All-Access with Bruce Arians: No progression with Adrian Peterson

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 today: Budda Baker, Antoine Bethea, Karlos Dansby, Larry Fitzgerald, not injury-related, Gabe Martin, Josh Mauro, Adrian Peterson, Frostee Rucker, not injury-related, and Earl Watford. Everybody else (practiced). Got Corey (Peters) back, and he looked pretty solid. A good start to the start to the week and looking forward to building as we get along in this week and make an east coast trip and win one.”

On if he enters the season with an offensive contingency plan:

“No, you try to have players who can, hopefully, fill in the voids and then tailor it around them. You really can’t have two offenses – one for this team and one for that team if injuries happen. Steve (Keim) does a great job of fitting guys in that we like, and then you just keep tailoring it down and weeding it down until they can be successful.”

On if there’s any chance T Khalif Barnes plays right away:

“I hope not, but there’s a chance he’ll be the next man up.”

On what type of shape Barnes is in after not playing for a couple seasons:

“He looked fine. He blocked our guys pretty good today, and it’ll be one of those situations where, hopefully, we don’t have too many 12-play drives if he’s out there.”

On why S Budda Baker and S Antoine Bethea didn’t practice today:

“One’s a thigh. One’s a knee. They should both be back tomorrow.”

On the status of WR John Brown:

“He did some limited stuff today, and we’ll see how sore he gets again tomorrow.”

On if there has been any progression with RB Adrian Peterson:

“No.”

On if Peterson will play again this year:

“I have no idea.”

On what he sees from Redskins Defensive Coordinator Greg Manusky’s defense:

“Very similar to what we did in Indy, a very similar defense, a very similar style. He’s aggressive, that’s Greg’s style – two great outside linebackers, (Preston) Smith and (Ryan) Kerrigan. They really rush the passer – big, thick run-stoppers in the middle. They’ve got two great corners, and D.J.’s (Swearinger) playing really, really well at safety. They’ve got a solid defensive front.”

On if there are additional benefits from having C A.Q. Shipley play every game this season:

“Yeah, he makes all the calls, so he can help young guys out if they’re in there, but he’s not going to talk to tackles too often. He’s talking to the guards, and they’ll pass it along, but the hardest thing is pass protection and working together. Will (Holden) and Alex (Boone) have worked a little bit every practice, so it’s not totally new for them.”

On how G/C Evan Boehm responded to being benched and how he has practiced:

“He’s been great. He’s been ready to roll. There have been a couple of times he jumped out there when somebody got nicked. He was better. No, he’s been really, really good.”

On how ready T/G Will Holden is to play:

“We’ll find out. He’s got no more chances to not be ready. He’s going to be starting, and he better be ready.”

On what he sees from Holden:

“He’s big, and he’s athletic. He’ll get stronger and stronger as he grows and matures, but he’s athletic, and he’s very smart.”

On if he wishes CB Tramon Williams was younger and not a pending free agent given how good he has been:

“We would never have gotten him, unless we paid him about $20 million.”

On if he feels sorry for the Redskins Head Coach Jay Gruden given all the injuries the Redskins have dealt with:

“No. I don’t know if anybody has more injuries than we do on IR, starters-wise. Maybe the Colts.”

On if RB Kerwynn Williams surprises him with his play:

“Never. This is what we expected. That’s why he’s here. He couldn’t catch punts two years ago to save his life, but he catches them really good now. That’s just Kerwynn. Whatever it takes for him to make the team, he’s going to do it, but then when he makes it and you put him out there, you’re getting his best.”

On Williams’ toughness as he deals with his rib injury:

“The guys in the locker room know how tough he is. They always have, but it’s a testament to him, how tough he is and what it means to him.”

On how Williams bounced on and off the roster the last couple seasons:

“That’s his grit. He got cut a number of times. He kept getting a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger, really worked on his hands. That was a problem early on in his career. Really worked on his hands, found his niche in kick returns. ‘The more you can do.’ He bought in to ‘the more you can do.’”

Follow @CraigAZSports