Arizona Cardinals training camp: All-Access with Bruce Arians – July 27, 2014
Jul 27, 2014, 7:51 PM | Updated: Jul 28, 2014, 2:47 am
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Head coach Bruce Arians, now in his second year with the Arizona Cardinals, meets the media each day during training camp.
Here, in this space, we’ll highlight many of the key topics and personal conversations he has with reporters following the morning walk-through:
“On the injury news, we have Jake Ballard got a thigh bruise yesterday. It’s nothing serious, but he will miss today and (we) hope to have him back out there tomorrow when we put the pads on. No one will be happier than (I) when today is over and we start playing football.”
On the first practice
“Disappointed in the number of veteran mental errors on offense. It was probably the only disappointing thing about the whole practice. But it was a very crisp, fast practice with a lot of reps — in that we were done early so we had time to get the young players more reps.”
On the first practice for rookie quarterback Logan Thomas
“Logan had probably one of his better days. He still has to learn when to throw the ball extremely hard and when to just throw it accurately; a strong-armed young quarterback has that problem. He gets all jacked up and wants to show it off. Thank God Troy (Niklas) had a helmet on. It’s bad enough he’s got a cast on his hand, but to fire one at him (that hit him in the head). He’s got bruises all over his chest from the others that (Thomas) was hitting him with.”
Is it still his plan to rotate Bobby Massie and Bradley Sowell at right tackle?
“Right now Bobby has surpassed it a little bit and it’s pretty much his job to lose, but again, we haven’t put pads on. We’re not going to shuffle a lot anymore. We’ve had plenty of time to do that, and there’s plenty of time to win or lose a job once we start hitting.”
On the intangibles that linebackers Kevin Minter and Larry Foote bring
“Kevin is a thumper — (a) more physical blitzer, better run player … you don’t have to cover him up as much as we did the other guys. Larry brings an intelligence factor having played and played extremely smart for so long. (He’s) a very calming presence to the defense. He knows what you’re running before you snap the ball; he’s that type of player.”
On when he expects John Abraham to be in camp
“(I) won’t really comment on it. I don’t get into personal things. He’s got my blessing.”