Carson Chats: Jaron Brown looks great, proud of progress

TEMPE, Ariz. – Quarterback Carson Palmer, now in his fifth year with the Arizona Cardinals, meets the media every Wednesday during the regular season.

Here, in this space, with help from the Cardinals’ media relations staff, we’ll highlight many of the key topics and personnel conversations he has with reporters.

On if he likes running the no-huddle offense:

“I do, yeah.”

On what he likes about it:

“It just puts stress on the defense. Defensive lineman get tired. The pass rush slows down a little bit. It makes it more difficult to get into some of the packages where you get some crazy fire zones or some different coverages just because they typically go to base calls. So, I like those things about it.”

On if it can jump-start an offense:

“Yeah, and I’ve seen it go three-and-out a bunch, too. It’s kind of one of those things, the grass is always greener. It’s easy to say, ‘Well, let’s go to this,’ but sometimes it can struggle, and you are in the wrong play at the wrong time, and before you know it, it’s third-and-10. So, it can go both ways.”

On his locker room role in terms of getting guys on track and focused through injuries:

“I really don’t see or feel like we’ve had much of a problem with that. You look at the defensive line, (Robert) Nkemdiche goes down, and you got O.P. (Olsen Pierre), who can’t wait to get in and play, and he got a game ball. Xavier (Williams) got a game ball; Rodney (Gunter) got a game ball.

There are guys at different positions. We are very deep in a number of areas, where one guy goes down, and there’s another guy that has been waiting for the moment to get his opportunity. As far as lack of focus or guys being down or any of that, I just haven’t noticed that. I feel like we have been very focused.”

On injuries to the offensive line and running back positions:

“With the running back spot, that is another position where we are extremely deep at. To be able to sign Chris Johnson off the street, he knows the offense and has been here a couple of years. Andre (Ellington) has come in and done nothing but look explosive and fast and be a really good change of pace. Kerwynn (Williams) just hasn’t gotten in going yet, but everyone just can’t wait for him to.

He is one of those guys that, in the games that he has played in years past he has just exploded and looked explosive and been really difficult to tackle and difficult to find. And Elijhaa Penny is another guy I want to see run the ball. You want to get the ball in his hands.

It’s just a crowded position. Offensive line hasn’t been as deep. We’ve obviously gone out and signed Earl (Watford) and guys have had to move around and play different positions. That has been difficult. But as far as every other position, I feel like we have been really deep at and very focused.”

On if he thought WR Jaron Brown would look this good this fast after his ACL injury:

“No. Jaron has been a guy that – kind of like I was just talking about – you want to get him the ball, but you don’t want to take him out for Larry (Fitzgerald) or Mike (Floyd) last year. But as far as coming back from the injury he had, he looked great. They were holding him during the first week of training camp, but it looked like he was ready.

I was working out with him in July in California, and he looked ready to go in July, and that was eight months post-op, maybe nine. So, he has looked phenomenal, and that is nobody but Jaron. He has had a great team of help, but when a guy comes back that strong and that fast, you just know how hard – once you’ve been through it – Jaron worked to get to where he is.

We’re really proud and happy to see him back. He was a total of ten inches away from, two weeks ago, having a monster game. A touchdown here and another touchdown he got pushed out of the back of the end zone by an inch. He got pushed out on by an inch. He had a couple other catches where he was on the boundary and he just didn’t get his feet in and was a couple inches away from having even bigger games.”

On if he noticed differences between the recovery process from his first knee injury to his second:

“Yeah, it totally changed in the ten years that I had in between procedures. From the way they do the surgery to the machines and the devices you can use in rehab to the actual rehab protocol, it changed drastically.”

On if he calls the quarterback sneak or if it’s something that comes from the sideline:

“No, that comes from the sideline. We’ve been in some, it seemed like third-and-inches and third-and-a-half-a-yard, and had some good looks to do it against previous teams. We had talked about doing it and coach called it.”

On if he gets the sense that, for the first time in a long time, the receivers are at full health:

“Well getting Smokey (John Brown) back makes you feel like that, but then J.J. (Nelson) was hurt last week with the hamstring. Yeah, I mean Jaron (Brown) has looked great; Smoke has looked great, and Larry has had some little things he has dealt with but played through them. Getting J.J. back to 100 percent would be huge. I don’t know where he is at specifically, but getting him back would give us a chance to be at full strength at that spot.”

On where the offense misses RB David Johnson the most:

“Where don’t we miss David? Nowhere in particular – everywhere, from the week preparing to play against us, when you’ve got to get your defensive guys in the mindset that you’ve got to stop him, to the passing game, the running game, red zone and third down. He was such a big part of our red zone package. He was the focus of our red zone package and such a big part of our third down stuff. Not just third-and-two to three, but third-and-seven to 10 and third-and-four to six. He was such a big part of it. When you lose him, I can’t put my finger on one spot.”

On if he sees explosiveness from RB Andre Ellington:

“Yeah, he has looked great. He has caught really difficult catches. He just kind of has a natural ability, a Warrick Dunn-like ability, to slither through and fall forward and not take the direct hit between multiple defenders. And he can run (routes). You name a route, and he can run it. It’s really good to see him play the way he is playing.”

On if his production this season is a product of offseason rest:

“I don’t know. It’s early. We have been down, and we haven’t had leads where we have been able to run the ball. I don’t know if we have had a lead yet. So, that is part of it. Losing David (Johnson) is part of it; you get away from the run a little bit quicker. I think those two things factor in more than rest in practice.”

On how his arm is holding up with high volume of pass attempts through four games:

“Fine. 50 attempts are much less than I throw in practice.”

On what stands out from Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s scheme:

“Maybe the best front seven we have played thus far. I’m trying to think, who would be better. All three linebackers are really good, really fast. They have five or six defensive linemen that are quality starter-type players. They do a really good job of rotating them in; they keep them fresh. They all have to get off. Chris Long is a backup. Chris Long has been a dominant player for a long time. So, it’s a very, very good group. They are playing at home. They’re going to be keying the ball, and we will have to play our best to beat them.”

On how he feels after taking a high number of hits:

“I feel great. Today is Wednesday, so I’d have had a different answer on Monday, but I feel great.”

On if there is a secret to feeling good despite the hits:

“No, there is a secret to recovery. I have got a good recovery and a good routine I go through to get ready to play on Sundays, but as far as a secret to getting hit, the secret is to not get hit. I don’t know any secrets about getting hit.”

On the types of hits versus the number of hits, and if family and friends are concerned with the number of times he has been hit:

“Yeah, the wife always focuses on everyone, but like I said before, it’s those awkward ones, for every position. Whether you are getting tackled as a running back or a wide receiver, those odd injuries come from when you hit the ground oddly and the way you get landed on top of oddly. That’s where those injuries seem to come from.”

On if it’s tough to watch himself get hit on film:

“It depends on if it a win or a loss. It is a lot easier to watch game tape on Mondays after a win regardless, whether you get hit once or ten times. After a loss, you are always wincing.”

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