Cardinals coach Arians feels good, is back to work because ‘that’s what I do’

TEMPE, Ariz. — Bruce Arians is rarely one to beat around the bush or dodge a question, but on Wednesday, he had little interest in talking about his recent health scare.

The Cardinals’s coach, who was admitted to the hospital Sunday night with chest pains and released late Monday, was back on the practice field with his team and wanted to keep the focus on football.

“I’m not on the injury report, so I’m full-go,” he said, after running down the list of ailing players. “There’s no questions about that.”

Well, there were.

As for what exactly transpired, Arians said that would stay between he and his wife, Christine. He also said he wasn’t necessarily scared, but that what went down was more precautionary than anything else.

It’s a slightly different tone than he had when interviewed by Ron Wolfley for AZCardinals.com Tuesday, when the coach said he was relieved and that, “it was a scare.”

At any rate, he said it was important to get back to work as soon as possible because “that’s what I do,” and it felt good for him to be back with his team.

The feeling was mutual.

“He was back to his old self, so we’re just happy to have him back,” safety Tyrann Mathieu said.

“He looked great today,” QB Carson Palmer noted. “Looked great, I saw him yesterday morning, he was in at work. Everything is back to normal.”

That’s the way Arians wanted to treat it, and until there is reason to believe otherwise, the Cardinals will press on with their season as if nothing happened. In fact, Palmer said this latest incident doesn’t leave him any more concerned for his coach’s health than before.

“No, he’s as tough as they come,” Palmer said. “He’s as tough as any player in that locker room, and whatever happened, happened, and got it checked out. He looks great, as you can see. It’s business as usual for him and for us.”

That means Arians will be back in his normal role as head coach, preparing his team for a big game in Atlanta during the week and then coaching it Sunday. That will likely lead to some stress, and it’s not a leap to assume that has had an impact on his health.

But even with that in mind, don’t expect Arians to tone it down or chill out on the sideline, trying to present an image of calmness, because he said the worst thing he could do is hold his emotions inside. Besides, there is no reason to try and be someone he’s not.

“I don’t know but one way,” he said. “I got an absolute clean bill of health, so I have no problems.”

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