Early in practice Tuesday, J.J. Nelson dropped a touchdown pass from Carson Palmer in the red zone. The wide receiver was clearly bothered, and walked slowly behind the line of scrimmage where the extra players stood -- the second unit's turn had come up -- with his head down. Immediately, Palmer found him. What was said is unknown, but the message was clear, especially when Palmer imitated Nelson's hanging head: Keep your head up, Palmer was saying, because it's on to the next play.

Indeed, the next time Nelson was on the field, he caught a pass and Palmer -- who this time was not the QB -- made sure to seek out Nelson for the congratulatory slap. It's one of the underrated parts of Palmer's game, the leadership in such situations.

-- It was an eventful practice. The defense was into the battles given that the No. 1 offense and No. 1 defense faced off. Linebacker Markus Golden, who loves to talk, was talking quite a bit when the defense was winning its plays.

-- The Cardinals slid rookie safety Budda Baker into the first unit in their dime package. One time, both he and Tyrann Mathieu blitzed. Afterward, Baker talked about how much he loved to blitz -- another parallel between he and Mathieu.

-- Phil Dawson easily drilled a 58-yard field goal among his attempts (without a miss).

-- This is how you cultivate a fan base. After the first unit got through part of one period -- and Patrick Peterson knew he'd have a few minutes on the sideline -- he sent an equipment intern to the sideline where a man and his two boys were sitting. All had Peterson jerseys. The intern fetched the jerseys and took them to Peterson, who quickly signed them all. It was such a brief moment, but the fans were thrilled.

-- Interestingly, quarterbacks coach Byron Leftwich got to call some offensive plays into the walkie-talkie during one period. It really shouldn't be a surprise. Bruce Arians likes to groom his young coaches, and getting Leftwich a few reps in the middle of a practice is a good start. Offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin called the plays in the Hall of Fame game, and I'm guessing he'll do at least one other game in the preseason.

-- The practice ended with a special situation: Offense on the defense's 8-yard line, 6 seconds left, third down. The first unit started with David Johnson drawing a pass interference in the end zone and then a fade to Larry Fitzgerald for a TD. The second unit was stopped when rookie Chad Williams couldn't hang on to a pass at the goal line. The third unit scored on a laser from Blaine Gabbert to Carlton Agudosi.

-- Newcomer Tramon Williams also got his first interception as a Cardinal, playing zone and jumping on a Drew Stanton pass. "Was able to kind of see the whole picture," Williams said. "Read the quarterback and just kind of came off. I had a good jump on the ball."