Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, here talking to an official during Sunday's game in Minnesota, was hospitalized after returning from the trip.
Suffering "discomfort" after the Cardinals landed Sunday night after their trip to Minnesota, coach Bruce Arians was taken to the hospital for evaluation.
He was released on Monday night and returned home, according to a team spokesman. Cardinals president Michael Bidwill doesn't expect Arians to be away from the team very long.
When asked about Arians returning to the sidelines, Bidwill said "I think it's going to be fairly soon."
"I think everything's checked out pretty good," Bidwill said. "He's anxious to get out and get back to work. I'm sure we'll see him at the facility pretty soon."
Arians still was able to communicate with his players from the hospital. Tyrann Mathieu texted out that Arians assured Mathieu he would be fine. And after assuring Larry Fitzgerald the same thing, Arians left the wide receiver with a football-related message.
"The last thing he said to me, 'We need a win this weekend,' " Fitzgerald said. "I know where his mind is."
Arians doesn't want distractions for his team, and he had delivered a similar message in mid-August after he was hospitalized for diverticulitis, an infection in his colon.
But in the middle of a disappointing 4-5-1 season thus far, Fitzgerald acknowledged the slap of reality with Arians' most recent trip.
"When things like this happen, it punctuates how fragile life can be," Fitzgerald said. "At times when you are in the middle of a season and things aren't going the way you want them to go, you lose sight of that. You feel like the world is closing in on you. You go to eat at restaurants, people tell you how bad you are, you kind of lose sight of real-world perspective.
"Something like this can snatch you back to reality. We want to turn things around but we want to make sure Coach's health is good."
Assistant head coach Tom Moore addressed the team Monday, with head athletic trainer Tom Reed giving players an update on Arians' condition. Offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin, defensive coordinator James Bettcher and special teams coordinator Amos
Jones talked to their units, Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald didn't want to speculate on Arians' status, other than to say "hopefully he'll be back in a few days" and be able to accompany the team on its road trip to Atlanta.
With two hospital trips in four months, Fitzgerald was asked if he thought Arians might be better served with extended time off.
"I don't think any of us have the right to try and tell him to stay away," Fitzgerald said.
Arians isn't wired that way, Fitzgerald added, noting that the coach jumped right back into meetings and dissecting plays right after returning from the San Diego incident.
Fitzgerald did acknowledge, however, that the team could help out their coach with improved play.
"When we were 13-3 last year, he was feeling good," Fitzgerald said. "As a player you feel probably responsible for what is happening and the stress for him not feeling well. A lot of that falls on our shoulders. We don't feel good about it."
Arians was in the hospital for less than 24 hours in August, going there when he wasn't feeling well at the outset of a night practice. He returned to make an appearance at the following day's practice and also coached a couple of days later when the two teams played each other in a preseason game.
"I'm too old to not listen to doctors anymore," Arians said after the hospitalization.
It was jarring news coming off the disappointing 30-24 loss to the Vikings.
"What happened in Minnesota, it sucks and we would've loved to win the game," Fitzgerald said. "But Thanksgiving is coming on Thursday, and we're human beings. At the end of the day we love Coach and we want to see him healthy."
