At camp, Cards scale it back
Take one quick peek around the four-team NFC West division and it's easy to see there's a big difference in the physicality of the Cardinals' training camp compared to the other three teams' camps.
While the St. Louis Rams and San Francisco 49ers have had extended live hitting at the majority of their practices so far, there's been very little contact during the first eight days of training camp for the Cardinals. The team has had just one live tackling session, which took place Wednesday night in a seven-play goal-line session, and the team's skill position players have yet to don full pads.
"If you were here Wednesday, it was physical. But, then you have to scale it back. You can't do it every day because these guys are so much bigger and stronger now that when they're beating each other over that time, you're at risk for injury," Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said Friday. "I've always guided my thoughts on what we did in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh was a very physical football team, but we didn't do things a lot different than we're doing here in camp.
"That's just my opinion. That's how I've been taught or the way I learned to do it. But, there's no right way."
Whisenhunt said the philosophy toward contact in training camp changed when the NFL put an 80-man limit on training camp rosters. When Whisenhunt played in the league with the Falcons, Redskins and Jets, teams had as many as 125 players at the start of training camp and had seven or eight players at a lot of positions.
Now, with the roster limit at 80 and the rule that if you put a player on injured reserved, you can't bring him back during the regular season, a lot of teams like the Cardinals have taken a more conservative approach to camp.
Even with the light practices, the injury bug has still hit the Cards this camp. The team had seven players sit out Friday morning's practice and saw its 2009 first-round draft pick, Beanie Wells, get injured in his first professional practice when there wasn't any live tackling going on.
"If you do a lot of contact in camp, you always have that risk of what happened to Beanie the first day where some guys get twisted up and fall on someone's leg," Whisenhunt said. "It's tough. It's a fine line and I don't think there's any correct way to do it. You just have to hope you can stay as injury free as possible."
Whisenhunt said some teams are more physical because it can toughen a squad up, but he was also strong about the fact that a team can gain toughness without a lot of hitting in camp.
"I guess maybe it instills a toughness in your team," Whisenhunt said. "That doesn't necessarily mean you have to hit. I know the San Francisco 49ers, when they were winning all those Super Bowls, they never wore pads. So, I think a lot of it is a function of your team, the maturity of your team and how your guys handle it because a lot of times you can get just as much out of a practice when you don't hit if your guys are focused on their techniques and they're getting their bodies in the right position."
The third-year coach did say there would be some more live tackling at today's Red/White practice, but not too much more than Wednesday night's practice.
Wells ran during Friday's practice for the first time since spraining his right ankle, and Whisenhunt is hopeful the rookie running back will return to practice full time next week.
Whisenhunt said he was hopeful Wells would be able to play in the team's first preseason game against the Steelers, but didn't commit to anything.
Fullback Dan Kreider returned to practice after missing almost all of camp so far with a hamstring injury.
Wide receiver Early Doucet (shoulder), tight end Anthony Becht (hamstring) and defensive end Kellen Dykes (quad) all sat out both of Friday's practices. Linebacker Chike Okeafor participated in the first half of the afternoon practice, but then joined the rest of the injured players. Okeafor has had a nagging back injury for most of camp.
Whisenhunt on how the team likes practicing with the big-time wind gusts that were going on during the morning session.
"It depends on who you ask. If you ask the quarterbacks, they aren't to fond of it. The kickers, they like it if they are going down wind. But, you always have to be prepared for it. We're not too worried about it at University of Phoenix Stadium but it is good to get the work in because it does make a difference with the ball. As tough as it is, it's good for us."
In team 11-on-11 drills, after the offense moved the ball to the 3-yard line on a defensive pass interference call, Kurt Warner hit Jerheme Urban in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown.
Urban outjumped cornerback Mike Brown to snare the pass and bring it in for a score, much to the fans' delight.