blindseyed
I'm saying you ARE stuck in Wichita
http://azcardinals.com/news/news_details.html?iid=2925
Head Coach Dennis Green and Vice President of Football of Operations Rod Graves held an afternoon press conference at the Cardinals Tempe Training Facility to discuss the team moving Training Camp to Prescott, AZ.
Rod Graves opening remarks…
“While we are excited that we have a place for Training Camp the action over the last couple of days were rapid, and there were a lot of changes, but I think it speaks a lot to the people that we have in our organization, here, in Prescott and at NAU, for handling things in a professional manner and being able to accommodate us in a way we needed it to have happen. Just to bring it all together in a short period of time, in my opinion, was certainly extraordinary.”
On Prescott…
“The city of Prescott has been tremendous during the last 24 hours. The officials over at Embry-Riddle University have been outstanding, so we are excited. We are going to open up on time and get our focus back to football.”
On the accommodations in Prescott…
“It’s training camp. It’s not meant to be easy and luxurious. It’s training camp. In some respects, Dennis Green, who has been excellent through this whole process, thrives on these type of adjustments. I think it shows just what kind of person he is, what kind of coach that he is, and I think through all of this we will be a better football team as a result.”
On the housing…
“They certainly have enough housing, dormitory space to accommodate our team, our staff, the media, all of the individuals that are normally there to participate with us during training camp. We’ll have the same amount of NFL experience and fan participation, and all of that we normally enjoy up at NAU. The only thing that will be different will just be the scenery.”
On the fields…
“We will have the option of working between two maybe three field right there on the Embry-Riddle Campus. The city of Prescott has also offered us the use of four fields which are probably, at the most, a quarter of a mile away from where our facility is. In actuality it has worked out well for us. There is an amory building across from the campus that the city has offered to us in the event of rain, so we're covered there. It won't obviously offer a field situation but it gives us the opportunity to do a walk thru and continue learning. It is about as good of a situation as any other team in the league."
Dennis Green opening remarks...
"Embry-Riddle was one of the places we considered last year when we decided to have an extended training camp, as you know NAU starts so we weren’t able to be in camp as long as we wanted to. At the time Embry Riddle, the way their school session was set up we were not able to do it, so we did pick the Quality Inn Suites, so we went there and things went very well. We though the weather there was good. We had solid weather. It’s about twenty degrees different in temperature. We have a lot of fields we can work on. We have the one downtown but we also have Pioneer Field, which are three softball fields, the most extensive fields in the area, and of course the fields at Embry Riddle. I think this will work out well for us. My hat goes off to Rod Graves, John Idzik and Anthony Edwards, because we came up with a situation where we had to respond. In football, you can’t sit around and cry about it. Time moves on. Nobody is going to say to the Arizona Cardinals, too bad. It doesn’t work that way. We don’t want our players thinking that way, we don’t want our fans thinking that way.
Football revolves around three hots and a cot and a whole lot of football, a whole lot of practice. "
On if he thrives on these type of situations…
"We are underdogs and anytime you are an underdog you have to. You don’t just win with the facility, you win with the mindset, you win with whatever it takes, that the coaches and players hit the field and you only have one agenda and that agenda is to be a playoff team and be the top team in your division. This is not something anyone foresaw happening. We got a call Wednesday or Thursday and we had to react to it.
We went up there this morning on a bus trip, everyone was with us, from video to equipment managers, trainers, marketing, you name it, because when it comes to training camp we want it to be very efficient, we want everyone to get what they need so they can do their job and then we had to divvy up what was there so it fit for everyone."
On Prescott’s elevation and temperatures…
"I never had a cool temperature before, so last year was the first year that I had that. Most people in the United States are dealing with heat in the summer time. 5500 is high elevation, and the average temperature will probably be 85 to 90 and that’s what most people deal with."
On not having an indoor facility like the Skydome at NAU…
"I’ll bet you there might be five out of 32 (NFL) indoor fields in the United States. It might not even be five. What took place in the Skydome was unusual. There are few colleges that can invest in an indoor practice field. In the real world, you have walkthroughs. In the real world, you put your tennis sneakers on and you don’t shoot hoops but you do a walkthrough, and that’s where we are going to be, in the real world."
On if he is behind in his meetings with the coaching staff…
"No. ... It’s something we didn‘t count on last week but it’s something we counted on yesterday and you can make up that time."
Click here watch clips from the press conference...
Head Coach Dennis Green and Vice President of Football of Operations Rod Graves held an afternoon press conference at the Cardinals Tempe Training Facility to discuss the team moving Training Camp to Prescott, AZ.
Rod Graves opening remarks…
“While we are excited that we have a place for Training Camp the action over the last couple of days were rapid, and there were a lot of changes, but I think it speaks a lot to the people that we have in our organization, here, in Prescott and at NAU, for handling things in a professional manner and being able to accommodate us in a way we needed it to have happen. Just to bring it all together in a short period of time, in my opinion, was certainly extraordinary.”
On Prescott…
“The city of Prescott has been tremendous during the last 24 hours. The officials over at Embry-Riddle University have been outstanding, so we are excited. We are going to open up on time and get our focus back to football.”
On the accommodations in Prescott…
“It’s training camp. It’s not meant to be easy and luxurious. It’s training camp. In some respects, Dennis Green, who has been excellent through this whole process, thrives on these type of adjustments. I think it shows just what kind of person he is, what kind of coach that he is, and I think through all of this we will be a better football team as a result.”
On the housing…
“They certainly have enough housing, dormitory space to accommodate our team, our staff, the media, all of the individuals that are normally there to participate with us during training camp. We’ll have the same amount of NFL experience and fan participation, and all of that we normally enjoy up at NAU. The only thing that will be different will just be the scenery.”
On the fields…
“We will have the option of working between two maybe three field right there on the Embry-Riddle Campus. The city of Prescott has also offered us the use of four fields which are probably, at the most, a quarter of a mile away from where our facility is. In actuality it has worked out well for us. There is an amory building across from the campus that the city has offered to us in the event of rain, so we're covered there. It won't obviously offer a field situation but it gives us the opportunity to do a walk thru and continue learning. It is about as good of a situation as any other team in the league."
Dennis Green opening remarks...
"Embry-Riddle was one of the places we considered last year when we decided to have an extended training camp, as you know NAU starts so we weren’t able to be in camp as long as we wanted to. At the time Embry Riddle, the way their school session was set up we were not able to do it, so we did pick the Quality Inn Suites, so we went there and things went very well. We though the weather there was good. We had solid weather. It’s about twenty degrees different in temperature. We have a lot of fields we can work on. We have the one downtown but we also have Pioneer Field, which are three softball fields, the most extensive fields in the area, and of course the fields at Embry Riddle. I think this will work out well for us. My hat goes off to Rod Graves, John Idzik and Anthony Edwards, because we came up with a situation where we had to respond. In football, you can’t sit around and cry about it. Time moves on. Nobody is going to say to the Arizona Cardinals, too bad. It doesn’t work that way. We don’t want our players thinking that way, we don’t want our fans thinking that way.
Football revolves around three hots and a cot and a whole lot of football, a whole lot of practice. "
On if he thrives on these type of situations…
"We are underdogs and anytime you are an underdog you have to. You don’t just win with the facility, you win with the mindset, you win with whatever it takes, that the coaches and players hit the field and you only have one agenda and that agenda is to be a playoff team and be the top team in your division. This is not something anyone foresaw happening. We got a call Wednesday or Thursday and we had to react to it.
We went up there this morning on a bus trip, everyone was with us, from video to equipment managers, trainers, marketing, you name it, because when it comes to training camp we want it to be very efficient, we want everyone to get what they need so they can do their job and then we had to divvy up what was there so it fit for everyone."
On Prescott’s elevation and temperatures…
"I never had a cool temperature before, so last year was the first year that I had that. Most people in the United States are dealing with heat in the summer time. 5500 is high elevation, and the average temperature will probably be 85 to 90 and that’s what most people deal with."
On not having an indoor facility like the Skydome at NAU…
"I’ll bet you there might be five out of 32 (NFL) indoor fields in the United States. It might not even be five. What took place in the Skydome was unusual. There are few colleges that can invest in an indoor practice field. In the real world, you have walkthroughs. In the real world, you put your tennis sneakers on and you don’t shoot hoops but you do a walkthrough, and that’s where we are going to be, in the real world."
On if he is behind in his meetings with the coaching staff…
"No. ... It’s something we didn‘t count on last week but it’s something we counted on yesterday and you can make up that time."
Click here watch clips from the press conference...
