The Arians Way
I keep talking about this and I know I’m starting to sound redundant but I’m just amazed by what I’m seeing at University of Phoenix Stadium.
The hammer just keeps falling at Cards Camp. Big Red worked out in full gear again Tuesday and the tempo was downright dirty. Live tackling broke out from play-to-play and piles formed and still no coaches screamed warnings or adjured players to “stay off the ground.” It looked like a scrimmage out there. Their team period (11-on-11) had to last an hour, or so it seemed.
Bill Parcells and Jimmy Johnson practiced like this. Their legend firmly established but rarely imitated in today’s NFL. Somebody forgot to tell Bruce Arians that preseason games have begun and that Parcells and Johnson no longer coach in the league.
But I know BA doesn’t care. He is going to do it HIS way. This might be his first head coaching job in the NFL but this is not his first rodeo. During a broadcast meeting in Green Bay, I asked him if he was so blunt with his comments because of personality or were they said with purpose?
Arians answered by talking about being old, doing things his way, this being his one chance to be a head coach and then finished with, “I’m bulletproof.”
And he is.
He’s set for life, has seen it all and done it all and is finally getting a chance to be true to his core beliefs.
Practicing physically and NOT screaming at the players when they hit the ground establishes an expectation as to how one practices and callouses a team without a coach talking about being a physical team. It makes players mentally bulletproof to the brutality of the game.
And that’s no accident, that’s the Arians way.
