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The performance of Cardinals first-round pick Robert Nkemdiche in Arizona’s season opening loss to the New England Patriots drew criticism from head coach Bruce Arians.

Now Nkemidche will have to earn a chance at more playing time and Arians doesn’t anticipate that being an easy thing to do.

“It will depend on the practice,” Arians said in an interview with Alex Marvez and Bill Polian on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “The guys who played played really, really well. It’s going to be hard to crack that lineup and get a hat on Sunday unless you have one hell of a week of practice.”

Nkemdiche was not active for last week’s game against Tampa Bay partly due to an ankle injury that had him listed as questionable on the injury report. However, his absence opened the door for someone else to take his snaps. Ed Stinson played in Nkemdiche’s place and – though he wasn’t named specifically by Arians – drew praise for his efforts against the Buccaneers.

“Yeah. He did not play very well in the one job that he had in New England. And the guy who did play this week had 24 pluses and one minus so it will be hard to get him out of there,” Arians said.