Arizona Cardinals Left Guard Mike Iupati Undergoes Surgery to Repair Injured Right Elbow
The Arizona Cardinals probably thought they were getting Mike Iupati back for the game against San Francisco 49ers on Sunday when he participated in two practice sessions last week, albeit in a limited capacity. But as it turned out, he likely wouldn't be suiting up for them anytime soon.
Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians has confirmed that Iupati will have to undergo surgery to remove a bone spur in his right elbow. He has been placed on the injured reserve list and he's expected to miss at least eight weeks of action. In his place, the Cardinals have promoted offensive lineman Vinston Painter from their practice squad to the active roster.
"He had a bone spur that broke off that's cutting his tendon and he was trying to play with it. He needs to get it done before it cuts it in half," Arians said, via Arizona Sports.
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The starting left guard has only played one game this season due to the triceps injury. His replacement, Alex Boone, is also currently inactive while he's dealing with a partially strained pectoral injury. John Wetzel has been starting at left guard for the Cardinals in the past few games.
Meanwhile, starting left tackle D.J. Humphries also sat out the game against the 49ers due to an injury to his right knee.
But in spite of their depleted offensive line, the Cardinals managed to eke out an 18–15 overtime victory on Sunday night thanks to Larry Fitzgerald's game-winning touchdown catch.
"You can't go to 1–3. After seeing what the Rams did (Sunday), go down to Dallas and get a big win to get to 3–1, you can't fall that far behind," Fitzgerald said after the game, via the Arizona Republic.
"You've got to be able to stay on pace. This game was huge. We obviously didn't want to walk out of here with a tie. That would have been demoralizing," he added.
