NFC Rumors: Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks

Cardinals

• Regarding Packers CB Rasul Douglas‘ interception to win Week 8’s Thursday night game, Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury felt it was a “safe throw” if A.J. Green was aware of his route assignment: “Yeah, I mean, we feel like it’s a safe throw if (AJ Green) knew the route to run. … It was the right place to go with the ball. Just didn’t communicate on some level and then the guy made a good play.” (Doug Kyed)
• According to Tom Pelissero, Cardinals QB Kyler Murray (ankle) should be okay going forward after suffering his injury on the final drive of Thursday’s game and leaving the stadium in a walking boot, which was considered precautionary. 

• Albert Breer of SI.com hears that Cardinals WR Andy Isabella is among the pass catchers who have been discussed in potential trades leading up to the Saints.

Rams

• Regarding the Rams allowing veteran WR DeSean Jackson to seek a trade on Friday, HC Sean McVay said he had a “good conversation” with Jackson and he will not play in Week 8.  (Lindsey Thiry)
• McVay added that Jackson’s trade demands are all “very quickly developing” on Friday: “This is all very quickly developing, this is all stuff that we’re working through.” (Lindsey Thiry)
• McVay ruled out LT Andrew Whitworth (knee) and DL Sebastian Joseph-Day (pectoral) from Sunday’s game. (Lindsey Thiry)

• Rams HC Sean McVay said WR TuTu Atwell has areas to improve: “He has a lot of room to develop and grow…I’d like to see him have a little more increased sense of urgency.” (Jourdan Rodrigue)

• The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue mentions that while it’s unlikely the Rams would trade QB Bryce Perkins, there are people around the league who think very highly of him and believe he could develop into a starting option at some point. 

Seahawks

Seahawks HC Pete Carroll said that QB Geno Smith will continue starting in Week 8. 

“Sure,” said Carroll, via Brady Henderson of ESPN. “Yeah, he is. And we’re counting on him to just keep getting better and us to play better around him.”

Carroll believes Smith is “managing the game well” but would like to see him release the ball faster. 

“He’s managing the game well,” Carroll said. “I would like him to get the football out, be more open to throw the ball away. We talked about it in the locker room after the game. Sometimes those situations happen so fast, and to make that declaration to give up on the play is something that takes experience. That experience for Geno right now, it’s not quite settled in the way he needs to be satisfied with, ‘I’ve got to throw the ball away, we’ve got to punt the football.’ And there’s nothing wrong with that. We took two or three sacks last night that we shouldn’t have taken.”

Carroll said they must continue building their offense around Smith in order to help him “function at a high level.” 

“We have to keep battling because it’s so close,” Carroll said. “We have to just keep clawing and scratching and we’ve got to keep building the game around Geno and making sure that he can function at a high level.”