All-Access with Bruce Arians: Boone, Iupati, Nkemdiche all out
Head coach Bruce Arians, now in his fifth year with the Arizona Cardinals, meets the media several times leading up to gameday.
(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:
“Out for the ballgame, (Alex) Boone, (Mike) Iupati and (Robert) Nkemdiche. He re-injured his calf yesterday. The rest of the guys will all be game-time decisions.”
Did Iupati have a setback?
“He’s probably going to have to have surgery. He had a bone spur that broke off that’s cutting his tendon and he was trying to play with it. He needs to get it done before it cuts it in half.”
What are you looking at time-wise?
“Probably eight weeks at the best.”
Your long-term solution at left guard then is what?
“Right now, we’ll just move the next guy up there. (John) Wetzel has played guard, he’s played tackle so we’ll move on from there.”
How about Boone?
“He’s probably two weeks. Tough enough he might play next week.”
He’s got a tear?
“He’s got a slight one.”
Iupati will go on injured reserve?
“Probably, yes.”
Is Deone Bucannon a game-time decision?
“’Buc’ is up, yeah, he’s up. He’s playing.”
What’s that going to mean for your defense?
“More speed, a lot more toughness because he brings a lot of heart when he plays.”
Will you ease him back in?
“He’s got certain packages and Haason (Reddick) has been playing well enough. He’s got his packages. ‘Bettch’ (defensive coordinator James Bettcher) has done a good job of getting both of those guys in position to do what they do best.”
What about John Brown?
“John’s up, he’ll be playing, yeah.”
Do you kind of ease him back in there?
“He can’t go out there and play 70 plays or he’ll be right back where he was, but he’ll be available and he’ll play.”
Really a mixed bag of news there on the injury front.
“Yeah, we’ll see at game-time and probably make a roster move between now and then.”
Where does the offense miss David Johnson the most?
“Every play. Either fake it to him, hand it to him or throw it to him. Andre (Ellington) has picked up the passing part. We’ve yet to get a blocking unit blocking well enough for any back who’s out there.”
How is Bucannon’s speed?
“Oh, it’s full. He’s running like normal.”
What’s the latest on J.J. Nelson?
“J.J. is just like last week, yep.”
With Nkemdiche, is the severity the same or worse from when he got hurt in training camp?
“It’s about the same. Probably one-to-two (weeks). He got over the last one pretty quick. He just strained it again pushing off somebody yesterday.”
Did you see what you wanted to with Jared Veldheer this week?
“Yeah, he’s worked really hard. We had a good day in pads and the guys on defense gave him a good luck. He’s just got to put that fire out.”
Does it change your thinking as a play-caller when your offensive line is so beat up?
“You got to try and put them in position to be successful. You don’t necessarily say you’re going to run the ball a lot because that don’t work either. They just got to step up and play. We always believe in the next man, that’s no bull, that’s the real thing. Your job is now is you’re a starter. Play like one.”
What about Will Holden on the offensive line, will he play inside or outside?
“He’ll be in there a bunch, too.”
Inside?
“Both.”
How quickly has he picked up the offense?
“Really fast. He’s made the best of his opportunity playing tight end. He’s not a finished product, but he’s smart and he’s tough.”
Does D.J. Humphries start at left tackle?
“We’ll see, yeah.”
Related
Jacoby Brissett not shying away from the noise as the losses pile up
Jayden Williams not overthinking things ahead of 1st career NFL start
Cardinals-Lions Week 5 injury report: Jeremiyah Love limited at practice Wednesday
Report: Cardinals signing former top-10 pick Jedrick Wills Jr. after Paris Johnson Jr. injury
NFL Referees Association to challenge punishment for Jeff Seeman-Trey McBride incident
Is Mike LaFleur ready to make a quarterback change amid 3-game skid?
Comments
4 Comments
BA can say all he wants, but the truth is that he is too damn stubborn to change his game philosophy. Last week we started well, throwing mostly short, quick passes, utilizing our tight ends and Fitz, then BA reverted back to his normal play calling 'No riskit, No Biscuit" mentality, which resulted in multiple sacks of Palmer. When will this supposedly 'offensive genius' discover that you have to use plays based around the skill level of the team you have on the field, not just the game plan you have used for the last 5 years..
Where is Toner? Why haven't we brought him back?
For the first time pretty much all year long QB Carson Palmer is going to have ALL of his Weapons at his disposal healthy for the first time. Palmer has knocked the rust off and is throwing the deep ball very well, throwing intermediately & short very well attacking all 3 levels of the field & was lighting it up with perfect accuracy/ball-placement on MNF all behind a very shaky suspect sup-par line play.
Against San Francisco who employ a piss poor terrible secondary ( #1CB R. Robinson 34.9 grade 107th of 110ranked CBs via PFF, SCB K. Williams#94 40.1 grade overall, #2CB D. Johnson 47.6 #79 none of which are starting quality, MLB R. Armstrong 34.6 #85, MLB N. Bowman 36.3 ranked #80 of 87 ranked) with terrible secondary's that will be missing some of their "best" Safeties for this game like Eric Reid and possibly Jimmie Ward, LB play isn't that good & Foster is on IR so the middle of the defense is soft in coverage as well.
With 5"11 WR John Brown (4.31) fully healthy who healthy is a premiere deep threat As one of the NFLs best deep/intermediate receivers, as is 5"11 JJ Nelson w/4.28spd w/ 6TDs in his last 8 games he two is becoming one of the games intermediate/deep threat WR's, San Fran has no one who can cover them & those two open up everything else for All-Pro elite WR 6"3 Larry Fitzgerald who will play more on the boundary again as well as the slot, 6"3 Jaron Brown (4.40) is a very good young WR who can do a little of everything, he should of had a 3TD game on MNF he is an excellent receiver and young 6"2 Chad Williams (4,34spd) is starting to make plays and will only get better and better, AZ is throwing to 6"5 TE Jermaine Gresham a lot more & scatback slash receiver Andre Ellington with his speed is stepping up in a big way.
The Cardinals still have an extremely talented offenses loaded with talent now that guys are getting healthy, John Brown & JJ Nelson will really open this offense wide open underneath when they get going. On the other side the 49ers do not have the talent to cover or contain the Cardinals weapons/receivers as their is just to many of them with Smoke, Nelson, Fitz, JB etc etc etc, AZ should not have a problem fielding a solid offensive line allowing him more than enough protection to hit his man so as everyone does their Job.
And that's just offensively, Defensively Arizona is THE FAR SUPERIOR TEAM and should have no problem stopping the run and getting after Hoyer picking off a few passes. I think Arizona wins this game comfortably at home while and the O-Line plays woo going forward except just for this season Alex Boone will end up taking over at RG next week locking the line down for the rest of the season