton added that he wants to be "smart" with the knee injury and is patiently seeing how it responds. "Both days have been successful thus far," Stanton said during the starting quarterback's weekly news conference Wednesday. "I think that's the goal each and every day. It's one of these things that you don't know when it's going to start feeling better or what not, but I don't want to push it too hard." But Stanton couldn't estimate how close he was to returning. "I don't have percentages, I don't know," Stanton said. "I'd be way off and I think inaccurate. Probably somewhere around my completion percentage would be off, too." If it was up to Stanton, he would play Sunday. But it was important for him to remove his feelings and just think about "what's best for the team and trying to help us get back to .500." One of the factors that Arians will consider when deciding if Stanton can play will be his ability to get himself out of harm's way. If Stanton can move well enough to protect himself, he'll play, Arians said. But Stanton said he's not sure if he'll be able to do that. "With what I've done thus far, I feel comfortable with it," Stanton said. "It's a progression each and every day. But I don't need to play today, luckily. I got to be able to go and execute on Sunday and I've got enough time to make those decisions. "Ultimately, B.A., the training staff and the coaches will say 'yay' or 'nay.'" Overall, though, Stanton said he's "encouraged" about playing, even though he's unsure how long it'll take his injury to heal. When ESPN NFL Insider Chris Mortensen broke the news about Stanton's knee injury on Saturday, he reported it was sprained, according to sources. On Wednesday, Stanton may have shed some more light on his current diagnosis. He started by saying this injury is different compared to others he's had in the past. "I've had bone bruises in the past and stuff and you deal with it, and the hard thing is you don't know when they heal," Stanton said. "It's just all of a sudden you go one day and its gone because it's such poor blood circulation, and everything. You can't really do anything to speed up the healing process, then it just becomes a thing of pain management." Then, when asked to clarify if he was suffering from a bone bruise or a sprain, Stanton paused and then said: "Whatever… a sprain." Arians has never had a third-string quarterback with as much experience as Gabbert, who's started 40 games in his career. And that's given him peace of mind should he need to start Gabbert. "I can honestly say this is the best feeling I've ever had about playing a third quarterback if he plays," Arians said. "I feel really good about it."
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