Cardinals notebook: Arizona brought the ‘juice’ in joint practice with Titans
Aug 24, 2022, 3:19 PM
The Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans originally planned to hold two days of joint practices this week.
But with injuries on both sides, the franchises agreed on a day of work.
The switch cut down on practice time between the two, but did little to deter the competitive spirit in Tennessee.
And from everything coming out of the joint practice, the Cardinals appeared to have a leg up on the home team. Just don’t call it a massacre in front of Titans offensive lineman Taylor Lewan.
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“Lots of good energy, you felt the competitive fire from our guys.,” head coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters Wednesday. “I thought they really turned up in the competition.
“To go against another team, different people in 1-on-1s was really good for them. We’ll watch the film. A lot to clean up but I liked the energy and the way they competed.”
Offensively, Andy Isabella and Greg Dortch continued to stack practices, with the pair scoring a touchdown apiece during 7-on-7 work. The Titans then proceeded to trade for former Philadelphia Eagles DB Ugo Amadi in exchange for a pair of late-round picks in 2024. Call it what you want.
On the defensive side, cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. led the unit with an impressive interception during two-minute work.
With 13 seconds left on the clock and no timeouts remaining, Titans QB Ryan Tannehill looked for Cody Hollister in the back of the end zone. Murphy had other plans.
Talk Yo Talk 🗣@byronmurphy pic.twitter.com/4wPVetZTqg
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) August 24, 2022
Overall, safety Budda Baker came away pleased with the starting defense’s play.
“If we can do great against them, I feel like we can do great against anybody and today kind of showed,” Baker told reporters. “We competed, got some picks today, got our hands on the football and it was a great day.”
“Had a lot of juice, had a lot of fun,” Baker added. “Guys were ready early. This is my first joint practice in my career so I was hyped up myself. It was a good time. defense had a good time today.”
Better catch by I
Usually when DeAndre Hopkins attends a joint practice, things happen.
Just ask DeAngelo Hall.
On Wednesday, Hopkins added a new highlight to his practice book. Even if there may have been a bit of a push off on Hopkins’ part.
— Deandre Hopkins (@DeAndreHopkins) August 24, 2022
“It was fun to see him get out there,” Kingsbury said. “Any time you feel that competitive spirit kind of lift up, here comes Hop. He loves to compete. It was fun to watch him do that and I’m sure he’s got some good content for his IG now.”
“We were talking about it in the locker room, ‘A.J., I’m going to go out there and one-hand everything today,'” wide receiver A.J. Green added. “We talked about it. He did it.”
Sin City or Music City?
Sure, the Cardinals and Titans would have liked to have more than one joint practice this week.
You won’t find Kingsbury complaining, however.
“I like the one day,” the head coach said. “It’s kind of like my Vegas philosophy: give me 24 hours and I’m good.”
Cody Ford dons Cardinals red
Cody Ford was among his new Cardinals teammates for the first time on Wednesday after getting dealt to the desert two days prior.
“Big, nasty. Obviously has played at a high level, whether in college or when he had his chance in Buffalo, so we’re excited,” Kingsbury said.
“To be able to come out here and pick enough up to go in there was pretty impressive. We just got to keep spoon-feeding him the offense and get him ready for Week 1.”
