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After practice: Lethargic offense and a glove

Well, it's a different kind of "After practice" post here because, for the first time in camp, we had Bruce Arians commenting on an afternoon practice as soon as it was over. Usually Arians talks in the morning, or at the very least right before practice. But because of Roger Goodell's appearance today, Arians was moved back. What ended up happening? Arians talked about how the Cardinals were "lethargic offensively." He didn't have great things to say about the wide receivers in particular, warning of potentially bringing in other pass catchers. But he wasn't happy with other parts, some of the blocking and dropped passes by tight ends. He did say Carson Palmer -- all the quarterbacks, actually -- did well. They didn't get any help.

One particular sequence, as the Cardinals practiced their coming-off-the-goal line on offense. Second unit was in, with Drew Stanton behind center. The ugly series went:
--No one really open, and when Stanton went to safety valve it to running back Kerwynn Williams, Williams wasn't looking, apparently bothered by an ankle that he had looked at earlier in practice;
-- Center Tony Bergstrom forgetting the snap count and snapping early, causing a fumble that Stanton needed to fall on;
-- A false start by right tackle Ulrick John;
-- A dropped pass by tight end Ifeanyi Momah.

That was kind of the vibe of the day.

-- There were a couple of offensive highlights. During that same scenario with the first-unit offense, running back David Johnson busted up the middle and then veered left on a third-down draw play and the receivers all to one side, galloping to a 70-yard run or so. It was pretty. It also set up a nice 2-yard TD pass later from Palmer to Jaron Brown, who posted up cornerback Justin Bethel in the end zone.

-- Palmer was wearing a glove on his left hand. Arians said Palmer would have to say why, and I didn't get a chance to ask. The last time Palmer had a glove on his hand, it was after getting a cut prior to the season finale in Los Angeles last year.

-- At one point, offensive line coach Harold Goodwin had a conversation with rookie guard Dorian Johnson, who has taken some lumps in camp.

-- Blaine Gabbert had a beautiful 45-yard-or-so deep ball to wide receiver Chris Hubert.

-- Red-hot linebacker Josh Bynes had another practice interception.

-- So did Tyrann Mathieu, who cut right in front of Larry Fitzgerald.

BetterPalmerUSE
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