The Arizona Cardinals contingent departed Tuesday for two days of joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts that will be followed by the second preseason game for both teams on Saturday.
The Cardinals are one of 20 NFL teams participating in joint practices this week, a number that was scheduled to be 22 until the 49ers called off their work with the Saints because of a large number of injuries.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon is confident the work will be good thanks in part to his relationship with Colts head coach Shane Steichen, who was the offensive coordinator with the Eagles when Gannon was the defensive coordinator.
Asked Monday if there is a different approach when there are practices against another team, Gannon said, “They’re going to practice the exact same way they’ve been practicing. That’s how Shane and I are going to do it. Just got off the phone with him this morning. It’s gonna be a good two days of work.”
Gannon said what he hopes is accomplished in this practice setting is “a little uptick. I like where our mode of play was in the (New Orleans) game, but the things that we need to get better and uptick is technique against different people. And I would say execution of just schematic things within each group.”
He expanded on the technique angle by saying, “It’s not technique going against Cards vs. Cards; now it’s technique going against somebody that maybe they haven’t studied like they would going into a game. There’s going to be different guys coming in and out of the lineup on both sides that like all of a sudden, I’m running a route against (cornerback) Kenny Moore and then I’m running a route the next play vs. somebody different.
“That wouldn’t be like a game. I want to see technique show up against different opponents. I think that’s a good barometer for where we’re at. Can we do what we’re coached to do consistently?”
Gannon said how he decides to divvy up playing time on Saturday will “depend on what happens Wednesday and Thursday.”
However, he also acknowledged the players might approach things a tad differently than normal.
“You should see the practice faces.” He said, “Like it’s going to be a souped-up two days,” a term he used a couple more times.
“Players right now are prepping for, ‘Hey, we’re going to Indy for two very intense, hard, long practices that are both gonna be souped-up.’ That’s what you normally say when you talk about a car, a souped-up car.”
Thanks for that, coach.
He concluded, “There’s gonna be a mock game and we’re gonna play. That’s their mind-frame as they’re getting on the plane.”
The practices are late in the day from 6-8 pm Wednesday and 6-7:20 Thursday Eastern time.
When asked if there will be any team building around town, Gannon said, “They’ll team-build naturally being in that hotel for a good amount of time. We have night practices and I’m not gonna wear them out before they’re gonna go out on the field, meeting wise and stuff. Let ‘em sleep in, have some meetings, get ‘em off their feet, give ‘em a couple hours and then go practice.”
On the normal day before a game, there will be a mock game, meetings and time off in the afternoon.
Gannon likes the time away with players spending a lot of time together.
“We’re gonna fill the time not off site to do anything,” he said. “We have some things in the hotel that they are very competitive about against each other. They like to connect and hang out with their teammates, go out to dinner.
“One of the positives about going somewhere is they get to hang out with each other. They value that time, too.”
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