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The Arizona Cardinals held their final two practices of Training Camp 2005 at Pioneer Park, Wednesday, August 24, 2005.
The team practiced with their fourth starting center in the past two weeks Wednesday. Starting center Alex Stepanovich injured his hand in the Mock Game August 6th, followed by back up Nick Leckey spraining his ankle in the second pre-season game in Kansas City last weekend. The team brought in veteran center Bill Conaty at the end of last week, and Tuesday afternoon, Conaty injured his bicep during practice.
Originally the team thought Conaty might have a torn bicep but reports show it is more of a bruise or a contusion. Doctors are going to test the strength in the center’s arm and it is undetermined whether he will play in Friday’s game against the Raiders. If Conaty is physically unable to play, fourth year offensive lineman, Adam Haayer will step into the starting line up. The Cardinals signed Haayer during the 2005 free agency period and the Minnesota native has spent the past three seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, and is capable of playing several different positions on the line.
“I don’t think I have ever seen anything like that at one position, the way it has transpired here,” commented Cardinals starting quarterback Kurt Warner. “But I guess the fortunate thing is sooner rather than later we’ll probably have most of those guys back.”
In addition to Haayer, third year offensive lineman Reggie Wells has also been taking reps at center. Wells, who has played both tackle and guard for the Cardinals over the past three seasons, has never played center in a game situation.
“I’ve been taking a few reps in mini camp and stuff so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens when the lights come on,” stated Wells. “My whole life I have been a pretty good athlete, so I have always been the back up center in emergency situations. This is the first time I have been around something like this so we’ll see how it goes.”
Wells is projected to start at Guard with the starting units on Friday, and will possibly see some playing time at the center position in the second half when the Cardinals travel to McAfee Coliseum.
“I know all of the calls and stuff, I just am not the one necessarily calling them out,” added Wells. “I usually just have to listen to them. I have to get in that book a little. I’m going in with the mindset that I might have to play the game. I don’t know how long the starters will be in there but it looks like I might have to go in with their with the second unit and play center.”
“He has been snapping with the group,” stated Coach Green. “In football, the more things you do, the better off you are. He has been snapping before practices but this is the first time he has done it with the team and I think he did a good job.”
Although the offensive line has suffered several injuries throughout camp, and have had to shuffle players around into different positions, but they will welcome back free agent tackle Oliver Ross this week. The seventh year veteran has been sidelined with a knee injury for the first two games of the pre-season.
“It’s crazy,” joked Wells about the amount of injuries his line has endured. “We talked to Everett (Lindsay) about it yesterday and asked him if he wanted to come back and suit up.”
Lindsay was able to play all five positions on the offensive line during his eleven year professional career, but Coach Green is not too concerned about the amount of injuries this early in the season.
“We have to continue to get better on the line, but we are one of the few teams that has not given up a quarterback sack and I think we have nine ourselves,” commented Green. “Our big thing is to make sure our protection is there. Our run game has not clicked the way we have wanted it to but we have not had the consistency of personnel on the offensive line that we would like to have.”
The Cardinals are unsure how long Nick Leckey’s high ankle sprain will take to heal, but are hoping for second year center Alex Stepanovich, who did not miss a snap all last season, to be ready for the home opener against the St. Loius Rams, September 18.
“We don’t want to be ready right now, quite honestly,” stated Coach Green. “We want to be ready the Tuesday or Wednesday before we play New York. That is when we want to be ready to go and we want to go out and play five really good games before the bye.”
Injury Update
C Alex Stepanovich (hand), C Nick Leckey (ankle), C Bill Conaty (bicep), TE Bobby Blizzard (back), LB Gerald Hayes (knee), DE Kenny King (wrist) did not participate in practice.
The Cardinals will hold a walk through Thursday morning at their south Tempe training facility before traveling to the Bay Area for their third pre-season
came against the Oakland Raiders.
http://azcardinals.com/news/news_details.html?iid=3005
