ARIZONA CARDINALS

All-Access with Bruce Arians: Loss to Dolphins was a bitter pill to swallow

Dec 12, 2016, 2:55 PM | Updated: 3:43 pm

Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians gestures from the sidelines, during the first half of an ...

Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians gestures from the sidelines, during the first half of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

LISTEN: Bruce Arians, Cardinals head coach

TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians meets the media the day after every game, often times explaining injury situations as well as anything else he may have seen the day before.

Here in this space, with help from the Cardinals’ media relations staff, we’ll highlight some of the most notable quotes from his session, which comes after the team’s 26-23 loss in Miami that likely put their postseason dreams to sleep.

The Cardinlas head coach began with a statement:

“Start off with the incident that happened this morning with Michael Floyd; gathering as much information as I can right now on what happened and what our options are going forward. I’ll probably have more information on that by Wednesday. Right now, it’s way too soon to know actually what happened and what can be done. Injury-wise, Tyvon Branch will probably go back to IR. He tore a muscle very close to where he had surgery in his groin. Deone Bucannon, whether he goes on IR or not, we’re still contemplating whether or not he is going to have to have surgery on that high ankle sprain for his future. Ulrick John will probably go on IR with a dislocated shoulder. We’ll make some roster moves in the next day or so for this next ball game. It was a tough loss to have played so well at times, but to also play so poorly. It’s the first game that I can ever remember not having an explosive pass play. The weather had something to do with it, but that’s just an excuse. We didn’t play well enough in the passing game. The turnovers, offensively, have been a problem on the road all year. When you look to east coast time games, it ain’t got [expletive] to do with the time – you turn the ball over, you lose. If you miss kicks, you lose. Defensively, it was tackling. We had 175 yards given up after contact – 75 on one play, when we’re three and out to start the second half and two guys miss a tackle and it goes 75 yards. That’s a bitter pill to swallow when it comes down to those little things and you preach about them all the time. It was one of the better comebacks I’ve been around, but to not finish it was very disturbing.

On if he’s disappointed that Michael Floyd put himself in this position:

“Yeah, we always talk about not being the guy and making correct decisions. Like I said, we’ll get all of the info hopefully later today and tomorrow on what was done and what will be done.”

On if he has been able to talk to Floyd:

“Yes.”

On if that could include a possible team suspension:

“I don’t think the league can act until the blood test and everything, court case, are over with. Like I said, we’ll determine all of that at a later date.”

On if D.J. Humphries is in the concussion protocol:

“Yes. I forgot about D.J. He’s in the protocol and we’ll go day to day with that. He was playing great football when he got hurt.”

On what affected the passing game the most:

“Protection; to throw the ball down the field, you obviously have to hold him a little bit longer, which we did not do. Whenever we tried seven-step drop stuff, we were normally hurried. They were smart in playing a very soft zone so that we had to take something and run after the catch with it, and we just didn’t get those done.”

On not being used to playing in that type of weather:

“I’ve played in the rain before, but it was raining. That was heavy-duty rain, especially when we got the ball back with two minutes. The ball just squirted out of his hand. It’s an excuse; that’s all it is. You still can’t turn it over, but to drop it and go behind the chains five yards, it kind of killed that drive before it even started. We had a heck of a play set up. Guys had seen the blitz and Carson (Palmer) was going to throw it real fast and it just squirts out of his hand. Not to get a better punt, not to get better punt coverage, and then to allow them to score was even more disappointing.”

On how he will treat the final three games of the regular season:

“Nothing changes. We’re not going to put young guys in the game to see if they can play. We’re playing to win, not evaluate for the future.”

On how the players reacted when he told them they are most likely not making the playoffs:

“Just being real. I wouldn’t expect anything other than disappointment, but are you going to sugarcoat it? 8-7-1 might get you in, but probably not.”

On special teams struggles:

“It’s been a snap and hold and a kick or a punt all year. Coaches don’t do any of those things. There won’t be any coaching changes. Let me make that perfectly clear today. They don’t snap, hold and kick. Players do those jobs.”

On what continues to give him faith in Amos Jones:

“He’s a hell of a coach. I watch him prepare. I watch him coach. It has nothing to do with faith. I know the guy can coach. His players aren’t playing very well. They’re my players, so if I’m going to fire him, I’ll fire myself.”

On if he means there will be no coaching changes for next year and not just the rest of this season:

“Yeah, unless guys get jobs.”

On if it is all personnel-related on special teams:

“Oh hell yeah. When you look at the coverage teams, the five best cover guys are on IR. The next five haven’t done as good a job with their new opportunity. Injuries present opportunities, and this year the opportunities aren’t getting maximized to make you want to say ‘oh this guy is pretty good.’ You go ‘we just gave up a touchdown.’”

On if it is a matter of making changes or getting healthy:

“I’d like to see Jaron Brown back out there, Ifeanyi Momah back out there, Alani Fua back there covering down that right side where (Cordarrelle) Patterson ran that touchdown back. That didn’t have a damn thing to do with coaching.”

On how interested he is to see how his team handles the next three games:

“You talk about it early, but you respect the process and you come to work. I’ve been on a 3-13 team and a 7-9 team. You come to work every week. If you see guys cashing it in, you need to get rid of them.”

On how can he tell if a player has love or passion for the game:

“The effort and speed in which they are playing the game, and practice. We’ve had great practices this entire season. It hasn’t shown up sometimes on Sunday.”

On if Deone Bucannon can come back at all these next three weeks:

“I doubt that he can come back. The decision is whether or not to do surgery on it so that we can tighten it up.”

On what he is looking at with Tyrann Mathieu:

“I’m looking at watching him practice Wednesday.”

On the changes on the offensive line with Ulrick John injured:

“We’ll make those decisions. Givens Price has done a really nice job of maturing on the practice squad. We’ll look at him.”

On if Sio Moore showed him something stepping in:

“He did a nice job, having just been here a couple weeks. He made the best of his opportunity.”

On his thoughts on Chandler Catanzaro right now:

“I can say it’s not talent. That will be a part of the evaluation process going on.”

On what happened on the blocked PAT:

“It was a bad snap and we got split by the center and the guard. He probably should’ve just fired it. The holder probably should’ve just not tried to get it off and try to run a pass and wouldn’t have given up two points.”

On if he is hoping the players on special teams can execute better the next three games and then evaluate it in the offseason:

“If I thought there were better ones available, I’d get them changed. But, I don’t think there are better available right now.”

On what kind of role he envisions for J.J. Nelson the rest of the season:

“Hopefully he’ll continue to progress like he has been. Stay healthy and just continue to progress in his role.”

On how he evaluates Michael Floyd on the field this year:

“Very inconsistent.”

On Floyd being in a contract year and what this means for that:

“I don’t really have a comment on that one. That’s too obvious.”

On if Floyd gave him any explanation on what happened last night:

“He just told me the facts.”

On if any teammates were with him:

“No.”

On if Carson Palmer struggled with anything other than the elements yesterday:

“No, just the wet ball. Larry (Fitzgerald) was kind of slow cutting in on his route when it was high and the interception. He had guys hitting him in the face. Coming off the goal line, the high one to Jermaine (Gresham) he had a guy hitting him right in the face. He got hit in the face on Larry’s interception too. We did not protect very well.”

On what he does as far as self-reflection in this type of season:

“You come to work, you believe in what you stand for and the process in which you’ve established your work habits. You just continue to work and hopefully you see a win this week, because that’s all you can control is this week. Add them up at the end. We’ve lost some very close games this year that we’ve won in the past. When it’s all said and done we’ll go back and evaluate all those things that caused us to win those games and caused us to lose those games.”

On what he saw on Calais Campbell’s hit on Ryan Tannehill:

“It was just a football play. I hope Ryan gets better fast. I have heard it did not tear, hopefully. That’s great news because he’s a heck of a young player. Calais was hustling and got blocked into him.”

On this being the second time Campbell had this happen with the hit on Cam Newton earlier this season:

“That’s what happens when guys are going hard and full speed and the guy shoves him toward the quarterback.”

On if Campbell might get fined:

“It didn’t get a flag.”

On why they haven’t been winning the close games:

“Not making the plays. We’ve made those plays, the third-and-sixes, the third-and-12s at the end of the game, like we did in the fourth quarter. This year, in the two-minute drill, we go down against New England, execute it perfectly and miss the kick. It’s been that way defensively – play our ass off, play our ass off, big play. That’s been the biggest problem defensively, just big plays, whether it’s a broken tackle, a missed tackle or miscommunication.”

On how much the punt return played into the Dolphins winning field goal drive:

“It was huge. Us not getting the first down and then the punt and the punt coverage, again, we missed two tackles.”

On if it is a confidence issue with Chandler Catanzaro:

“I don’t think he has a confidence issue. It’s a lack of performance at the critical time. That’s the life of a kicker. Having watched my son go through that all those years, it’s not an easy job, because you only get that one play. You don’t get to play 50, screw up 10, and do good on 40. You just get that one play.”

On his thoughts on Justin Bethel and if he is a work in progress as a cornerback:

“It’s a failure in progress.”

On Bethel’s biggest drawback at corner:

“Biggest thing has been battling the injuries where he doesn’t practice all spring and most of camp. So he hadn’t gotten better with the reps, and balls get thrown on him.”

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