A third-string QB just 11 days ago, Cardinals' Carson Beck prepares for his first NFL start

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Carson Beck was a third-string quarterback just 11 days ago, learning the life of a professional athlete while working in near-anonymity behind Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew on the depth chart.

Life can change quickly in the NFL.

The 24-year-old rookie will be the starter for the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday when they host the Los Angeles Rams after a dizzying set of circumstances and injuries. Brissett was traded to the Baltimore Ravens on Nov. 6, and then Minshew suffered a season-ending elbow injury on Sunday in a loss to Seattle.

“You try to remind these guys that you're a snap, maybe two snaps, maybe three snaps away,” first-year coach Mike LaFleur said. “Sometimes they believe you and sometimes they don't. Well, here it is. Be ready to roll.”

Beck's first start comes with a lot of challenges. He's debuting behind a banged-up offensive line that's missing left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. (biceps) and potentially without center Hjalte Froholdt, who is in the concussion protocol. The Cardinals' top two wide receivers — Michael Wilson and Kendrick Bourne — are also out for the season.

The team's current group of receivers includes Zay Jones, Reggie Virgil, Devin Duvernay and Simi Fehoko, who have a combined total of eight catches so far this season.

Ratcheting up the difficulty even more is the fact that the Rams' defense has two of the best pass rushers of this generation — Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett.

Beck said he's got a ton of respect for the entire Rams defense, but that it wouldn't affect his demeanor. Arizona will try to snap a 10-game home losing streak on Sunday.

“I think the coolest thing about confidence is that confidence is a choice,” Beck said. “I've said it before — it makes everyone else around you better as well. You've just got to go out there and execute, got to go out there and do your thing, be confident, have swag and have moxie.”

There are reasons to believe Beck is ready for the challenge.

He's more seasoned than an average NFL rookie after a six-year college career at Miami and Georgia. LaFleur said the quarterback's experience in the spotlight — and his background operating pro-style offenses — have made for a smooth transition to the league.

Beck also had an encouraging preseason performance in the Hall of Fame game on Aug. 7, when he completed 15 of 19 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown.

Now the stats count.

“You’re assessing everyone, whether it’s their first start or 50th start,” LaFleur said. “Each game is a life of its own. I’m just looking forward to just watching him go operate. Play each play as its own, learn, grow within a game, grow within a series. Like I’ve said multiple times — I know this isn’t too big for him.”

Beck does have one elite playmaker at his disposal in All-Pro Trey McBride. The fifth-year tight end is in the middle of another monster season with an NFL-leading 73 catches for 598 yards and five touchdowns.

McBride said Beck goes through his reads quickly, has good arm strength and can make off-schedule plays while scrambling.

“There's a reason he won as many games as he did in college — he's very, very talented,” McBride said. “I'm excited for him to be able to show the world what he can do.”

Beck said that it was hard to stay still on Monday when he got the news that he'd be starting. He spent time walking around his backyard, calling friends and relatives to tell them the good news.

He could have eight games to show he's the Cardinals' quarterback of the future.

“We'll know more on Sunday, but we have confidence that he's ready to roll,” LaFleur said.

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Arizona Cardinals quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett (7) and Carson Beck (19) warm up prior to an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys, in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Beck warms up during an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Kevin Ng)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press on Wednesday declared Democrat Scott Colom the winner in the race for U.S. Senate in Mississippi after several counties reported updated results — including provisional ballots that are typically among the last to be counted.

Colom led Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 43 votes following the final election night update in Mississippi, which arrived at 3:03 a.m. ET Nov. 4 from Pike County. Not only has Colom’s lead grown larger as counties in Mississippi have completed their vote count and reported on the outcome of their review of provisional ballots in the days since, but he’s won the vast majority of these final updates — in every region of the state and in all but the most Republican counties — by a large margin. He won all 12 vote updates released by various counties throughout the state Wednesday.

The AP called the race for the Colom just before 6 p.m. ET Wednesday after officials in Jackson County updated their vote count with an additional 2,173 votes. The update put Colom up by 4,669 votes out of 962,237 counted, or 0.5 percentage points.

To come back and take the lead, Hyde-Smith needed to win these final vote updates in Republican-leaning counties such as Jackson. Instead, Colom won the update in Jackson by just over 1 percentage point.

Colom's victory was powered by his strong showing the the heavily Democratic Jackson and Delta areas. He leads there with more than 67% of the vote, the strongest performance in that region of any Democratic candidate for Senate, governor or president going back at least 10 years. He also was competitive in the Republican-friendly Northeast and Southeast, where Hyde-Smith trailed President Donald Trump's 2024 vote share by more than 10 percentage points.

The AP estimates there are fewer than 12,000 votes remaining for county election officials in Mississippi to review before the deadline Friday for counties to certify their election results. Many of those votes left to count are provisional ballots, which are called affidavit ballots in Mississippi, and a good number may not ultimately be counted once they are reviewed and assessed by election officials.

There is no recount law in Mississippi: Hyde-Smith would need to persuade a court to order a review of the election. She conceded the race Wednesday in a social media video after the AP called the race for Colom.

There have been about 40 recounts in statewide elections since 2000. Only three have resulted in a new winner and all three were decided by hundreds of votes, not thousands. There is no precedent this century for a recount overturning an election with a margin as wide as the one in Mississippi.

Colom's victory will give Democrats 55 Senate seats in the new Congress, a net gain of eight seats. It's the party's largest midterm gain in the chamber since 1986, when Democrats also picked up eight Senate seats in President Ronald Reagan's second term.

The last time Democrats held 55 Senate seats was in 2014, before losing the majority in that year's midterms.

__ AP writers Robert Yoon and Camille Baker contributed to this report.

This combination photo shows Mississippi candidates for U.S. Senate, incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., left, in Corinth, Miss., on Oct. 26, 2026, and Scott Colom in Jackson, Miss., Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Ellen Schmidt)

Members of the Hinds County Resolution Board count absentee ballots for a final count, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, at the Hinds County Election Commission in Jackson, Miss., as the U.S. Senate race between Democratic candidate Scott Colom and the incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith remains uncalled. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Scott Colom, right, runs into comedian Rita Brent during a campaign stop at record and comic store OffBeat, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)