The story became so much more than just a week in London and what that meant for the Cardinals and why they played poorly in Sunday night's across-the-pond loss to the Rams. Now it's about the quarterback positon, the loss of Carson Palmer to a broken arm, and what that means for the future — on a couple of levels.

For Palmer, a player who no one was really sure how many seasons he still wanted to play, it leaves big questions. If he's out eight weeks like Bruce Arians said, that's basically the rest of the season. Does he stay on the active roster for that possibility?  A trip to IR is at minimum eight weeks. Maybe that's what Arians was talking about, but bringing Palmer back would mean the end of bringing both T.J. Logan and David Johnson back, because you can only bring two players total back from injured reserve.

For Palmer, does he try to come back for 2018 for sure, so this isn't the way it might end? There is so much that is potentially in flux for the Cardinals this offseason, especially given the age of many on the roster, that I doubt it's a question that can be answered anytime soon.

As for the QBs that remain, Bruce Arians was adamant Drew Stanton would be his starter the rest of the season. Stanton is the backup and Blaine Gabbert the third-stringer for a reason, Arians said. And maybe the Cards have seen all the need to in order to evaluate what Gabbert can do for them. But I had thought Gabbert might get a chance if the season got away in the won-loss column. Perhaps not.

The Cardinals are going into a bye week. There is time to sort it out, but obviously, Sunday couldn't have gone any worse.

-- Stanton's first start of the season is going to be in San Francisco. That's where he had his lone start of 2016, when he threw a pair of TD passes to beat the Niners as Palmer missed his only game of last season because of a concussion.

-- The Phil Dawson 32-yard field goal miss was his fifth of the season, more than he had all of last year. The footing was not great at Twickenham and the snap was low, but holder Andy Lee looked like he did a nice job getting it in place. It was also rougher when Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein converted all four of his field-goal attempts.

Arians said Dawson is "our guy" and all he can do is tell him to make the next one. But it's hard to believe Dawson has struggled so much because it goes against everything he has been up until this season.

-- Todd Gurley 106 rushing yards, Adrian Peterson 21. Boiling the game down really far, that's it right there.

-- I don't know what would've happened if Palmer hadn't been hit on his interception. He doesn't break his arm. He probably doesn't throw a pick. And the game was only 6-0 at that point. It just got ugly after Palmer left.

-- Larry Fitzgerald is usually quiet after bad losses, but he seemed particularly so after this one. Bad loss, loss of QB, that can happen. He's another guy for whom retirement talk lingers. Now what does he have coming the rest of the year?

"We're confident Drew can lead us and do the same things that we were able to do in terms of play calling that Carson was able to do," Fitzgerald said.

-- So the London week is over. No one really knows what it meant. The Cardinals lost big and did it have anything to do with being overseas for a week? It's difficult to imagine the Cards doing any better in Los Angeles if Palmer is getting hurt and the excellent Rams defensive front is plugging any potential Adrian Peterson holes.

In any case, the bye week is here. Before that a long, long plane flight, in which the Cards will have time to ponder what went sideways in England and how exactly they can try and make things better the second half of the season — if they are able.