TEMPE, Ariz. — Not every injured Arizona Cardinals player improved during the bye week.

Quarterback Carson Palmer’s ailing right shoulder actually got worse, and he missed Wednesday’s practice to consult with another specialist.

It was terrible news for Palmer and the Cardinals, who were confident last week the shoulder was improving. Palmer threw some in practice before the players were off for four days.

He threw more last Thursday and Friday. That didn’t go well, and this week coach Bruce Arians said Palmer regressed to close to the point where he started.

Palmer is likely to miss his third consecutive game when the Cardinals play the Broncos in Denver on Sunday.

“We need to see two good days, or a day and half of his full-speed delivery and not a soft toss,” Arians said. “He has to be back full-tilt.”

Arians categorized Palmer’s status as “week-to-week” and raised the possibility that the quarterback could be placed on injured reserve/designated for return.

However, Arians said, “We’re not even close to that yet.”

Drew Stanton played well in his two starts, so the Cardinals aren’t panicking. It might be time to do that, however, if something happened to Stanton and rookie Logan Thomas had to play.

He was erratic in the preseason, although Arians said there has been improvement since.

“Much more accurate,” Arians said. “(Last week) he was on time where he supposed to be, and it was very refreshing to see.”

It isn’t Arians’ style to play it safe with Stanton. Besides, that wouldn’t work playing Denver. The Cardinals have to be able to move the ball to keep pace with the Broncos’ offense.

“A big key in this ball game is going to be third-down conversions,” Arians said, “for us to stay on the field and score points, and for our defense to get off the field. I’ve never seen the altitude bother anybody on three-and-out.”