Cardinals know how to cope
Arians’ health scare good test of mettle
Bruce Arians figured unexpected adversity might be one of the benefits of taking his team on a training camp road trip.
Yet for all of the issues that could pop up — injuries, travel delays, schedule changes — the Arizona Cardinals coach would have never wished for what happened Tuesday night.
Arians, 63, was taken to the hospital with stomach pains, just before the Cardinals engaged in a joint practice session with the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Suffering from diverticulitis, a digestive disease, he missed the practice and remained hospitalized overnight. Hello, adversity. “Yeah, this is part of it,” Arians cracked before Wednesday’s prac- tice. “I did it on purpose.”
He might feel as though he has a hole in his stomach, but at least his sense of humor is intact.
After being treated with antibiotics, Arians, who said he bowled over in pain Tuesday, was well enough to get back on the field for a portion of Wednesday afternoon’s practice. By lunchtime, he still was walking gingerly but had reviewed video of Tuesday night’s session.
“I’m mad that I missed practice,” he said. “I heard it was a
good one.”
Still, the pause for a health scare made the Cardinals think about how they’d try to operate without Arians, who has emerged as one of the NFL’s most engaging personalities — a gregarious man with a straight-shooting style that has endeared him to his players.
“As much as it stinks and as hard as it is, it’s another obstacle to get over,” Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer said. “It’s good in that aspect, where you’ve got to deal with adversity and you don’t know what’s going to happen. An injury happens to a player, an injury to a coach, you’ve got to block it out and focus on the task at hand.
“It’s good to have the opportunity where someone has to step up. That’s the first time that’s happened to us.”
Coincidentally, Arians got his big NFL coaching break in 2012 because of a health issue. When Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano was treated for leukemia, Arians stepped up as interim coach and guided the Colts to the playoffs.
Stepping out of the shadows after toiling for years as an assistant, Arians became the rare case of an interim claiming the league’s coach of the year honors (he earned the award again in 2014 with Arizona), which led the Cardinals to hire him to succeed Ken Whisenhunt in 2013.
No, you don’t have to tell Arians a thing about adjusting to a coach’s health issue.
Palmer realizes it would have been a different deal had Arians, the offensive play caller, taken ill on game day. Practices are scripted.
Players found out quickly Tues- day night that Arians’ case wasn’t considered serious. So there was no excuse not to have the type of spirited joint practice that was envisioned.
“We know Coach is a trouper,” cornerback Patrick Peterson said. “He wouldn’t want us to show any pity.”
Of course not. A macho mentality runs deep throughout NFL culture. Palmer joked that he envisioned doctors having to strap Arians down in his hospital room to prevent him from watching practice film.
But in a more serious tone, the veteran quarterback said Arians’ setback provided a stark reminder.
“None of us are invincible,” he said.