All-Access with Bruce Arians: Cardinals prepare for Thursday night

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:

“Everybody practiced. Obviously, it was a walkthrough. Everybody knows Thursday Night Football’s a reality. So, you deal with it. I think we’ve had a good plan the last few years of how to get prepared to play these games. The physical part of it, you have to wait until the game, but a very good mental practice and a good start to the week.”

On what the next couple days look like practice-wise:

“The same – be just walking through Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday is more like a Friday and Saturday combined, and then you go play Thursday.”

On what he can expect from RB Adrian Peterson in terms of running the ball and number of carries:

“I would think the same as last week. He runs into walkthrough. He’s amazing. I wouldn’t challenge him in any form or fashion, saying ‘You’re only going to get 20 (carries),’ because I’d probably have to fight him on the sideline.”

On if he can apply anything he learned from his time with former Steelers RB Jerome Bettis to coaching Peterson:

“I don’t think Jerome ever had 37. He’d have been tapping out in a heartbeat, getting Willie Parker in there. Adrian’s a special athlete. To be able to do what he’s doing, at the level of how he’s playing, it’s amazing.”

On if he saw Peterson close to breaking through on a handful of runs:

“Yeah. He just has to be a little more patient as a runner. It’s hard for him to be patient. He’s in full gallop, and if he’s just a little more patient, I think he’s going to see some things as we continue to run it even better. A very similar style of defense we’re going to see this week, so there should be good carryover for him in that phase.”

On if he liked what he saw from the left side of the offensive line:

“Yeah. I thought all five, the tight ends did a hell of a job. They all got game balls for that blocking they did, but I think the left side has gotten some power to it.”

On what QB Drew Stanton’s mobility does for the offense:

“It just adds something. Carson (Palmer) is extremely mobile in the pocket. Drew has some creativity when he got out of there, a great play to make a touchdown. He got out of there on a bootleg. I should have called a timeout, because we kind of wasted a play. We saw the blitz coming, and we ran the play anyway. But yeah, he gives you a little bit more mobile quarterback. I wouldn’t say he’s mobile, but he is athletic.”

On whether he asked for more effective defensive line play prior to the 49ers game:

“They’ve been playing pretty solid. Other than one game, our D-line’s been getting after it. They’re healthy again. That’s helped a bunch. That wasn’t the greatest offensive line they were facing. They had a lot of backups in there. They had some guys hurt. So, you would anticipate them to dominate like that.”

On how he would evaluate the Cardinals special teams after eight games:

“Special teams, other than field goal kicking, it’s been solid. Andy Lee got a game ball. Budda (Baker) was outstanding in coverage. We had a chance to get a … We got a kickoff on the ground, and it bounced right to them. But, I think our teams have been really, really good. Our return game could be a little bit better. We were real close a couple times. Just field goal kicking.”

On if S Budda Baker has been better about keeping contain:

“He’s learning how to make those tackles in the open field. Whipping that blocker – not worry about the blocker and go ahead and make that tackle. He got a game ball for his performance.”

On whether he’s played golf since the celebration in Seattle last year:

“You could call it that. I was on the course when I wasn’t supposed to be. But, I couldn’t hit it very far.”

On why games against the Seahawks are so emotional:

“Yeah, it’s been a decent rivalry. They’ve won the division, or we have. So, every time we play, it’s usually a knock-down, drag-out. I would anticipate the same thing.”

On what he sees from the Seahawks on defense:

“Some different personnel. When you take Earl (Thomas) out of there, it’s a different defense. He’s just such a great player. But, Cliff Avril makes a difference not being out there. They’re still solid. They have great team speed, great team length on defense and they know their defense inside and out.”

On what Seahawks DT Sheldon Richardson and DE Dwight Freeney bring to the front line:

“A bigger, quicker guy. They’ve had (Brandon) Mebane and some of those great, big guys in there. He’s a big, quick guy in the middle.”

On what the Redskins did against the Seahawks yesterday that the Cardinals can use this Thursday:

“Yeah. It’s a copycat league. I wouldn’t say it publicly, but there are some things that have shown up that you always try to employ in your game plan.”

On yesterday’s game and Thursday’s game being “must-win” games:

“There’s so much football left, in this division especially, but last week was pretty close. We had to have that road win.”

On how Stanton impacts a huddle:

“When Drew steps in the huddle, there is total confidence in the other ten guys. They know he knows this offense inside and out, and when he gets a hot hand, he can really light you up. We’ve just got to keep him clean. We didn’t keep him clean enough in that game.”

On whether Stanton is a calming presence in the huddle:

“Oh, there’s no doubt. There’s no doubt, because they know he knows what he’s doing. If I have a question, I’ll ask Drew, because we all do.”

On if he’s expecting any fallout from the ejections of DL Frostee Rucker and LB Haason Reddick:

“I would imagine fines. With the rules put in place last year, any kind of suspension would have had to have already taken place because we play Thursday night. You would suspend a guy on a Monday, appeal it on Tuesday and be able to make a roster move on a Wednesday. Well, we would have needed to know that right now.”

On LB Karlos Dansby’s postgame speech:

“That’s Karlos, baby. Classic.”

On whether he gave CB Patrick Peterson any grief for getting caught from behind:

“Oh, I told him, ‘I’ll take a world-class sprinter, but nobody else.’”

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