Bruce Arians wants his players to play smarter

BullheadCardFan

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Bruce Arians wants his players to play smarter

Arians wasn’t thrilled with blunders that occurred during a two-minute drill in practice on Thursday.

The young guys panicked,” Arians said, via azcentral.com. “When the clock is running, we have a certain play we go to, and, sh-t, they lined up all over the place. Those are the types of things that get you beat.”

Arians is working also to eliminate mistakes that aren’t as glaring, since those can ultimately be the difference between a win and a loss. To improve the situation, Arians has broken out his “accountability sheet” earlier than usual, logging all blunders from all players in the hopes of minimizing them not only in training camp and the regular season but during offseason workouts.

“More accountability,” Arians said when explaining the change.
 

Mainstreet

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Santa is checking his naughty list early.

Players that continue to make mistakes may be gone. It sounds like Arians is serious about getting this problem corrected.
 

Patrick

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Great to see, Arians is a happy warrior, brings the swag, but when he unloads on these players rookies and veterans alike he brings the wood.
 

Brak

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I find it hard to believe that the Cards are, collectively, any "stupider" than the rest of the NFL. Yes, they made a TON of stupid mental errors last year. And now it's already a problem again? Maybe this "accountability" thing isn't working. Perhaps he's spooking players with it, causing them to overthink and screw up. Perhaps instead of documenting every error and stressing accountability, the approach perhaps should be to just keep working until everybody gets it right, then praise the results and promote self-confidence.

And maybe I'm just talking out of my ass. But if it's been a constant problem, and I think we can all agree that it has, then maybe the approach needs to be rethought.
 

BigRedRage

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I find it hard to believe that the Cards are, collectively, any "stupider" than the rest of the NFL. Yes, they made a TON of stupid mental errors last year. And now it's already a problem again? Maybe this "accountability" thing isn't working. Perhaps he's spooking players with it, causing them to overthink and screw up. Perhaps instead of documenting every error and stressing accountability, the approach perhaps should be to just keep working until everybody gets it right, then praise the results and promote self-confidence.

And maybe I'm just talking out of my ass. But if it's been a constant problem, and I think we can all agree that it has, then maybe the approach needs to be rethought.

I think this is more of they were lax last year and going to be strict this year. The rookies screwed up this year which is expected, the article isnt talking about vets screwing up in OTAs.
 

Krangodnzr

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And maybe I'm just talking out of my ass. But if it's been a constant problem, and I think we can all agree that it has, then maybe the approach needs to be rethought.

Yes you are

But seriously, I think Arians is referring to the big mistakes in key moments last year.

Its irrefutable that the Cardinals were error prone last season compared with seasons before.
 

BigRedRage

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Yes you are

But seriously, I think Arians is referring to the big mistakes in key moments last year.

Its irrefutable that the Cardinals were error prone last season compared with seasons before.

And we were clearly softer and less disciplined in our play and coaching.

The ME chart has never been in camp this early, all these articles are inferring is that it was a problem this year so they are over correcting it this year.
 

tnmike

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I find it hard to believe that the Cards are, collectively, any "stupider" than the rest of the NFL. Yes, they made a TON of stupid mental errors last year. And now it's already a problem again? Maybe this "accountability" thing isn't working. Perhaps he's spooking players with it, causing them to overthink and screw up. Perhaps instead of documenting every error and stressing accountability, the approach perhaps should be to just keep working until everybody gets it right, then praise the results and promote self-confidence.

And maybe I'm just talking out of my ass. But if it's been a constant problem, and I think we can all agree that it has, then maybe the approach needs to be rethought.

The players that were a problem are probably some that are gone, nobody knows but the coaches
 

JeffGollin

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I'd argue that screwups in execution - especially the small "unimportant" stuff - rivalled pure overall stupidity as a season-killer. But we'll need to fix them both if we expect to go anywhere.
 

sr7706

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Will coaches be held accountable?

Well, one has to think, if they haven't been held accountable by this point, it's probably not going to happen...BA's comments are curious saying "young players were panicking", that sounds like a coaching problem to me!
 

AZCrazy

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The coaches bear no responsibility. Amos Jones will stay as long as he doesn't park in the wrong spot.
 

cardpa

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Well, one has to think, if they haven't been held accountable by this point, it's probably not going to happen...BA's comments are curious saying "young players were panicking", that sounds like a coaching problem to me!

If one has ever noticed, BA talks a lot about expecting veterans taking on quite a bit of responsibility on this team, responsibilities I would normally expect coaches to shoulder. More than once he stated the coaches are here to coach however coaches also need to lead and I'm not sure that is part of BA's expectations of coaches.
 

WildBB

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They'll take into account the rookies. Beyond that you should be and better be up to speed or good luck seeing any regular time on the field.
 

RugbyMuffin

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I'd argue that screwups in execution - especially the small "unimportant" stuff - rivalled pure overall stupidity as a season-killer. But we'll need to fix them both if we expect to go anywhere.

+1.

I think in the moment of constant adoration from last season, the "there is no small stuff" mantra the Arians came into Arizona with got lost in the big picture. Thinking "Super Bowl Ring" and losing sight of that mantra may have been a big factor last season.

When you play in a lot of close games like the Cardinals do, every second on the field counts.
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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And maybe I'm just talking out of my ass.

I think this is right.

This is football people. And accountability is bad? Wtf is happening with the world when being held accountable makes people crumble? The players need to nut up and take responsibility for their assignments. You and Mitch seem to be of the mind that players nowadays are weak at heart. I hate to use this analogy, but for all intents and purposes, with putting their bodies on the line, football players need to be warriors. They can't be a bunch of weak-minded wusses that get their feelings hurt and curl up into fetal position.
 

WildBB

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I think this is right.

This is football people. And accountability is bad? Wtf is happening with the world when being held accountable makes people crumble? The players need to nut up and take responsibility for their assignments. You and Mitch seem to be of the mind that players nowadays are weak at heart. I hate to use this analogy, but for all intents and purposes, with putting their bodies on the line, football players need to be warriors. They can't be a bunch of weak-minded wusses that get their feelings hurt and curl up into fetal position.
I agree to an extent. But by and large over the coarse of the season I'd say at least half of the players pick and choose when to go into warrior mode. This is true for Basketball and Hockey as well for defense and checking. The regular seasons are too long and injuries are sometimes factors as well, as most also play with some nagging/lingering issues. There are some large disparities between playoff and regular season play any more also, imo.
 

NJCardFan

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Santa is checking his naughty list early.

Players that continue to make mistakes may be gone. It sounds like Arians is serious about getting this problem corrected.
We all know BA doesn't play. We've seen him cut a guy because he parked in the wrong spot so I wouldn't be pushing his buttons in any way.
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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I agree to an extent. But by and large over the coarse of the season I'd say at least half of the players pick and choose when to go into warrior mode. This is true for Basketball and Hockey as well for defense and checking. The regular seasons are too long and injuries are sometimes factors as well, as most also play with some nagging/lingering issues. There are some large disparities between playoff and regular season play any more also, imo.
I agree with this. But you're talking physically. I'm talking emotionally. I keep seeing posts where people are afraid that our coaching staff is hurting players' feelings. I mean . . . FEELINGS!!!
 

Mainstreet

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We all know BA doesn't play. We've seen him cut a guy because he parked in the wrong spot so I wouldn't be pushing his buttons in any way.

We agree on this especially since the Cardinals have a lot of candidates competing for every position. BA wants players who are mentally and physically committed to the game.
 

LoyaltyisaCurse

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How about coaching smarter!!?? Amos Jones anyone? His unit alone cost the team a division title, FCOL.

Arians is treading dangerous teritory with this kind of nonsense. This is how you start losing a team when you're not coaching smart enough.
 

pmacLean

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We all know BA doesn't play. We've seen him cut a guy because he parked in the wrong spot so I wouldn't be pushing his buttons in any way.

He worked accountability last year and it didn't work out. He needs to up the ante. Maybe you are in the right parking spot but you parked to far to the right, making it hard for Amos to get out of his car... poof, you are gone. That should get them thinking.
 

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