Cardinals more at ease with new offensive plan
Kent Somers, azcentral sports
Unlike many NFL players, Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer enjoys everything about practicing: installing new plays, refining old ones, bantering with teammates, even meeting reporters under a mesquite tree afterward.
But in the spring of 2013, practices produced more frustration than satisfaction. Coach Bruce Arians was in his first season, and he and his coaching staff were installing an offense that was harder to pick up than a wet watermelon seed.
"Myself and other guys were out here last year … just swimming (mentally)," Palmer said. "Inside your head you're thinking about 80 different things."
A year later, the world is spinning slower for returning Cardinals players. Arians' system makes sense to them now, and they are confident it's going to show on the field this fall.
"We're working so much more efficiently," receiver Larry Fitzgerald said. "We're finishing (practice) periods with two, three minutes left. We're not having to restart, regroup and do over. It's very encouraging."
Poor performance on offense is the main reason the Cardinals haven't made the playoffs since 2009, quarterback Kurt Warner's last season before retiring. The defense improved steadily over the next four seasons, but offensive malfeasance kept the Cardinals at home each January.
It was a problem again over the first half of 2013. On the field, Palmer and his receivers often looked like different game plans had been downloaded on their iPads.
Palmer sometimes threw to green, grassy areas where he thought a receiver was going to be. A receiver sometimes altered his route based on a certain coverage, only to see Palmer throw it the other direction.
Receivers and Palmer often looked at each other with palms up, either seeking an answer for what just happened, or perhaps praying for divine intervention.
Things started to change around midseason. The Cardinals won seven of their final nine games to finish 10-6, mostly because the offense raised itself to mediocrity.
Over those nine games, Palmer passed for 16 touchdowns and had nine throws intercepted. In the first seven games, the ratio was reversed: eight touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
The Cardinals scored an average of a touchdown more a game in the second half of the season. That's significant in a league where almost half the games are decided by seven points or fewer and more than 20 percent by three points or fewer.
Arians is convinced his offense has turned a corner, not just put its blinker on.
"Where we're at this point is like light-years from last year," he said last week after the team's first full-squad workout of the off-season. "They are getting on the same page. Every play, they come back and there is good dialogue — 'Why did you break out? Why did you break in?' "
Last year, everyone went through a steep learning curve. Fitzgerald, for instance, had to learn three receiving positions after playing primarily the same one in six seasons under former coach Ken Whisenhunt.
So on any one play, Fitzgerald can line up in three different spots. And on that one play, there are a few pass routes he can run, depending upon the defensive-backfield alignment and how many defenders are rushing Palmer.
Last spring, Fitzgerald admitted, there were times he broke the huddle unsure of what he was supposed to do. That's an uncomfortable thing for any player, especially a 10-year veteran.
"It was difficult," he said. "I'm glad that's in the past and we're into a new year, into a new season. The young guys now can ask us (veterans) what we're doing and we are able to get them going. Last year, everyone was in that same learning stage."
That included some of Arians' assistants, who were only barely more familiar with the system than the players were.
"I was learning. We all were learning as a staff," receivers coach Darryl Drake said. "Probably as a coach, I didn't help them as much as I can help them now, because I'm better. We're all better at understanding what exactly we need to do, where we need to be. It's night and day."
Last Tuesday, Palmer struggled to find words when asked to contrast last year's first off-season practice with this year's.
"Today I was thinking about one thing and that was my first progression, my second progression, my third progression," he said, referring to reading defenses. "So it was actually enjoyable. It wasn't frustrating."
But let's insert the fine print here.
It's Memorial Day weekend. Every NFL team is unbeaten for the 2014 season. Even Browns fans have hope.
The Cardinals could have four new starters on the offensive line, including two who haven't played a down in a regular-season game, and Palmer is not the most mobile of quarterbacks. One of the starting tight ends could be a rookie.
Palmer had just two more touchdown passes than interceptions a year ago, and Fitzgerald has finished with fewer than 1,000 yards receiving in each of the past two years.
There is much for the Cardinals to prove, but they are confident they will.
"We've got a ton of work to do," Palmer said, "but it just feels so good to be confident and be comfortable and know the guys around you know that you know what you're doing.
"There's not a shadow of a doubt on certain plays where there was in the past, like there are in new systems and new offenses. Just a great start and a long way to go."
Cardinals quarterback Logan Thomas (6) runs a play at rookie camp at the team's practice facility in Tempe on Friday, May 23, 2014. (Photo: Charlie Leight/azcentral sports)
With the addition of Veldheer & Cooper coming back I think our O-Line will be vastly improved. There is a battle right now for RG & RT which I think if it ends up being Watford & Massie we will have a young & very athletic line this year. I agree if the Cards have a competent line our offense will be pretty damn good. Also this will be the second year now with our offense installed. Palmer, Fitz, Floyd etc struggled early on with still trying to learn the offense. It wasn't until mid season that they started to really grasp what Arians was trying to do. Palmer has come out & said it's night & day difference between last years camp & this years.
