Bad Luck Sidelines Drew Stanton's Development ... Yet Again

Maybe some spirit out there in the ether just does not want Drew Stanton to be a starting NFL quarterback. Saddled with bad luck in his rookie year, luck which came in pairs -- a knee injury that drove him to the IR and the unfortunate situation of being stuck with Mike Martz as a coach -- Stanton came into this offseason pretty much as a rookie.

And he looked good, too, so good that it was assumed he'd win the job of backing up Jon Kitna, putting him one sack (of the 70 that will surely come) or one interception (of the 20 that will surely come) away from stepping on to the field. But his progress is taking another hit as he'll be sidelined for a month after spraining his right thumb on a teammate's shoulder.

With recovery and re-acclimation, it's tough to imagine Stanton taking over as primary clipboard holder until early October, meaning it looks like he'll have to wait until 2009 -- unless something drastic happens -- to be The Man. There's a good chance that would've been the case anyway, but Stanton is missing a vital point of the season for a player in his position, leaving us still to wonder what could've been.