Arizona Cardinals training camp: All-Access with Bruce Arians – Aug. 28

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Head coach Bruce Arians, now in his third year with the Arizona Cardinals, meets the media each day during training camp.

Here, in this space, we’ll highlight many of the key topics and personnel conversations he has with reporters following the morning walk-through.

To kick things off, Arians announced the following players would not be traveling to Oakland for the Cardinals’ Sunday preseason game versus the Raiders: Michael Floyd (hand), Rob Crisp (knee), Mike Iupati (knee), Troy Niklas (hamstring), Ross Weaver (unknown), Ed Stinson (toe), Sean Weatherspoon (hamstring).  According to Arians, “Everybody else is game-time decisions.”

General impressions of how training camp wrapped up

“I thought we had an excellent camp.  I hate to use the word potential because potential is a negative word for me, but we have potential to have a pretty good team.  We still, daily, make too many mistakes that beat ourselves with penalties and missed assignments.  They cleaned up pretty good in the game, but for us to reach where we want to go, we can’t be ‘potential.’  We have to be damn good.  That’s one of the things; I look forward to watching us grow in the next two weeks before we play New Orleans — the character of our football team and growing to wipe out that word ‘potential’ and just everyday see us play good and eliminate some of these errors that will cost us.”

Is Chris Johnson playing against Oakland a coin toss at this point?

“Yeah, he feels pretty good.  He’s going to try it pregame and he wants to play, so if you want to play, that’s a big part of it.”

Is Jerraud Powers going to play?

“Yeah, Jerraud had two interceptions today, so he’s good to go.”

How much does Chris Johnson need to play?

“Everybody needs to play.  He needs to get the ball in his hands, feel good in our offense, pick up a blitz and all the things you need to do that he hasn’t done yet.”

Is Xavier Williams’ elbow okay?

“Yeah, he’s getting an MRI on it now.”

Do you feel like your secondary can be one of the best in the league?

“Yeah, that’s probably that ‘potential’ I’m talking about. We did a good job not getting penalties last year and we’ve done a pretty good job this year keeping our hands off guys with the rule changes and I just want to see us play at a very high level all the time.”

Jerraud Powers said you were getting on him the past few days.

“Yeah, this hamstring thing…he wanted some rest (laughing in background).  My man delivered today with two picks.”

Powers said you were quieter the past few days, that maybe ‘BA’ had checked out of camp.

“(Laughter) No, I’m just warming up for the refs.”

What’s the best part about breaking camp?

“Going home and sleeping in my bed.  I think they all feel the same way.  My liver likes a break, too.”

As you get closer to that first cut, how tough will it be?

“The first one might be tougher than the second one because we want to be able to maintain a level of play if somebody gets hurt, not having to put a starter back in a game.  Getting the depth chart correct for that game with the injuries that we have is always the hardest part.  The last cut is never fun.  It’s never fun watching guys’ dreams come to an end maybe for a week, hopefully, and they get picked up by somebody else.  I think last year, five guys were picked up off the waiver wire in the entire league, so it’s more likely to catch back on on a practice squad.

Will Earl Watford play with the first-stringers this week?

“No, he’ll stay with the twos.”

At tackle or guard?

“Yes, both.”

Both Jerraud and Calais Campbell mentioned that a guy that took a step forward this camp was Kevin Minter.

“Yeah, I think Kevin’s grown.  I think his command of the huddle, his checks are loud now — even if he’s wrong — he’s loud now.  He thinks he’s right and that’s good, because everybody is on the same page and he don’t have to be right as long as you’re loud, voiceful and have a good command of the huddle and the checks at the line of scrimmage.  We ask an awful lot of our quarterback on defense.  We ask as much of him as we do on offense.”

What in particular has contributed to that jump?

“Just confidence, playing well on a daily basis.  He’s healthy for the first time in a year and a half, he’s lean, he’s fast, so he’s doing everything right.”

Has a need to get additional conditioning in for the first-teamers changed your plan in terms of playing time for those guys at Oakland?

“No, we’ll just see how it goes.  I was very pleased with the number of reps we ran in a row this week in practice to get that game-type of condition and we seem in very good shape.  We’ll play it by ear and see how that second and third quarters go.”

Is there a position group you look at and wish that you were further ahead?

“Not really.  With the injuries in the offensive line, I think we’ve built some really good depth.  Defensive line, same thing, but I think overall, the young linebackers have improved the depth of that position.  So I think overall, we’re very, very solid.”

Mike Iupati looks like he’s moving around pretty well.

“Yeah, the biggest thing for him right now is to maintain his weigh down so that he doesn’t get too heavy and get swelling on the knee.  That will speed up his recovery.”

Do you like the new rule which moves PATs further back?

“Yeah, I was very much in favor of it.  I think the fans now see something that’s more fun and the defense has an opportunity to score.  We have a history of blocking kicks, so I was very much for it.”

How do you like your chances in the NFC West right now?

“I think everyone has an equal opportunity right now and everybody has had their share of injuries and everybody’s has their share of regrouping and going forward.  I think it should be wide open.  Seattle is obviously the front-runner.  Until somebody beats them, they’re the champ.

Did D.J. Humphries take any steps forward this week at left tackle?

“About the same way he started it.”

How difficult is it for a first-round draft pick to round into form?

“He’s just got to mature.  Talent is not the issue, it’s maturity level and building trust.  You can’t turn blitzers loose on the backside of a quarterback and have any trust.  That’s real hard.”

How refreshing is it to have Jonathan Cooper back?

“Yeah, don’t jinx him, man.  He’s doing great.  He’s healthy and he’s improved every single day.”

What are your thoughts on the dirt field in Oakland?

“It’s been there forever.  We don’t have to go to Miami.  I think Miami’s was worse.  It’s pretty hard on the kickers, really.  That’s the toughest part.  I know Amos (Jones), when we’ve played there before, has taken guys out to a baseball field and kicked on a baseball field just to get them used to it.”

Do you know whether Phillip Sims or Logan Thomas will get reps first versus Oakland?

“Phillip will go first this time.”

Do you like the Raiders fans in Oakland?

“Oh, the Raiders fans are great.  In a regular season, I mean if you’re not getting mooned or [expletive] thrown at the bus, they don’t respect you.  I mean, you look forward to that…Cleveland used to throw batteries inside of snowballs.  You just had to make sure you stayed out of range.  With the Raiders, there was a baby doll dressed up as our colors when I was with the Chiefs and it had blood all over it.  I said, ‘C’mon, man!’  The Raiders and Chiefs, that rivalry was pretty strong in ’89, ’90, ’91.”