ARIZONA CARDINALS

All-Access with Bruce Arians: Injuries loom with Rams on deck

Nov 29, 2017, 4:01 PM

(AP Photo)...

(AP Photo)

(AP Photo)

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:

“Not practicing: John Brown, Deone Bucannon, Karlos Dansby – actually he did practice, excuse me. Larry Fitzgerald – not injury related – Rudy Ford, ‘Brit’ (Brittan) Golden, Josh Mauro, Corey Peters, Adrian Peterson and Ricky Seals-Jones … (Seals-Jones) was not injury related also. A good start to the week, trying to build off of last week, and again, a lot of young guys’ roles are expanding. As long as they continue to play as well as they have the last couple games, we’ll continue to use them.”

On why RB Adrian Peterson did not practice:

“He is injury-related. Yes.”

On RB Kerwynn Williams’ status:

“Kerwynn practiced. Kerwynn’s a tough son of a gun, now. He practiced.”

On Peterson’s injured:

“His neck.”

On if Peterson’s injury happened in Jacksonville game:

“Yes.”

On if he received any injury updates on $LB Deone Bucannon:

“No, not how long, it’s just not nearly as severe as first thought. It’s really day-to-day. I don’t know about this week, but it’s just an ankle sprain now.”

On if he feared that Bucannon’s injury could be season ending:

“Oh yeah. Yeah. Originally thought it was cracked where he had the procedure done.”

On where DL Olsen Pierre fits regarding young players getting an opportunity to play:

“No, I don’t consider him a young guy. He’s a vet. He’s been here for a while, and he’s been playing really, really well all year.”

On if he’s always thought that TE Ricky Seals-Jones would be somebody that could help the Cardinals:

“Yeah, once we got him in minicamp, rookie minicamp, he just had to learn how to play tight end. He’d never played it before. Usually those guys, if it’s a basketball player or a receiver who’s gotten bigger, they don’t really like sticking their face on 280-pound guys. He is not the least bit afraid to do that, and as he gets stronger and bigger, he’ll get better at it.”

On why Seals-Jones has made so many great plays:

“He can run and catch. He was a really good wideout at Texas A&M.”

On the advantage of moving Seals-Jones from wide receiver to tight end:

“He’s big and fast, and it’s a total projection that he could actually play tight end.”

On Seals-Jones’ attitude after entering the league as a rookie free agent:

“He came in and just wanted to learn how to play tight end. Rick (Christophel) and Steve (Heiden) have done a great job with him, staying after practice and working on blocking.”

On if Seals-Jones had a personal day off practice:

“He had a birth. I haven’t found out if it’s a son or daughter yet.”

On what the running back situation will be this Sunday:

“I have no clue. We’ve got five of them, and four of them practiced. I’m not sure who will be available yet.”

On LB Chandler Jones’ weight loss and if that factors into his increased playing time:

“Yeah, his stamina is so much better. He very seldom ever asks to come out.”

On Jones’ windmill celebration that other teammates have emulated:

“I usually don’t see that stuff. But I’m really happy the league has relaxed on the guys as far as celebrations.”

On how much QB Blaine Gabbert’s scout team work with Seals-Jones has helped their relationship:

“A ton. That’s where they built all their chemistry, he and Chad (Williams) also, because they had all those plays, and Blaine would put it in to our language. They would call the play and go practice and get better.”

On if Arizona State has called to ask for permission to interview offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin:

“I have no idea. I have no idea.”

On how different the Cardinals are as a team now compared to when they last played the Rams in London:

“A lot of new faces, a lot more guys on IR. The win this week, I think, helped obviously. I can’t count how many, four or five, guys that were in that game that are now on IR.”

On if he has always wanted to be the team’s play-caller as a head coach:

“I basically always have called plays my career. When I was 26 at Mississippi State, and when I was a scout team player in college, I called the JV games. I’ve always done it, and what I enjoy the most in this business is that particular phase of it.”

On what Herm Edwards could bring to the table if hired as ASU football’s head coach:

“Herm is a good friend. I was kind of surprised when I heard it, but he’s got a good knowledge of the game, and he has stayed very active in it.”

On why he was surprised to hear that Edwards is being considered for the position:

“How old he is. I don’t think he coached (in college). He might have coached one year at San Jose State. Having never coached it, you’ve got to go learn all those rules and stuff.”

On the Rams offense:

“They’re extremely talented. All five of those guys upfront have played every game, and that makes a world of a difference, keeping a quarterback clean. If they miss Robert Woods – he’s been playing really, really well – but they’ve got weapons, and Jared (Goff) fits the system extremely well.”

On what Rams head coach Sean McVay has done with QB Jared Goff:

“He has put him in a system that he fits. They do a lot of ‘check with me’ at the line of scrimmage. They don’t huddle. A lot of that is coming from the sidelines to match him up in the best play.”

On if he likes how engaged RB David Johnson has stayed while unable to play this season:

“Oh yeah. Almost all our guys – Carson’s (Palmer) out there, David’s out there. You go down the list, they’re always around.”

On his assessment of RB D.J. Foster:

“Getting better and better. I was really pleased with his blitz pickup. That was the biggest concern of him being a nickel back, and he jumped up and blocked really well up the middle. Just continues to grow and learn. You wish you had him all of OTAs, and like a lot of these young guys, you say something and you expect him to know it. ‘Hell, you weren’t here for training camp,’ or ‘You weren’t here for that.’ So, you have to reteach him on the run.”

On if he tries to disguise things defensively early in the game:

“You can. You can do that, as long as you don’t screw yourself up.”

On if Gabbert’s quick release is an effective tool:

“Blaine knows what he’s doing, and he doesn’t hold it very long, because he knows where it needs to go. We did take our shots. We took all six shots down the field. We hit the one, but yeah, he gets it out of his hand quickly. He doesn’t waste time. When he did, he was scrambling around to get out of there.”

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