Arizona Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said he's "certainly a lot more optimistic" about finally having Kevin Kolb back in the lineup this week, after the quarterback missed four games with turf toe and a bruise to his right foot.
Kolb was able to work out some last week, but he didn't suit up for the 23-20 victory over the St. Louis Rams. Arizona has won three of the four games that Kolb has missed, but backup John Skelton has struggled, especially in the last two outings.
"It's really going to depend on where he is Wednesday and as the week progresses," Whisenhunt said Monday of Kolb's status, "but he made enough progress last week that you feel good about him being able to do it this week."
Skelton completed 12 of 23 passes for 114 yards Sunday. He was intercepted twice, although one came when his arm was hit as he threw. The Cardinals' 263 rushing yards, Patrick Peterson's punt-return touchdown and another in a series of solid performances by the defense allowed Arizona to eke out its fourth victory of the season.
Beanie Wells' career game came despite a nagging sore right knee that has limited him in practice for weeks.
"Beanie is sore today and a little swelling, but not as bad as we thought it might be," Whisenhunt said, "so we'll see where he is Wednesday, and hopefully he'll be able to do a little work in Wednesday's practice."
The ability of Wells, in his third season out of Ohio State, to perform at such a high level despite the injury is a sign of the running back's growing maturity, his coach said. Whisenhunt singled out an instance when Wells was hit hard and his knee bent backward. Wells was very slow to get up and went to the sideline with the trainers.
"When he got his knee bent back, it looked horrible, and at that point, I'm sure most of us assumed that was it, he was done," Whisenhunt said, "because he was already fighting the knee. But to his credit, he fought through it, came back in and had a couple of big runs. Kudos to Beanie. When you talk about trying to get players to understand the mentality of what it takes, it's great to see a young guy like Beanie make that progress."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
