All-Access with Bruce Arians: Tyrann Mathieu practicing ‘extremely well’

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 game, John Brown, Deone Bucannon, Rudy Ford and Corey Peters. A couple of guys will be gametime decisions, and we’ll see at the stadium when we get there. But, it’s been a good week of practice and looking forward to the challenge.”

How does Adrian Peterson look for Sunday?

“He’s one of the questionable guys. But, he’s played long enough he doesn’t need to practice so.”

Do you feel confident about Kerwynn Williams being available?

“Yeah. He practiced all week, full. He’s tough, he’s tough as nails.”

What it means to be a good team for a second straight week?

“Get us to .500 (laughs). It’s .500 and a lot of positive vibes going down the stretch.”

The team announced a contract extension for Peters. What has he meant for this team?

“We really miss him right now. He’s been outstanding for us. A great leader and heck of a player. We’re really happy about it.”

How impressive is it that he’s twice battled back from injuring his Achilles and still been an effective player?

“That’s amazing. Sports science is amazing. Doctors what they can do. It’s a testament to his grit, to go through that rehab and come back and play at such a high level.”

Why weren’t you guys able to run the football in the first meeting against the Rams?

“Got away from it because the way the half ended. We had some success in five-wides in that one stretch in the first quarter, second quarter. But, it was more of one guy getting beat all along the line. Four of five guys have their guy blocked and that one guy made the tackle. We got to do a better job of finishing those blocks.”

Do you feel confident your team is better able to overcome adversity?

“I would hope, just the way we finished last week. We’re so young, they don’t know any better.”

What have you seen out of Tyrann Mathieu the last month that you didn’t see the first two months of the season?

“He’s practicing extremely well. He did then, too. But, he’s taking more chances and trying to be himself again.”

Defensive coordinator James Bettcher mentioned Josh Bynes didn’t receive any physical reps last week in many of the sub-packages and then went out and played very well, filling in for Bucannon. What’s the degree of difficulty in that?

“It’s crazy. That’s a guy that when you turn on his iPad, how many minutes have been watched. He’s one of the leaders on the team. He prepared like he was a starter and that’s what you ask your backups to do.”

Do you seen an opportunity for D.J. Foster to receive some carries out of the backfield rather than just being apart of the passing game?

“Oh yeah. It could easily fall into his lap quickly.”

How often do you track how many minutes players use their iPad?

“Every week.”

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