All-Access with Bruce Arians: ‘Really proud’ of Gabbert taking opportunity

TEMPE, Ariz. – Head coach Bruce Arians, now in his fifth year with the Arizona Cardinals, meets the media several times leading up to gameday.

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 following practice.

Opening statement:

“Injury-wise, it does not look like Deone’s (Bucannon) is as severe as it once looked. We’re still waiting on some images to come back. We sent everything off to the surgeon who did his repair because all the injury is to that part of the leg. It could be a day or two; it could be serious. So, we don’t know yet.

“Josh Mauro sucked it up. He didn’t last very long on his ankle and re-sprained it. Other than that, I can’t think of anybody else that is going to miss any time. Kerwynn (Williams) cracked a couple ribs, so it’s just going to be how much he can play with pain. That’s pretty hard to do as a running back. I would anticipate he might miss some time. As far as the game, some really, really good plays.

“The one thing I thought throughout the game, our guys played hard, really gave great effort in all three phases. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough to win. Been waiting to get some home games because that’s exactly what we needed, and the crowd was fantastic.

“I thought Blaine’s (Gabbert) play to the 50-yarder to Jaron (Brown) was one only a few guys can make because Calais (Campbell) came fairly unblocked, and he knew. He had enough instinct not to draw back with the ball and still had enough strength to put it out there and not get it tipped. That was a fantastic play by him.

“Overall, Chandler (Jones) was unbelievable. We had so many game balls, but the guys had a victory Monday, so we’ll give them out Wednesday.”

On what else Blaine Gabbert needs to show him:

“Nothing. Just continue to grow. Just get better. Protect the ball when you’re scrambling around. The other thing is when he does break out, we did a really … We haven’t had a scramble drill in so long, our receivers did a really bad job of scramble drill – who was going deep, who was coming back.

“Guys were shooting the opposite way across the field. We’ve got to get that cleaned up, so that when he gets out of there, he can still make plays down the field. He anticipated a coverage on the interception. The safety just bit on his eyes, and he really had Jaron wide open. But, it was Cover 3, so he thought the safety would have been back on the post, but he could have pumped him and got a touchdown.

“So, little things like that that he’ll continue to improve in the offense.”

On where Drew Stanton is in the equation:

“Drew will be backing him up. He’s getting healthier and healthier, but we’re going to stick with Blaine right now.”

On how Gabbert is taking this opportunity:

“I’m really proud of him. These things don’t happen – you hope they don’t happen very often when your top two guys go down, but we’re very blessed to have him, and he has taken the bull by the horns and showing us, ‘I’m a player. I can play at this level and play very high.’”

On how much upside Gabbert has:

“Oh my gosh, a ton. A ton, just as he continues to grow. He’s never been in the same offense two years in a row, so he can blossom.”

On if there’s something about his offense that’s conducive to quarterback success:

“It’s a very quarterback-friendly offense. It’s a heavy workload on a quarterback, and we ask them to do an awful lot. But, once you get it, it’s pretty quarterback-friendly.”

On Gabbert’s football intelligence compared to other quarterbacks he’s coached:

“He’s up there. You don’t just come in, change protections, see your hots and sights, and all the things that he has done so fast. He was doing it in OTAs (organized team activities) and preseason games. As he sees the exotic looks, he’s starting to know how to pick them up, how to get out of there and make plays.”

On if Gabbert is on the level of Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck or Peyton Manning with his football intelligence:

“Yeah, he’s up there. To play at this level in seven offenses is not easy, and he’s had success, especially in this offense. But yeah, he’s up there with those guys mentally with Drew and those guys.”

On if play-action and intermediate calls helped free up Jaron Brown for the touchdown:

“Well running the ball, we got the linebackers out of there, but then Larry (Fitzgerald) came on a deep cross and that’s like a magnet. He jumped Larry on a deep cross, and it’s pretty much a given that when we run that play, they’re going to jump Larry if we have time to throw it deep.”

On if there are times when Gabbert needs to take some arm strength off his passes when he’s on the run:

“He does a fairly good job of that. There’s not a lot of times where he’s throwing it too hard. Now, he still gets off behind hips a little bit, and we’ve got to make some catches for him. The almost interception to J.J. (Nelson) needs to be about two feet out in front of J.J. instead of the back hip. Just those accuracy things, and he’s very capable.”

On D.J. Foster’s catch in the fourth quarter:

“I thought it was a great play by both of them – D.J. to stay with the route because they had changed coverage. Myles Jack slipped, and he got it in there and just did a great job of keeping his feet down.”

On if he’ll stick with Patrick Peterson at punt returner if Kerwynn Williams can’t play:

“J.J. was ready, and we’ll see who else can go back there.”

On what Josh Bynes gave the defense:

“He’ll get a game ball. He played lights out, especially in that sub-package, which he hasn’t played in yet, but he got mental reps. And he had no mental errors, just had unbelievable stats, but he led the team and was truly a true ‘next man up’ mentality. And he was more than ready to play and played as a starter and played at a very high level.”

On if he anticipates moving Haason Reddick inside if Deone Bucannon is out:

“Yeah, those things we’ll talk about, because Josh played so well. We’ve got packages with him back there anyways and especially on sub.”

On what it means for the team to still be in the playoff race after all the team has been through this year:

“It’s never over, especially this year. It’s a crazy year and having all these home games at the end of the season, had we just scratched out one or two road games earlier, we knew they’d be very, very important.”

On the importance of this Sunday’s game against an NFC West opponent:

“It’s huge. To climb back in the division, get a division win, bringing them back to us and us get higher, it’s a big, big game.”

On if the loss to the Rams in London lingers as the team prepares for the Rams:

“It should be an embarrassment when you watch the film, the way we played.”

On if there was a no-call penalty on the Jaguars 68-yard kick return:

“We decided to kick it left. Phil (Dawson) wanted to kick it left, and we had all our success to the right. We had two new guys over there, too, that got out of their lanes. But yeah, there could have been a call.”

On the offensive line’s performance:

“I thought it was outstanding. I thought they kept the quarterback clean. We ran the ball well. One of our best performances this year against a really good front.”

On why the punt coverage has improved the last month besides the play of Budda Baker and Justin Bethel:

“Andy’s (Lee) kicking the ball so well. We’re doing a really good job of securing the protections, so that he can step up and really get it off. His hang time and direction has been outstanding.”

On if Andy Lee is doing more directional punting than before:

“He’s always been able to do pretty much whatever you want him to do. I think he would like to have that one knuckleball a little bit higher near the end there.”

On Foster’s upside:

“He took a blitz pick up, up the middle. He stuck his face in there and did a heck of a job. So yeah, his role’s only going to continue to increase.”

On how comfortable he would be with Gabbert starting at quarterback in 2018 should Carson Palmer retire:

“The way he’s playing right now, I’d be very, very comfortable.”

On if he thinks that could happen:

“Oh yeah. I think it’s a possibility.”

On his thought process on the fourth-and-one on the 50-yard line:

“Blaine tried to talk me into it, and I just kept looking to see if it was going to be six inches or a yard. We knew we’d get the ball back, and I’m really pissed off because we didn’t line up properly on that one play; it cost us one of our timeouts, or we’d have two timeouts. But, we knew we were going to get the ball back if they threw it, and they did.”

On the problems it causes for opposing defenses to have Ricky Seals-Jones split out wide:

“That’s why he has to line up and block. So, he’s considered a tight end. He did a good job on those assignments in that ball game. So that when he gets split out, he’s got a safety or linebacker. If it’s a corner, you know the coverage. It’s zone. So, those types of things are real easy for a quarterback to see. He’s got enough explosiveness to beat a corner, but it’s also very easy reads for a quarterback.”

On if he has noticed a difference in Chandler Jones this season after he lost weight:

“Oh, yeah. He looks like a linebacker instead of a defensive end, and he’s got his quickness. I think the other thing is his stamina. He never wears out during the game.”

On if Jones’ improvements this year result from comfort with the playbook and better understanding of his role:

“I think all those things – being comfortable with who he is on the team, his status on the team and just going out and play. Nobody’s holding him back, and he can do anything he wants out there, just make sure it’s good.”

On what he saw from Robert Nkemdiche:

“I thought he had one of his better games, and he got a slight ankle sprain again. We’ll see how bad it is, but I don’t think it’s anything serious. He had one of his better games.”

On having a lot of fans in Seattle rooting for him this upcoming weekend:

“Oh, yeah. For sure. We have three or four different groups cheering for us, but I was really happy with the way our fans turned out. Man, they were loud and great.”

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