Cardinals think Andre Ellington suffered PCL injury

Cardinals running back Andre Ellington’s bad luck with injuries didn’t change on Sunday. He suffered a right knee injury in the fourth quarter and didn’t return.

The severity of the injury is unknown. Coach Bruce Arians said it appears the injury is the posterior cruciate ligament, but that’s not certain.

UPDATE: Cardinals' Andre Ellington to undergo MRI, team optimistic

Ellington was seen walking without a limp after the game, and quarterback Carson Palmer seemed optimistic that Ellington would return.

“It’s hopefully a day-to-day thing with Andre,” Palmer said. “I thought it was a lot more serious with the way he down. But it looks like he’s going to be O.K., hopefully.”

If Ellington is out, Chris Johnson likely will be the starter. He gained 37 yards on 10 carries in the victory over the Saints.

Rookie David Johnson and Stepfan Taylor would be the backups, and Kerwynn Williams could be promoted from the practice squad.

Cardinals vs. Saints rewind: What we learned

“I thought Chris looked good,” Arians said. “He’ll get more touches and we will feel very confident if he is our lead dog.”

Ellington played most of last season with a partially torn tendon in his foot. He missed the final four games with a core muscle injury.

Dead zone

The Saints scored one touchdown in four possessions inside the Cardinals 20. They kicked field goals the other three times.

“They’re a good football team and this is a tough place to play,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. “I feel like, for the most part, we executed our game plan. We controlled the clock. We won time of possession. When you’re 7 of 18 (on third down) that’s not good enough. When you’re one of four in the red zone, that’s not good enough.”

Brees completed 30 of 48 passes, giving him 4,967 completions for his career. That ties him with Dan Marino for third all-time in the NFL.

Only Brett Favre (6,300) and Peyton Manning (5,951) have more.

The Earl of Watford

Making his first NFL start – and at a position he never played until the tail end of training camp – right tackle Earl Watford held up well for the Cardinals against the Saints. He and the offensive line didn’t allow a single sack and Watford was able to keep defensive end Cameron Jordan out of the backfield when the pass rusher was lined up on his side.

“I’ll have to look at the film and see, but I felt I did some good things and some bad things – mostly technical stuff I’ve got to keep working on,” Watford said. “I don’t think I did too bad. It went pretty much how I wanted it to.”

Arians was generally impressed by what he saw.

“I trusted Earl to go out there and play very well and he did,” the coach said.

Not getting beat for a sack made Watford smile, but he said that will be the No. 1 priority for the entire offensive line – not just him.

“We’ve got to keep Carson (Palmer) clean and healthy and that’s the goal throughout the entire season,” Watford said. “This was just a good first step, but that’s got to be our thing all year.”

When Arians moved Watford from guard to tackle and named him the starter in place of the suspended Bobby Massie, he said it could be a move that lasts for the entire season not just for the first two weeks of the season, which is how long Massie will be gone.

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